Decal help - Lancia Delta XV-01

[tamiya_1971 615]

I just began with decal 1. Big decal and the body curve is ticking me off.  

Any tips on getting the decals to fit around the curves? Heat gun? 

[Willy iine 18805]

Yes, heat gun and squeegee and a dose of hope.. 

I also recommend you use slip solution for larger decals.  

GL!  

[Rally! 150]

A bit of soapy water and heat like @Willy iine mentioned. Also, stay relaxed, don't rush and have fun!

[BuggyDad 4474]

Same here. Container of water with a drop of dishwashing soap in, tweezers, microfiber cloth, hairdryer. Wet the shell, dip the decal in the water, position it, begin to work it on the first plane, bit of heat, gradually heat and work it around bends etc. On the bigger ones you can use a little heat to get a bit of malleability/stretchability into it even when part of the decal is still off the surface. Then finish with plenty of heat and pressure to get it stuck well down. 

It's maybe cheating and not the best finish but there are just one or two corners on the Lancia where I have made a small cut in the decal at the end to create a tiny overlap to deal with its inclination to wrinkle up. So I think that's to be avoided but you have it in back up. 

[droidy 91]

And don't worry if it's not perfect, it will still look great while you're driving it.

[tamiya_1971 615]

Quick question, the decal overlapped the wheel well so I trimmed a bit of it down and stuck around to the other side. Is a sharp exacto the best way to deal with that? I’m betting when the tire rubs, it’ll tear the heck out of that decal.

Two decals down, Lord knows how many are left. The soapy water and a heat gun have worked wonders so far. Not perfect but it is working better than no air and no soapy water! All the suggestions have been great!

[tamiya_1971 615]

I used a fresh xacto blade (50+ year old eyes suck), results:

[BuggyDad 4474]

5 hours ago, tamiya_1971 said:

Quick question, the decal overlapped the wheel well so I trimmed a bit of it down and stuck around to the other side. Is a sharp exacto the best way to deal with that? I’m betting when the tire rubs, it’ll tear the heck out of that decal.

Two decals down, Lord knows how many are left. The soapy water and a heat gun have worked wonders so far. Not perfect but it is working better than no air and no soapy water! All the suggestions have been great!

Looking great! 

It gets easier. The big Martini stripes are the hardest ones. 

4 hours ago, tamiya_1971 said:

I used a fresh xacto blade (50+ year old eyes suck), results:

I did pretty much the same although I don't think I folded any over, I just cut to the edge. I wouldn't worry about it too much if it's a runner because there'll be scuffs and stuff that are far worse. Or you could carefully run the knife along now to cut it flush with the edge. I kind of just felt my way using the lexan edge. Maybe use a new blade just to make sure it slices off really cleanly? Then heat again to make sure it's well stuck down, when you're doing another nearby decal. 

[Gebbly 588]

I havent put decals on my GF01 yet but on static models I use MicroSol and MicroSet and they work really well to make the decal pliable for fitting and then tighten up and fit all the crevices.

[alvinlwh 5895]

1 hour ago, Gebbly said:

I havent put decals on my GF01 yet but on static models I use MicroSol and MicroSet and they work really well to make the decal pliable for fitting and then tighten up and fit all the crevices.

Generally markings for RC bodies are vinyl stickers not decals (come to think of it, I had not seen a RC with decals yet). Microsol/set will do nothing to them unlike real decals this.

[Gebbly 588]

Thanks for the correction @alvinlwh

 

52 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

unlike real decals this

Ooh, very nice job.

[alvinlwh 5895]

2 hours ago, Gebbly said:

Ooh, very nice job.

This one is not too difficult with Microsol/set, I have a 24237 that I dare not start.

[tamiya_1971 615]

I think it’s universal to call them decals whether applied with water or they have an adhesive, but forgive me if I continue to call them decals. 😀

These things are a pain. Getting close to the end and nowhere near perfect. Like @droidy said, it should look great while you drive it. The heat gun and water have helped immensely though. 

[dmiles 23]

looks better than what i did. i spent hours on decalling it

[Gebbly 588]

As I say I havent braved the stickers on my GF01 yet. I hadnt realised they were stickers rather than decals. If they are stickers then I am confused by the suggestions of soapy water, wont that stop the glue from working? I feel some more youtube tutorial browsing coming on.

