It was a dark and stormy night! I had been running through the rain. I was soaked to the bone and the lead soled boots I was wearing slowed me down terribly. I had been hit by a couple of errant lightning strikes in my smoldering neck bolts. I could hear the distant crys of the angry villagers. Over the few hills behind me I could see he flickering lights of their torches and hear the howls of the hounds as they searched for my foul stench in their flaring nostrils! At least the rain had kept them from fixing on my direction.

They were after me and the secret I carried. For the good doctor had not only harnessed the secret of my souless existence by had also tattooed the greatest secret of all - on my back. The secret of "how to successfully apply the early versions of the Eduard WWI aviation decals." It was my hide they were after. To tan and bind in book form that in the common tongue was to be titled "The fellowship of the plastic wings."

In between my trudging and paniced running I begin to realize that if I am lost that the secret must survive. So I picked up a slab of marble stone and began carving the secret into its face with one of my jagged finger nails. . .

To clear coat brittle or inflexible decals we have several offerings for out use.

The easiest is to clear coat the decal first. With gloss or flat lacquer sprays you have about 24 hours (depending on humidity to use the decal before it turns solid on the surface. To bring back a little of the plyable character you need to use HOT water to briefly soak the decals in. It also has to be cut very near the edge of the decal coloured ink.

Another method is Microscale "Liquid Decal Film". I have used it on almost every decal sheet that I use, including some older lozenge decals. with excellent results. Micro-Sol works well on almost every decal as it softens and draws decals over highly irregular surfaces. Solvaset does the same job but is a little bit stronger than Micro-Sol. However be warned-not every decal reacts well to Solvaset, especially the old FCM decals.

One fellow has said, ". . .I make a lot of my own decals and depending on my mood, I will use Testors Glosscoat or Microsol Liquid Decal film. On kit decals that are questionable like the Roden decals, I'm using the Microsol Liquid Decal Film (I've got a piece of Roden loz drying at this time) figuring that they only need a little help. On my own decals I like the Testors glosscoat (#2936) in a spray can for a little extra protection against the inkjet colors running. Two thin coats are fine. You can go overboard with this and wind up with decals as thick as a piece of slate. Be careful. Both seem to work just fine for me in respect to flexibility and using setting solutions on them.

During the building of the Battle Axe D.VII, I made all my own decals including the loz and went crazy when Micromark discontinued their Decal Fixative. I tried a lot of products for topcoating the decals without much success until I tried what was in my drawer the whole time. . ."

Another modeler has given us, ". . .Regarding the problems with brittle Roden decals on their Fokker D.VII kits I found that washing down the wings with a really thin wash of acrylic varnish and the while everything is still wet with the lozenge decal applied I went over the model with a hot air gun ( BE CAREFUL NOT TO HEAT TO LONG MY UNDERCARRIGE STRUTS MELTED A BIT) it seems that roden decal ís heat sensitive and when they reach a certain temperature they become very soft and conform to most fine details. . ."

Next Chazzie gave us, ". . .I concur Guy, I get it here as Microscale SuperFilm and it saved the Roden decals for my 1/72 Pfalz D.IIIa. I do use a gloss clear lacquer fixative over home made Inkjet decals, as the SuperFilm is an alcohol base and would disolve the tender InkJet inks.

Future is great stuff for clear parts, but I don't use it for a decal prep gloss, it's too fragile. It does fine for a final gloss, should one wish something to look that shiny. I don't, at least not in my aircraft.

If you use any Lozenge decals, I have found it best to use a gloss paint base, preferably toward the light shade in the Lozenge. The decals adhere better to a gloss painted base and snuggle down better also. As with any large decal, one must keep their eyes open for air bubbles and nick them. I apply my Lozenge in the method called out in the instructions, so I don't have the entire wing to cover at once. Each Lozenge section is allowed to settle before applying the next. Time consuming, yes, but hard, no.

This is my Eduard 1/48 Seimans Schuckert SSW D.III using Microscale four-color upper and lower Lozenge. Lozenge on the wing struts was painted. . . the Aeromaster decals made by Cartograf, lacked adhesion (I added Elmer's to my water to aid here) and would not react to any decal solvent I had. I waited for them to set, then cut them with a #11 blade and applied a line of Elmer's to the recesses, then nestled them down with a damp swab. It was a bear, I stayed with them all day . . ."


For me my reason for clear gloss is that I usually have a gloss surface to lay the decal on in the first place. Then it gets an overall flat coat. Decals adhere better to a gloss coat and no trapped air under the decal means that you avoid that nasty silvering. Since most WWI aircaft left the factory in a gloss finish but rapidly turned to a flat as it was exposed to the weather and sunlight during operational duties, you can get away with quite a bit as long as you can justify it.

The flat coat brings the viewer into the build. gloss tends to make the viewer move to see the details that are in the glare from your light source. If it is perceived as difficult to view the person may move on to another kit and miss the work you have done. This is bad for contests. Gloss works for cars and aircraft that have smooth surface details. I would like to try Guycanuck's suggestion. But the easy fix is to bond the surface of the decal if the fractures are surface types. Remember the 1/32 Fok. D.VII Battle Axe kit? The 1st issue kit lozenge had a weak carrier and a thick over coat. When I tried to cut the rib tapes from extra lozenge some of the ink flaked away in th water. Not much you can do about that but keep trying. I wasted a half a sheet of lozenge to get what I could use. End of chapter one.

For the old Eduard decals it is a simple matter. The two Sopwith Pups I built had little or no concerns in their applications. HOT water. dry gloss surface, add a little saliva, smeared on the location, Micro set and then the sol. Never a problem. If I were to use them today ( 10 - 16 years after they were made I would do a test run trying to apply them normally with one exception. Over spray the decal with a clear coat. let it dry to the touch. Cut out the decal and apply it. I still have two unbuilt Sopwith Pup kits so maybe its time to test this out? End of Chapter two.