**** DONE: 1/48 Corsair II - Pacific Theatre of Operations II

[Airframes]

It's coming to life now Andy, and looking the biz.

 

[mikewint]

Andy, first and foremost nice work on the decals espec that #3 you modified. Now you and Terry really have me thinking, hurts too. Since Future is an acrylic, once set, I would never expect it to disolve in plain water. In fact Future calls for ammonia water to remove the old coats from the floor. On flat paints we spray Future first to give a gloss surface for the decals and I don't recall the Future disolving as I applied a wet decal.
I have some left-over decals and experiments are in order

 

[Airframes]

Yep, I've been using Future as a gloss coat before applying decals, without problems. However, applying a wet decal onto a surface coated in Future, and soaking a Future-coated decal for a minute or so, is quite a difference.
It's possible it may work fine, but having had the experience of the Future dissolving, I've stuck to 'real' varnishes ever since.

 

[mikewint]

Terry, just trying to get my own head straight here. If you "Varnish" (Let's make sure we're both speaking the King's English: a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing, a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent.) a decal BEFORE application onto the model won't the dried/cured varnish prevent water from wetting the decal and prevent flexing of the decal and prevent the hardened decal from conforming to the model surfaces. Even acrylic types once set are no longer water soluble else acrylic paints could be washed off a wall
If I'm being dumb here please forgive but this is not computing for me

 

[Airframes]

Mike, a thin coating of a compatible varnish, such as artist's acrylic gloss varnish, protects the printed image on the carrier film, reducing the risk of it breaking up when soaked in the water, and, more importantly, when it is moved, to remove it from the backing paper.
Depending on the type of printing process employed in their production, most commercial decals have a finishing coat of some type of varnish anyway, but, after time, this can decay, or harden, which can then cause the decal to dissolve, break, crack, etc etc, when used.
A 'fresh' coat of varnish, as described, reduces the risk of this happening, on older decals, although does not guarantee to work every time.
The 'paper' on the decal is only a carrier vehicle, with the decal 'held' onto this backing by a water-soluble adhesive, which dissolves when the entire decal is immersed, allowing the printed image, on its clear carrier film, sealed with the manufacturers's varnish, to release. A further coat of 'new' varnish should not have any detrimental affect, although it might take a little longer to release from the backing when soaked.
You are correct in thinking that 'extra' varnish may affect the 'draw down' and conformance of the decal, but this is fairly minimal and, especially with a decal softening solution, such as 'Micro Sol', there is no reason why a decal so treated shouldn't perform 'as normal', albeit perhaps a little slower than if 'new'.
Back in the 'good old days', before the advent of after-market accessories, and especially before home computers and their associated printers, modellers, including a then young 'me', often made their own decals, by varnishing ordinary gummed labels, hand-painting the required design, and then varnishing this which, once fully hardened, was used in the same way as a commercial decal.

 

[Crimea_River]

Good chemistry lesson here. Well, for what it's worth, there was no apparent dissolving of the Future on these decals. For small ones like this, I tend to dip the decal in water briefly and removed it to my cutting pad to loosen in the small amount of water sticking to the decal. I saw no flakes in the droplet on top of the decal. nor were the decals sticky once applied, so if it did dissolve, it would have done so quickly and completely within the water droplet. I tend the think the Future coat stayed intact.

 

[fubar57]

Looks great Andy. Shame the decals weren't correct.

Geo

 

[Crimea_River]

Perfectly fine Geo. Your donation enabled me to go with this scheme and I'm very happy with how it's turning out.

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Hugh.

Had the day off today so I finished the decals and applied a flat coat. First off, I masked the underside roundel areas and painted in a medium sea grey disc to simulate the overpainting of the old type C roundel.

While waiting for the topside decals to cure, I started to apply a wash to the underside around the engine, and area that was typically pretty filthy.

The next series of pics show the topside decals after flat coating. I also added the small intakes on the sides and painted them to match the dark blue of the SEAC roundel. Note that the roundels, which are from an Eduard sheet, are a bit on the thick side and that they did not fully settle into the panel lines. This has since been rectified by running a scalpel along the line and applying some more setting solution. I;ll show more pictures of the finished results later.

Close examination of pictures of camouflaged FAA Corsairs show no evidence of stencils having been applied so I happily left these off. The next step will involve installing the landing gear and the prop, which is one its way from Cory, whio antenna, and giving the plane a bit more of a weather beaten look. Thanks for looking in everyone.

 

[chris brown]

She's coming along quite nicely, Andy! Great job. That last pic shows just how much of the detail in the cowling you added really stands out and looks sharp.

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers Chris. Just finished setting it on its gear and allowing the cement to cure overnight.

 

[Wurger]

Nicely done Andy.

 

[Wayne Little]

great transformation Andy with the decals, she looks good man...

 

[Totalize]

YES and Double YES. She's looking very nice Andy!

 

[vikingBerserker]

Just beautiful Andy, just beautiful!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks everyone.

 

[mikewint]

I'll add a triple YES to that! The scoop looks good and matches the decal precisely very nice

 

[Airframes]

Looking the biz Andy.

 

[dneid]

I have to say that looks very nice, Andy!!!