Course correcting a decal disaster

Brucebruce · Post by **Brucebruce** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:23 pm

Hi all,

As I've mentioned in nearly every post I've written, I'm terrible at this hobby! I've only been doing it about six months but I don't think I'm going to get much better!

I'm currently building the amt 1:2500 Enterprise D and I'm planning on lighting it. I'm at the decal stage and it's gone poorly. It went poorly because I am terrible at keeping my hands still.

This is what it looks like:

http://i.imgur.com/tnUBon2l.jpg

Like I said, terrible!

I thought maybe I could make it some sort of battle damaged Enterprise (to cover the mess).

Any recommendations of how I'd go about this? Am I right in thinking that if I spray it with future then I can mess about with oil paint and/or ground up pastels and if I mess it up they'll wipe off?

I know most of the weathering type techniques but I've never tried any of them!

Does anyone have any advice about how they'd go about it?

Also, there's no decals on the middle as I shredded them.

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:42 pm

Looks pretty darn good to me! Did you lose some aztec decals? If so, just get some more and continue. Or teat the blank areas as repaired or repainted hull sections, or park some mysterious equipment there. As I said, looks good so far to my uncritical and unquestioning eye.

Brucebruce · Post by **Brucebruce** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 3:48 pm

Hi,

Yeah I shredded quite a few of the decals and several others are quite squinty!

The other side has gone a lot better so I'm planning on finishing it and then doing as you suggested, painting it to be a lot brighter/shinier to make it look new :S hehe

USSARCADIA · Post by **USSARCADIA** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:53 pm

Not sure what decals you're using, but you may want to spray them first with a clear spray, like Krylon Crystal Clear. That should keep them from breaking apart. If the sheet is one saucer half(which would be hard to work with) consider cutting each half into pie wedges, smaller sections that are easier to work with. hope that makes sense, decals can be a pain and can test your patience. Good luck.

TurkeyVolumeGuessingMan · Wed Sep 24, 2014 8:46 pm

I am curious about that Krylon Crystal Clear. I never used any Krylon stuff even when I lived in the States, but it seems to be a safe acrylic spray to use.

I have used Testors Decal Bonder spray on Tamiya decals because they were so brittle and had to order replacements. The stuff's main purpose is for use with their decal paper for homemade decals, but it also works to strengthen pre-existing decals. Microscale Liquid Decal Film is something you can just paint onto with a brush and it protects decals too. I painted this stuff on a Fine Molds TIE Interceptor's decals, but I have yet to apply them.

Bellerophon · Post by **Bellerophon** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:14 pm

Don't be too hard on yourself. A lot of people have trouble with Round 2's decals. Also, that inner ring of decals looks like there is no way to get it to fit. And, yes, battle damage is the traditional and fun response to all modeling disasters. (In grade school, my attempt at scratchbuilding the Hindenburg ended up as the "after" picture.)

Brucebruce · Post by **Brucebruce** » Thu Sep 25, 2014 5:15 pm

Thanks for the support!

I'm not sure if I mentioned but the surface was spared with future prior to placing the decals on. Should I coat the decals in future first too? Is that what was being suggested?