[BuggyDad 4474]

58 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

As I say I havent braved the stickers on my GF01 yet. I hadnt realised they were stickers rather than decals. If they are stickers then I am confused by the suggestions of soapy water, wont that stop the glue from working? I feel some more youtube tutorial browsing coming on.

It's perhaps counterintuitive but no, it works fine. Sticker is movable while there's a layer of water underneath and as it begins to dry and/or get pushed out it sticks. In fact much of the time it sticks pretty much straight away somewhere on the sticker, just easier to peel it off if you need to, while it remains wet. So rather than full adhesion straight away as you get with a dry sticker, the adhesion builds as you work it a little, and/or apply heat. 

I haven't experimented with pure water but that might work too. I've had only a drop of detergent in perhaps 0.5L water. 

[Gebbly 588]

7 minutes ago, BuggyDad said:

It's perhaps counterintuitive but no, it works fine

Well blow me! Thanks all, thats going to make applying the stickers easier then. I would never have considered that.

[alvinlwh 5895]

3 hours ago, Gebbly said:

As I say I havent braved the stickers on my GF01 yet. I hadnt realised they were stickers rather than decals. If they are stickers then I am confused by the suggestions of soapy water, wont that stop the glue from working? I feel some more youtube tutorial browsing coming on.

Soapy water is the same thing they use when applying tinting films to 1:1 cars windows so it work well with stickers. Here is a picture of what I am building now, tight curves, multiple small stickers. Soapy water + heat. A hairdryer on high 2kw setting, I think hot air gun will bubble the paint.

 

[alvinlwh 5895]

3 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

I haven't experimented with pure water but that might work too. I've had only a drop of detergent in perhaps 0.5L water.

Pure water works too, just not as well and you need to drown the surface with it to prevent instant "grab". I don't even bother to measure detergent, just a few drops into a takeaway container.

[BuggyDad 4474]

31 minutes ago, alvinlwh said:

Pure water works too, just not as well and you need to drown the surface with it to prevent instant "grab". I don't even bother to measure detergent, just a few drops into a takeaway container.

The detergent may just be there to reduce surface tension then. Keeps the water spread out thinly rather than beading up. 

[tamiya_1971 615]

22 hours ago, dmiles said:

looks better than what i did. i spent hours on decalling it

You aren’t looking close enough!   I’m hoping to finish it up this weekend. The other side that hasn’t been photographed is atrocious.

[Big Jon 684]

13 hours ago, BuggyDad said:

The detergent may just be there to reduce surface tension then. Keeps the water spread out thinly rather than beading up. 

Yeah, it’s a surfactant. I use ammonia-free glass cleaner in a squirt bottle out of convenience, the sticker moves freely until heat and pressure are applied, then it’s easy to dry or squeeze out and mold to surface detail.

[Big Jon 684]

45 minutes ago, tamiya_1971 said:

You aren’t looking close enough!   I’m hoping to finish it up this weekend. The other side that hasn’t been photographed is atrocious.

Nah, it looks great! That’s a tough one to do, and I’d be proud if mine looked that good.

[tamiya_1971 615]

That’s it. I’m done with this thing. It was a Christmas project that just dragged on. Not pleased with the mounting of the body. Front wheel wells should be lined up better, holes were drilled dead on and it still looks off. Snipped the wells a little bit and now just want to go run it. As for the decals, I don’t want to do anything like these again. 🥵. I wish they sold these bodies pre-finished!  
 

 

[BuggyDad 4474]

44 minutes ago, tamiya_1971 said:

That’s it. I’m done with this thing. It was a Christmas project that just dragged on. Not pleased with the mounting of the body. Front wheel wells should be lined up better, holes were drilled dead on and it still looks off. Snipped the wells a little bit and now just want to go run it. As for the decals, I don’t want to do anything like these again. 🥵. I wish they sold these bodies pre-finished!  
 

 

You've done well. I still haven't finished my shell and I bought the kit in early 2022 and built the chassis in October. Slow burn! I fussed about the shell for months before starting it, running the chassis under something else. It seems to me that a Martini stripe shell of some description is a Tamiya rite of passage. The decals are a b****r.

On body position, I see you haven't cut the bumper foam yet but when you do you may find it affects body position. In fact, your shell being above the foam must also surely be sitting quite high? Bottom of my shell and bottom of foam sit pretty much flush IIRC. I have had to cut my foam further bit by bit to allow the body to settle into place rearwards also. And I may still have more to do in that regard. It's also said that the rear wheels could do with spacing out a little to fill the arches. Something else I also have not yet done.