Bert1707820915 Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Help! When I use Humbrol Acrylic spray varnish on my finished models the decals are either lifting or being 'eaten'. I've ben using light coats of varnish and the problem effects Airfix decals and after market decals alike. Any ideas? What am I doing wrong? I've started using varnish to try and protect the decals and it seems I'm just hastening their demise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braille Dave Posted May 29, 2015 Share Posted May 29, 2015 Are you using a decal softener like Humbrol 'Decalfix' or Revell's 'Decal-soft'? If you are, have you left enough time to dry? I usually leave at least 12hrs before overcoating with anything. A solution might be to get something like the Microscale 'Liquid Decal Film' put a thin film of that on the decals and let that dry thoroughly (8hrs+) before spraying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Kullas Posted May 30, 2015 Share Posted May 30, 2015 Are you trying to get the final look in one or two goes with the spray?Mist a light coat on first to lock the decals on and seal the surface. When that dries, put on a second slightly heavier coat, after that is dry do a third and you should have your final finish with decals intact.The carrier Humbrol uses in its spray cans is ''hot'', very volatile, if too much of it gets to your model it can do what you are getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert1707820915 Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 Thanks for the replies, I'm not using any decal softener and I didn't spray the models for over a week after I'd applied the decals (I don't get as much spare time as I'd like!). I applied only a light coat of varnish (or at least I thought I did!) and as I said it's had the same effect on both the kit decals and aftermarket decals - it does suggest I'm doing something wrong rather than a problem with the spray itself. I think I'll try the 'Liquid decal film' and have a few test runs on an old model with some spare decals before commiting to another 'proper' model. Thanks again for the replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad Paul B Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 I have just had a similar experience with my daughter's 727 model. When varnished (Humbrol Gloss Acrylic spray) some of the trim line was turned into a red streak and other sections appear to have either dissolved or lifted and curled tightly. There were a few small holes in the 'Air Canada' decal as well and the wing root footway marking developed some holes. These problems all occurred on the same side of the Model and they were done outside so I did wonder if direct sunlight was an issue. The decals had been in place for a couple of weeks and had been fixed with water (adhesion was not good for some sections - the large tail marking seemd very prone to lifting at the edges and not sitting flat.I have done quite a few models this way without seeing this effect until now. I also used the same can of varnish on another model an hour or so before with no issue so assumed it had something to do with the way the airliner decals were made as they seem to be thicker than most.Some images are attached (not great as I was struggling to get the macro mode on the compact digital to behave properly)/media/tinymce_upload/a08571207a647184509a3bc9458f5694.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/3c9b1c7c2d083d43734eb6c23f331ce8.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/31be9dc2889cd38c2f3f8d8ca7f664d0.JPGMy daughter has a 707 to do next so I am interested in finding out why I have seen this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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