**** DONE: GB-38 1/48 Lockheed P-38J Lightning - Axis A/C

[Crimea_River]

Yep.

 

[mikewint]

Thank you Andy, Larry and Bill much appreciated. God and the Cops willing I'll get decals on tonight

 

[mikewint]

Well decaling be done but all be warned LF and/or KORA decals are crap. #1 The clear part of the decal covers the entire sheet, i.e. the entire sheet is really ONE giant decal. OK I can trim but now there is no way to hold the paper part and slide it out from under OR slide the decal off. As soon as you grip ANYWHERE you have the clear part since it covers the entire sheet.
#2 If that wasn't enough fun the decals are VERY thin and fragile and get worse when wet.
A massive PIA

 

[at6]

You might place the paper onto the model and slide the decal onto the plane and then position the decal.

 

[Wurger]

I would say it is much easier to slide the soaked decal marking a little bit on the paper background. Then using tweezers for catching and holding the paper background move the decal marking on the model sliding it there entirely still holding the paper with the tweezers.

 

[Wayne Little]

Doin' good there, lets see them decal results...

 

[mikewint]

place the paper onto the model

Was able to do that in a few open area spots but in a tight space there was simply not enough room to do that.

lide the soaked decal marking a little bit on the paper

Ended up doing that too. Problem with that was that the decal were VERY thin and actually became even more fragile when wet. As I slide the decal off the paper a bit the edge had a tendency to fold under. Then I had to try to hold the decal still on the model and try to get a paint brush under the under-folded edge to straighten it out.
Twas a real PIA in all respects especially the very first two when I still did not realize that the clear part of the decal was continuous. Ever try to cut a wet decal?

 

[Wurger]

To be honest I always cut out the decal markings around to make the clear background as small as possible. But I do that before soaking.

 

[mikewint]

This is the first time I've run into a set of decals where the clear part was continuous throughout the entire sheet. Normally??? each decal is already separate on the paper backing and the clear part might extend a mm or so beyond the color part. With -SOL this vanishes into the model so I've never concerned myself with it in the past.
Experience is directly proportional to the number of ruined parts

 

[Wurger]

BTW.. in the past the kind of decal printing happened quite oftten. Still having such ones in my spare box. IMHO the way of printing is much easier and depends on printers that the decal manufacturers use.

 

[N4521U]

In spite of all the deecal hassle................... Fini!!!!!!!!

Goodonyah.

 

[mikewint]

Thanks Bill. Should have seen the look on my face when I tried to put the first decal on and they all moved!!!

 

[A4K]

Looks great Mike, despite the hassles!

 

[mikewint]

Thanks Evan, pretty basic kit, just a few warped pieces. Painting was a snap with not cammo. The decals were the big PIA. I just never thought to check if they were individuals or not

 

[A4K]

They are indeed deceptive Mike. Have different sheets of such decals myself, some of which I wouldn't have noticed (till it was too late) unless they'd mentioned it as a warning!