Model Forum / General / Models / March 2007

The soaking in a tupperware box worked like a charm.

Modellers may find this useful.  Handle all your decals with a soft
brush.  I used one to lift the decals off the model and transferred
them to an old decal sheet with empty spaces that once held decals
used for another model.

Why did I keep these old decal sheets you might ask.

The reason is that the way I apply decals is to use a soft brush to
dampen only the decal(s) I want from a multi-option decal sheet.  I
damped the back of the paper with the desired decal.  After a few
minutes the decal adhesive would have dissolved enough for me to lift
the decal with the brush.  If the decal is too large to lift without
the risk of it folding on itself I paint a wet path from the decal to
the edge of the paper.  This way I can use a wet brush to push the
decal to the edge and onto the model.  You'll be surprised how easy
and accurate this method is.  If the decal is large and needs a lot of
placement adjustments first wet the part of the model the decal is to
go on.  This will keep the decal somewhat "afloat" and therefore easy
to maneuver  to the correct decal alignment with a wet brush (eg the
fuselage band on a Fw 190-D,  the slogans on a Russian tank) .  I
apply a bit of diluted acrylic (gel) extender, also known as acrylic
retarder, to get better decal adhesion.  You can probably use Future
Wax.

The rest of the unused decals remain on the whole sheet instead of
being on little slivers and tongues of cut paper.  That's where my
used decal "parking space" comes in.