Tamiya Decals on curved surfaces

[blue72beetle 0]

Any tricks on getting these decals to look good on a curved surface? And to stay down? The edges of some stickers on my Ghia keep peeling.

[RichieRich 846]

Heat gun and a popsicle stick. Use the heat gun to heat up the decal for ONE second, maybe two and press down with the popsicle stick. Any more heat and you'll start to melt things. 

[ADRay1000 718]

if you have creases, you can slice them with an xacto and flatten them out a little bit with your thumb.

you can use scrap strips of the clear part of the decal sheet to tape down the side parts of the lamp decals. 

[yogi-bear 2759]

I second using heat gun or hair dyer to warm the vinyl. Just be careful as it's easy to melt, maybe test with some off cuts. But I do it all the time. I've also used super glue to help stick down vinyl, but again you need to be careful as too much and you'll ruin the sticker

[mtbkym01 4787]

Yep, small amounts of heat. I prefer a hairdryer than heat gun as it’s not as intense, but with care you can get away with the heat gun

[Guest]

Tamiya decal glue helps, just don't go crazy with it. 

[sosidge 763]

To be clear on definitions, these are stickers, not decals, and any products you might see for decals won't work on them.

Heat gun and cotton bud is what I use, to be honest I think they can take more than a second of heat, although I use my heat gun on a relatively low heat (suitable for heat shrinking rather than paint stripping!). You'll get a feel for when they have softened up. Quite satisfying to watch the sticker shrink and conform to a surface. Really useful for lots of stickers including the big ones for tinted windows.

Once they have peeled up once you won't get them to stick down again unfortunately.

[alvinlwh 7738]

1 hour ago, sosidge said:

To be clear on definitions, these are stickers, not decals, and any products you might see for decals won't work on them.

Exactly. 

[Otis311 416]

You are attempting to apply one of the most difficult Tayima stickers. It is not impossible though. Like others have mentioned you need to heat them. I used to use a heat gun but I have since acquired a hot air workstation. Designed to be used on surface mount electronics they have a very focused nozzle and precise temperature adjustment.

 

[kevinb120 491]

On 3/7/2025 at 5:31 AM, mtbkym01 said:

Yep, small amounts of heat. I prefer a hairdryer than heat gun as it’s not as intense, but with care you can get away with the heat gun

This.  And use a microfiber cloth(like for eyeglasses) to press the edges down as you want to heat just to the edge of uncomfortable to touch.  Using paper or cotton products could get hung up in the edge of the sticker and paper towels scratch up lexan bodies terribly.  Takes a fairly firm press and working from the center out.   Sometimes Tamiya makes near impossible stickers to avoid having to relief cut or heating the sticker enough it makes miniscule creases.  They are the best stickers in the hobby though, you can heat them and press them into a hard body panel line it will hold fast for 20 years.  These bumperettes have been wrapped for a decade(the Goodyear sticker is aftermarket). Start with the sticker as natural and non stretched/stressed as possible then work the center out with heat and stretching by rubbing down and adding tension working them in, if you start with stretching it will wrinkle more.  You can use something dull like a burnishing wood stick, but be careful not do dent/add lines into it when it's warm.   Sometimes you do it in cycles in sections, warm, smooth some down, warm smooth some down.  Takes practice, after a bazillion water slide and vinyl decals you eventually just know what you can get away with.

But you can only be too hot once. 934 is covered in 3D wrapped sticker trim. Forgive the dust.

 

[OoALEJOoO 3509]

For really stubborn stickers you can do the heating methods as others have pointed out, then after pressing the sticker down, immediately use a piece of ice to settle the sticker in place while it's in shape. This works best when the sticker is warmed, without excess, for a longer period of time before applying ice. After the ice treatment, heat again for a short time with a mild warm temperature to let the glue settle better.

Another way to seal curved stickers curved in place, is to apply some sealing varnish on lift-prone areas. I've brushed Vallejo gloss acrylic varnish with great success and once dry is tough, glossy and invisible.