decals advice

guys, just starting to decal a wee manta, the sheet came with advice to spray clear lacquer before applying, and i did that a week ago so its well dry; i've done this before as required with no probs, but the first decal of this set, which is pure black, is shedding some speckles of ink ...should i put more lacquer on, or is it more likely to be a decal quality issue? in which case should i just sork away and see what happens?
cheers for advice guys...

Billy,

I'd put some more coats of lacquer on the decals before you do anything else. I have printed y own inkjet printer decals loads of times now and have got it down to a fine art: Giving the ink about 10 ins to dry off, I then spray the first coat of lacquer on. I leave that about 15 mins before spraying a second coat. I may repeat the process (or maybe not!) depending on how thickly I sprayed. I wait about 30 mins and start cutting up the decal sheet.

I've said all that because it sounds exactly as though the ink is dissolving in the water, lifting off the paper. Give the decals a couple of extra coats along the lines I've given, above, and the lacquer will seal the (soluble) ink from being dissolved in the water. There is a balance between not putting enough on and having the problem you've experienced and putting too much on and afecting the look and behaviour of the decal.

It's also worth checking what type of lacquer you've used. I tried (as an experiment) to use normal car lacquer and it was a disaster! The ink crazed and it looked rubbish! I use 'KEEN', 'Top Crystal Clear' nitroacrylic spray which I buy in 400ml rattle cans from Crazy Computer Paper, online. It's very good stuff - easy to use and doesn't discolour the decals. I'll let you know how long it lasts in 10 years!

Hope that's helpful. have fun! Cheers, Steve

ah cheers steve, very informative and helpful m8, and just what i hoped!! at least this means the rest of the sheet should hopefully be ok! of course, sods law being as it is, it was the biggest decal on the sheet i tried first!! and right over the whole roof!! doh!!
ah well, onwards and, em, er, well........................................

thanks m8!

Billy,

Any chance of salvaging the black decal? You could lay it out on the backing paper, dry it out, spray it again as I've suggested and stick it on with Micro Set.... and if you haven't got a bottle of that and a bottle of Micro Sol, you need to get 'em! Brilliant stuff.

The Micro set helps the decal adhere, very useful when you've already had a go, or for those tricky parts of models that twist in all directions. The Micro Sol particllay dissolves the backing paper, leaving the ink as though it's been painted on. Using both, neat, brushed on, works very well indeed. Paint the Micro Set on the model first, float the decal as normal, put it in place and when you're happy with the position, paint some Micro Sol over the top and at the edges. Whatever happens, don't touch the decal as it's likely to wrinkle up in time, but with a little time, the decal sucks onto the model and the edges all but disappear.

My wife describes it as me painting with decals! Lovely!!

If that doesn't work, take a scan of the decal, print it out on decal paper and do it yourself!! Cheers, Steve

thanks for that info/advice steve, decal already dried m8 but i might have a go at a repro myself, as its only the opel blitz with the word OPEL below it, so not complicated....i'll see how the rest of the build progresses and take it from there...
oh, and i've just bought a can of keen spray from comp crazy paper! many thanks for the heads-up m8!!

Billy,

You won't regret the purchase - I get my decal paper from there too (both clear and white) as it's so much better quality than cheaper stuff I got from the interweb! It doesn't break the backing paper up when you use Micro Sol either. Thoroughly recommended!

Glad to help! Oh, and I'm not on commission! Wish I was! Cheers, Steve