Water Pens/Brushes for decaling

I was watching a video the other day about a tip for applying decal setting solution and solvents using a water brush/pen, commonly used in Japanese writing and watercolor painting. I wasnt real sure about how well this would work, but after some searching, I found that the pens are pretty cheap, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Brush length

These come in several sizes and styles, but all work on the same idea. I simply filled the reservoir of each pen, one with Micro-set and the other with Micro-sol. After a gentle squeeze of the bulb end the liquid came to the brush. You then simply brush where you intend to place the decal, gently press it down with a damp q-tip or earbud, then apply the solvent over the top if needed. I did this on a current build of a 1/48 Ta-152-C1 and was amazed.

First, you can apply just the right amount of liquid to the desired size without having to repeatedly dip in and out of the bottle. Secondly, if you are clumsy like me, you dont have to worry about tipping over the bottle.

Wasnt sure if anyone else here had tried this, I couldnt find any related posts on this. Thought I would share, thanks.

A neat trick! Do they come with a cap?

Great tip. Gotta try that. Thanks for posting.

EJ

Sorry I didnt include that information in the beginning. Yes, they do come with a cap so you dont have to worry about them drying out and all of the liquid evaporating.

You can find these pens at most of the major big box hobby distributors and they are readily available on Ebay.

Interesting idea. I just found a set of 3 on E-Bay, each with a differant size brush, for just a couple of quid. Might have to try that.

I use q-tips dipped in the solution. I keep a supply of q-tips available, as they are good for several model building tasks, like pressing down edges of masking tape when masking. I also use them when doing washes.

I, also, use a lot of q-tips for various tasks at the bench, especially moving around decals after they have been placed, etc. I just seem to be a bit clumsier than most and found that this reduced my chance of tipping over the bottle and spilling it everywhere.