I have never seen a decal like this. This is for Trumpeter’s MiG 15 bis Fagot B. The instructions refer to it as “film”. It is not your clasic decal on paper but is a transparent soft plastic sheet.
How do I us it? Do I cut it out or the classic dip in water way?
Cut it out and usually sandwhich between the IP and a PE overlay
I have this kit as well and did a bit of poking around on the web and found this review on modelingmadness https://modelingmadness.com/review/korean/cleavermig15preview.htm
My only real complaint is the instrument panel. This is done as a “sandwich” of an opaque part, with a photo-print panel like an Eduard kit, and a clear part to go over it - the problem is that the clear part has no engravings for the instruments, which will make painting around the instruments a bit difficult. I am sure I will make my own panel to go over the photo-print from .010 Evergreen sheet.
There should be two pieces of the panel, a back piece and a front piece. Glue the decal to the back of the front piece with a transparent glue or white glue, being careful to register it so that the dial faces line up with holes on the front piece. Then glue it to back piece with white glue. Do NOT use solvent glue for either step.
The problem with this kit is the front piece is a clear flat piece with no relief
Looks like you may have an out of production example, judging from the product number. The Eduard site doesn’t generate any hits.
If you look at the instructions for the current product
https://www.eduard.com/out/media/fe232.pdf
you can see that you are to sandwich the photo film between several PE pieces. Do you have those PE parts? Or were they not included in the OOP detail set?
That’s a bummer. Normally the whole purpose of the clear acetate printed underlay is to give the appearance of glass. They felt a clear, unembossed overlay was the way to go? Yikes. Trumpeter strikes again I guess. I saw the author’s note at the end of the review you linked, where he says his ended up in the circular file…which is where my Trumpeter Frogfoot is getting really close to going. Not happy at all with the quality and fit of their stuff.
Thanks all. That is a good review, keavdog.
Okay, a plain transparent sheet will still work, though you will have a glossy black panel rather than a flat black one. However, if you are a good hand painter you can carefully paint around the instruments with flat black. Also, adding toggle switches is pretty easy. Drill a small hole at switch location with a pin vise and cut a piece of fine wire. Glue the wire(s) in the holes. I find it easier to cut the wire longer (easier to handle) and cut them to length after the glue sets.
Craft stores like HL and Michaels carry some great wire for these, in the beading sections. It is a fine copper wire plated to look like chrome.
Would it work if you paint the backing plate white and then just Elmer’s glue it to the panel and omit the clear cover?
No, the background needs to be painted ‘instrument panel’ color. The dial faces themselves could be painted white