Decals, soap and water?

[Jozza(2)]

I remember seeing a thing on a model making program saying you can put soapy water onto the adhesive side of decals to allow you to line them up, and then the adhesive will stick when the soapy stuff dries out.

Anyone know if this works, are the Tamiya ones sticky, or are they the ones you soak in water? (I'm about to build a couple of models, first ones I've done in a few years, and would like to know if this will work, and does it affect the life of the decals).

Thanks!

[WillyChang]

What models are you building - RC or 1/24? RC have vinyl stickers with sticky backing, the static models have "waterslides".

With waterslides, you can put a *little* detergent in your pan of warm water to help the waterslides move a little before you press it down.

With RC stickers, you can also spray the body with a little soap solution or Windex to let the stickers slide a little. Then squeeze all the water out and the stickers will stay stuck after the water is gone.

[Jozza(2)]

We will be building a couple of Mad Bull R/C buggies, so I assume they have the sticky vinyl decals. I'll try the soap solution, I don't know if Windex is available in the UK, probably sold under a different trade name to confuse me! I will have a try with a soapy solution..

Thanks for the advice, should be handy as my youngest is 9, and might have trouble getting sticky stickers lined up first time!

[WillyChang]

Windex is just a blue-dyed ammonia-ish solution sold for cleaning household window glass... [8D] you could probably just put some water and a drop or 3 of dish detergent into a sprayer bottle and get the same results (minus the ammonia smell). []

With sticky vinyl, if they aren't in the mood to go around corners nicely, heat them with the hairdryer until they do.

[DerAlex]

I tried the soap-water with midnight pumpkin decals.

It worked almost perfectly . However I had some problems with the decals , but not because of the soapy water. Without it I would have been a lot harder to aply the decals.

[Tamiya1/10]

This is one trick Tamiya don't tell anyone about. Is the same soapy water technique if you ever tint your windows at home or car. The soapy water let you adjust the decals and squeeze out the air bubble before the adhesive sticks to the plastic. You can use a needle to remove air bubbles between decals and plastic.

[Torquer]

Yeah, I use lightly soaped water to apply the vinyl RC decals... Works like a charm and you can get everything lined up perfect. Let it set overnight and your ready for action...or the shelf I guess...[]

Will

[DJTheo]

How about decals that go over edges on 2 perpendicular surfaces, is the sticking power with the soap water enough to apply it on both, or do they lift up on one?