Some Questions About Decals

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I was at my favorite LHS this afternoon scrounging through their stock of decals. Mostly Microscale but there was a fair number of old Champs in their own tray. I was apparent that some of them had been “rescued” from donations to the store or had been on the shelves from a long way back. At least none appeared to be as old as I am. But it got me wondering about the possible issue of shelf life.

Can one always expect well-aged decals to perform as well as recently manufactured ones? These issues might extend beyond just the installation process but extend also to their durability once affixed (if not coated later on).

After I got home I found a site that ID’d the various makers of decals for the road I model and came across an interesting note regarding the older Microscale decals. It mentioned that in earlier issues, the film on which the lettering was then printed (no dates provided) was noticeably thicker than other brands. The article’s author offered that because of that, he painstakingly cut them back to the edge of the lettering so that the surface relief when applied would not be so obvious.

He also mentioned that certain brands had inks that could run slightly and that damp q-tips could be used to quickly remove wandering tints. And opacity issues, where the underlying color could be perceived behind the lettering. Oh my, information I hadn’t expected.

Time to weigh in, folks, with your experience-based observations on the kinds you’ve used.

Naturally, I expect that the alternative of dry transfers to be injected into the discussion rather quickly. [;)]

John

2

I have some Champ decals that are at least 60 years old and still work fine. The film is a little thicker than current decals but not objectionaly so. I use Solvaset with them and the only color running problem was once with a red Burlington herald. Using a weaker setting solution and not putting it on the top surface of the decal will avoid that.

Many older decals fall apart when soaked off the backing paper but I haven’t had that problem with Champ. The old ones can take a longer time to come loose from the backing.

I would not use any decals without a sealing coat to protect them and blend them into the rest of the car.

Microscale is printing a white layer under lighter colors to prevent the background color from showing through. On the B&O ones I’m currently using the yellow color overlaps the white undercoat causing a faded look on the edges of the yellow.

Mark Vinski

3

All the decals I get, no matter what the age, get a coat of Microscale Liquid Decal Film. It makes sure that older decals have any degradation repaired and it seals new ones as well. I especially make sure to do it with stripes. They always seem to break apart if I don’t. My paint schemes, especially my passenger one, use a lot of small (HO scale 2") stripes.

For applying the film, I have a specific set of brushes that I use as not to foul my regular paint brushes. I have also found that acetone works nicely to clean them after the fact.

Many years ago, I had gotten an ALPS printer for doing my own decals as I have silver lettering for my protolanced roads. For some of the lighter colors, they did suggest using a white undercoat. (Even made a cartridge specifically for that purpose.)

I’m currently working with an Alaska Railroad engine decal set as part of my road’s bicentennial loco’s lettering. Both the yellow and blue stripes in that set have the white undercoating on them as well.

4

It may depend on how the decals were stored. I’m pretty sure heat is bad for longevity.

I have had very mixed results with old decals.

Yesterday I used parts of very old decals (1989 Champ) after spraying with Testors decal bond. The first would not soak the backing paper easily in one corner. I was able to slide a #11 blade under the film very slowly which allowed the water into the bond and release the decal. Tricky but it worked.

Others have just disintegrated into the water before releasing, whether sprayed with bonding spray first or not.

Checking the age and brand led me to actually read the tiny printed instructions inside the package. Champ recommended letting the decal float completely off the paper before applying (how you lift the decal out of the water to place onto the model was not explained.) Champ claimed soaking off as much of the adhesive as possible was the correct method. “Decal-set” apparently was enough to stick the decal down. I don’t know if this is the same as Microsol or something Champion made and sold with their decals at the time.

5

I’ve bought a few structure kits, mostly older Walthers kits, that had old decals included. The white ones needed extreme care just to apply them, sometimes in pieces, and the whole project was then weathered more heavily than usual to make the best up, spotty decals look better.

For old decals of color, I usually scan the page into my computer before I even try to apply them. That way, I can print copies on decal paper if necessary.

6

Same here, and pretty-well all of my Champ decals are still pretty good. I also have some older ones from Walthers, but a lot of them are very iffy.

I used to do a lot of decal work using Accucals (from the makers of Accupaint), but I’ve noticed that some of them are starting to deteriorate.

Older railroad decals from Walthers, perhaps from 50 years ago, are pretty-well unuseable.

I’ve had reasonably good success with Microscale, but its thinner film does seem, at least in some cases, to become more fragile with age.

I started using dry transfers when I found Letraset, and used dry transfers even more when C-D-S debuted their line of lettering for rolling stock and locomotives. Over the years, I also bought three 50-sheet batches of custom dry transfers, the layout work for them done by my brother.

When the owners decided to retire, there was supposedly a large stockpile of lettering sets still available, but a small manufacturer in the U.S. (can’t recall the name) bought the remaining ones. I contacted them in order to purchase some alphabet sets, but by that time, they had changed the process from dry transfers to decals. I order some of the latter, but when it arrived, the lettering was so thinly applied that it’s difficult to distinguish from the pale blue paper on which it’s applied.

I did order a set of 50 sheets of custom decals from Rail Graphics, again with artwork done by my brother. The decals aren’t all that old, so they’re still as useable as when I first got them.

I’ve also used Black Cat decals, and the current ones are a great deal better than those that I’ve used in the past, both as far as quality is concerned, and also with much more comprehensive detail to match the lettering of specific prototypes.

A recent decal maker, who surpris