Spitfire IX Build: Fixing Decal Disasters
Hello Modelers, I am very sorry to have been
away from my blog for so long. It has
been some months since I have made an entry, owing to a variety of pressing
concerns, some pleasant and others not; both imposed and self inflicted. All modelers hit slumps, but mine of the last
three odd months has been among my longest periods in recent times where I
could not reclaim my stolen joy (with apologies to Barracuda studios for
plagiarizing their unofficial former slogan).
Previously made statements about having mastered
the application of Decals from Techmod were perhaps mistaken and a little
premature. The Squadron badge, Polish
Air Force “Chessboard” and serial numbers, all from the decal sheet in the
Kagero book, went on fine; sealed under another coat of clear gloss they looked
nearly painted on. But disaster was
waiting just around the corner when I tried to apply the 306 Squadron Code
Letters, “UZ K”.
Those looked like they would go well at first, but
the large clear carrier film proved too much to settle down. As they were being applied, they just would
not adhere to the model surface. I
started to see them silver, then crack with whole chunks of decal flaking
away. No amount of coaxing on my part
could get these things to settle down and conform. By the time I had poked, prodded and pressed
them around, they just began to fracture even more. As the decals dried, the unfolding nightmare
continued to get worse, with whole sections flaking away in some spots.
I set the project aside to study the problem, but the
solution eluded me for a long while. It
just wouldn’t do to leave sections silvered and broken. So I summoned a fair
amount of courage and made the decision to strip off the code letters and start
over again with airbrushing on the letters with the use of a home-cut mask. I burnished on strips of Scotch brand frosted
tape, carefully avoiding those areas where other markings were placed. Using the “stripped off” letters as a guide,
I carefully cut paper patterns of the letters which I then transferred to
Taimya Yellow tape, stuck to a piece of flat glass (taken from an old picture
frame).
I lifted the mask patterns for the letters from the
glass with a modeling knife, and using a horizontal strip of Tamiya tape as a
placement guide, I set them on the model.
It required a bit of pulling, straightening and coaxing but they went into
position. I burnished these down so as
to minimize bleed under effect. I was
now almost ready the paint on the Code Letters right over the camouflage, just
like they did on real Spits during the war years.
Here starts the second great decal disaster: I knew
I wanted to protect the surrounding areas from over-spray, so I hit on the
brilliant idea of placing low-tac Post-It notes around the tape masks. You can see the placement of these in the
photo’s because I knew I wanted to show how I had done this. Brilliant, right?
What I had not counted on was the Post-it notes
actually lifting and tearing the decals away from the model surface, in areas
that had previously been decaled flawlessly. The main damage was to the serial
number on the rear fuselage, and also to the fuselage Roundel on the port side
of the aircraft. After I had calmed down, ranting subsided and the dog
had come out of hiding, the cold reality of how bad I had messed up began to
settle in. It was like going through
stages of grief, where anger eventually gives way to resignation. The model would
have become an aerial test to see if I could hit the trash can with it, if not
for three simple facts. One, this is a very expensive kit, both in terms of
retail value but also from the standpoint of how much time I had already
invested in the project. Two, there is a whole boat load of nearly as expensive
Barracuda Cast aftermarket parts already inside the model. Three, I had already written a lot about this
beast of a project which has consumed about a year of building time and of
which I had posted to this blog to share with my friends. These are the same friends that I tell “I
build models for the relaxation and enjoyment of the hobby”.
So as I mentioned I became busy with a number of
other pursuits, my model building was temporarily set aside for an inspired
moment of realization for what in the
heck I was going to do about this. Many
weeks passed before figuring this out. I
placed a “triangle” of Blu-Tac modeling clay around the chunk that had been
bitten out of the fuselage Roundel. I
sprayed this with some Tamiya X-3 “Royal Blue” – just short bursts with the
airbrush set on a very fine setting, gradually building up the paint until it
became no longer transparent. Once dry,
I applied a chunk of decal (cut from the Tamiya kit decal Roundel) of the
Yellow outer ring with a small bit of Roundel blue over the place it was
missing on the Barracuda ‘Cal . Letters and numbers that were missing were
overlayed with sections of black digits from the decal spares box. All were sealed under another layer of
Gloss.
Thus, progress is at last being achieved. Today marks one year since having started this
modeling odyssey. The current status is
that the Spitfire IX is up on it’s legs, the paint & decal problems are
fixed, and we are on our way to finishing details and a coat of clear flat,
which should take place in the next few days. The motto of the Royal Air Force is worth
remembering here, “Per Ardua, Ad Astra”; through adversity, to the stars.
The next blog entry will not be three months away,
I promise.