Rant/Vent/Help request: What's p with Microscale quality nosediving?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Or maybe it’s just me. A month back, I purchased a set of MS AFT stripes. They promptly disintegrated while I tried to soak them off the paper. Water was fine as far as I could tell, followed all the normal directions. I figured it to be a bad sheet, and the assumed risks of workng with stripes.

But now I’ve got a set of Christmas decals doing the same thing. The decal is strating t flake off the backing before it;s ready to float off. And I’m not near the decal itself. This is getting rediculus, I shouldn’t be having this issue. I sent them an e-mail. No response. Double checked the directions. Warm Water, clean water, right amount of time, failure to work. Could it my Technique? I ner was fond of floating the decal completely off. That led to me having to finger the decal and not provide support for the whole decal. Instead, I prefer to float it while still on the paper and coax it off the backing with the backing from another applied decal. Heard mixed reviews on these methods, but I’ve done this before with lettering for the BL1(.5) and for a Monon caboose.

So, is there anything I’m doing wrong? I could dullcoate decals, but I haven’t had much beter luck with other decals I’ve coted in the soaking off stage. Or is this a common issue? I;'m getting tired of wasting decal. And if I had accses to the measurments, I’d print decals myself.

2

Decals are essentially very thin plastic. This plastic can get damaged by heat or sunlight…or just pure age. It’s possible that the decals you have either got exposed to something they shouldn’t have, or that they are just old stock.

To save them, apply Microscale’s Liquid Decal Film. You can just brush it on, or spray it with an airbrush, I suppose. Apply the film right over the artwork and let it dry, then treat the decal normally. I’ve used it to save a lot of old decals over the years, and it works quite well.

The only drawback is that it does make the decal a little thicker…but it’s either that or watch them fall apart.

Paul A. Cutler III

Weather Or No Go New Haven

3

i’ve had the same problem and found that the decals were not printed on the decal film but on the backing paper so the ink just disolved in the water.