When finished, my model car will have 177 decals on it. That sounds nuts to me.

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Decaling
1

I am currently building a Tamiya 1/24 scale Ferrari FXXK with the decal upgrade sheet. Sixty seven decals are included with the the kit.

The decal upgrade sheet has a whopping 110 carbon fiber decals ??? The total number of decals is 177! That must be a record number of decals that need to applied to a model car kit. I fear that this will take forever.

2

Ya but man that will look cool

3

Don’t know whether you’ve ever done something like a freshly-recamouflaged Phantom jet…but with stencils, it can run to about the same total – only much tinier decals.

Still, it looks like a cool project!

4

“Qitcher bitchin”.

No seriously that’s a challenge and look forward to the results.

5

Carbon fiber on this car is a must. I agree with the others. It’s going to look really cool.

6

Patience is an important skill in model building. When doing a repetitive task that takes a lot of patience, take frequent breaks. Try to avoid hurrying the build the night before a contest.

7

As I expected, it’s going to take a long time to apply the carbon fiber decals. They are applied over contoured surfaces and need a lot of setting soulution to allow them to “sit down” properly. I tried appling the decals over unpainted surfaces but the decals didn’t adhere very well even after I washed the plastic parts with Simple Green. I solved this problrm by first scrubbing the plastic parts with a paper towel soaked with Microscale MicroSet. The MicroSet seemed to remove the plastic’s slick surface.

The kit’s instructions recommended that Tamyia Mark Fit “strong” decal setting solution be used. I always used Microscale products to help set decals, but I figured that I’d give Mark Fit a try. It’s thicker than the Microscale products. This stuff works really well. It increases the flexability of the decals but doesn’t soften the decals to the extant that MicroSol does. I used a stiff paint brush to move the decals around and into the correct position. I also used the paintbrush to press the decals onto the contoured surfaces. I’ll try to take some photos, but taking a photo of black Carbon Fiber isn’t easy.

8

Oho!

Breathe in, breathe out. Now one piece at a time. DO NOT Try To Hurry AT ALL!!! You CAN do this.This Car deserves nothing less!

9

Thanks for the positive words. I agree, I need to go slow when applying the decals.

An update on this model can be found here: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/4/p/188354/2163673.aspx#2163673