How do I revive an ancient decal sheet

[fastmongrel]

I have been given a pretty ancient Matchbox 1/72 kit of the Herschel 126. The sprues look good this is one of the Made in England ones not the revolting Chinese sheet of flash with parts embedded in it.

The decal sheet has shriveled a bit and the protective sheet has glued itself to the decals. I have tried peeling it off but it disintegrates leaving bits of the paper stuck.

 

[hawkeye2an]

Not sure what to recommend for the wax problem. I have saved many an old decal with Microscale Liquid Decal Film, it keeps them from fracturing.

 

[Wurger]

If you put it into the warm water the paper and its remnants should peel off. However the decal markings may crack as mentioned above. But the Matchbox decals didn't fracture so easy. I have still a couple of them in my spare box and applied part of them some time ago without any trouble.
I think you may check it. Just cut out with the protective paper together , the "HENSCHEL 126" printed on the white bacground and soak it in the water. The paper should peel off itself and the inscription should unstick as one decal marking without cracking. If not , you may use hot steam carefully warming up the protective paper above a kettle or an iron with the steam generator.. when the paper is removed the decal sheet has to be dried and then covered with a clear gloss coat to protect the decals against fracturing.

 

[Airframes]

I agree with Wojtek.
Another method, which I've used mainly with success ( the odd small area being damaged, but mainly useable ), is as follows.
Lay the decal sheet flat, on a piece of tissue or kitchen towel.
Using a medium-sized, soft paint brush ( a No.3 is good ), dip this into luke-warm water, and very carefully brush around any edges of the cover tissue which are not stuck, with the brush on the surface of the tissue, slowly and carefully lifting away the tissue. Avoid "flooding" or over-soaking the area - just make it damp, so that the tissue either starts to dissolve, or starts to separate from the decal backing sheet.
Once the tissue starts to separate, it should be possible to remove fairly large areas, by repeating the above, and allowing the tip of the brush to get under the tissue in order to help lift the tissue, although some small "knots" may remain.
To remove these, use the brush, just dampened with water, and progressively move this over the affected area(s), when the remaining tissue should roll into balls and dissolve.
The decals may possibly start to lift very slightly, but leave this, and let it dry naturally, when they should then settle back onto the backing paper.
Also, if the decals have turned really brittle with age, any cracking will probably be apparent at this stage.
Once satisfied that the decal sheet has fully dried (it may be slightly wrinkled, but should be fine - just don't soak the sheet when removing the tissue.), any remaining "dust" from the tissue can be removed by carefully wiping with a soft cloth..
Use an unwanted decal, for example, the "name plate", to test for cracking etc.
If this is OK, then the decals are probably usable, when any remaining small "dust" areas will dissolve away in the water when soaking the decal for use, and can be easily wiped off once the decal is in place.
However, if the decal sheet is now clean, after removing the tissue as described, and once fully dry, then a coat of clear gloss varnish (not "Future"), preferably sprayed, will seal the decals and allow them to be used as normal. I keep a spray can of gloss artist's varnish just for this purpose, used for any old decals which could cause problems.

 

[fastmongrel]

I experimented with the name plate as suggested. The tissue went soggy very quickly and floats off the decal. The decal went down on top of some humbrol DecalFix and seems to be sticking. I am leaving it overnight to be sure.

 

[Airframes]

Good to hear - hope the rest work OK.

 

[Builder 2010]

Another approach, more technical, but would yield very good results would be to scan the sheet at high resolution. Import the scanned document into a vector drawing program such as, Coreldraw (Windows) or Adobe Illustrator (Mac). Re-draw the damaged parts to improve the color saturation and rebuild missing areas, and then print it out on inkjet decal paper. You need to coat the decal paper with a decal sealing film since the inkjet ink is water-soluble. Testor's spray decal film is very good for this or you can use MicroScale's decal sealing liquid either by airbrush or hand brushing. This is a method I've used successfully and does assume that you're able to master the drawing programs. If the sheet was graphically in good shape, you wouldn't need to import it into a drawing program. You could just edit the image in a photo editor to intensify the color, and then print on decal film. You print the decals at the same settings you'd use to print photographs, i.e., High resolution, photo glossy paper.

 

[Wurger]

I experimented with the name plate as suggested. The tissue went soggy very quickly and floats off the decal. The decal went down on top of some humbrol DecalFix and seems to be sticking. I am leaving it overnight to be sure.

 

[rwhiting]

Is there a reason why you have to use those decal sheets? I have several you can have your pick from. I just bought a large cache of models which included several hundred decal sheets. You can have your pick of any of these 3. I will gladly send them to you, unless there's some reason why you have to use that sad looking sheet. It's the challenge, isn't it?

 

[SaparotRob]

Is there a reason why you have to use those decal sheets. I have several you can have your pick of. I just bought a large cache of models which included several hundred decal sheets. You can have your pick of these 3. I will gladly send them to you, unless there's some reason why you have to use that sad looking sheet. It's the challenge, isn't it?

I'm thinking the challenge!

 

[fastmongrel]

. It's the challenge, isn't it?

It is I am a stubborn bastard

I also want to learn. I reckon if I learn one new thing per kit, then in about 100 kits I will be getting to be a good modeller