Old decals. At your own risk...

[NWarty]

So today, I decide to go down and admire my buggies in my man room.

I have nine, but I also have a 58001 Martini Porsche 935 that I restored two years ago. I decided to use modern vinyl decals (thank god) and use an old sheet to do the windshield "Martini Porsche" banner on top and the driver helmet decals. Keep in mind that my man room is nearly underground, completely void of natural daylight, and stays at 60 degrees F. This model is also in a glass enclosed display case.

I came down to look at it when I found this:

Completely peeling away from the windshield. Now. The option at this point is to use a white glue solution to get it back on.

Don't hold on to those vintage decals because you're going to have a mess on your hands. Even the static kit's decals after a decade are suspect. I experienced it again with doing an McLaren MP4/8 Senna model a year ago. I used a new "Marlboro" sheet to complete the model. They don't hold up, period. Those new-in-box Martini Porsches from 1978 will have decals that will never be applied as they'll tear apart on contact or disintegrate upon contact . It took over 10 minutes of soaking this one banner decal to even pull off the sheet.

MP4/8 with a new decal sheet

And regarding decals and my knowledge, I also built this

[Frog Jumper]

Nice Nimitz!

[pizzachaude]

That carrier is spectacular man!!! Wish I had more time to try this one day

[NWarty]

Thanks guys! That's 3 1/2 years and 750+ hours of pain

Got me thinking about the window decals and fixing the tears with a smidgen of glue and then semi gloss clear over the top after the glass is masked off.

[OCD]

I really hate that so many amazing kits, both R/C and static, were originally produced of materials with such a short life expectancy; I've noticed that even the vinyl decals that come in modern Tamiya kits are prone to shrinking as well. I've seen it in a few of my own kits that aren't more than 4-5 years old.

Anyhow, it got me thinking, and I googled this:

http://www.oldmodelkits.com/blog/plasitc-model-kits-how-tos/more-on-using-or-restoring-old-decals/

[NWarty]

Kind of sad when you think about a really nice NIB kit that'll probably never be built, well...because it can't, given the decals. I wouldn't even attempt it if I had one. A big box of plastic and metal just sitting there. Makes me relieved I went the way I did with the tam tech vinyls instead of spending an outrageous sum on vintage prints. I shelved my 25 year old McLaren build when the decals broke apart and was very fortunate to find newly printed replacements from Japan for the kit.

[Hibernaculum]

Kind of sad when you think about a really nice NIB kit that'll probably never be built, well...because it can't, given the decals.

Yes, that lovely 935 had waterslide decals - and over time, they dry out and peel

I suspect a clear-coat technique might help them stay in place. If I was building one from a NIB kit, I would still use the original decals and just accept that some clear coat (sprayed in insolation, with about 1-2mm clearance around each decal) would be necessary to preserve them. An old thread here.

Luckily Tamiya switched to sticker decals soon after. Someone else may know exactly which few early on-road kits were limited to waterslide. Perhaps it was just the first two Porsches, I'm not sure.

[NWarty]

Would agree Hiber, the only solution to protect them once they're on, is to clear coat. Getting them off the decal sheet and onto the car is a different story.