Hey guys, I am building Academy's Black Hawk Helicopter. After all the crazy amounts of work building this thing, IM finally almost finished, but IM having problems with the decals. As soon as they dry, they lift right off the model! Ive tried all sorts of things like setting solution and even a mixture of white glue diluted in water to try to re-affix them, but am not having any luck. I thought about spraying the model with a matt clear coat, but Im kind of scared it might not look right. What do you guys do to keep your decals in place? Any info or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Gary

Gary,
The decals should be applied over a flat, smooth finish. Before decal application, I spray my models with Tamiya gloss clear. This provides the good surface you need to for the decals to adhere properly. After all the decals are on I spray the kit with a dull coat if that's the finish I need.

Hope this helps.

Tin-Can has the method. That's the way I do them also. Flat paint tends to have a fine texture and this is not good for decals. The finish allows air to get under the decals.

Hi Gary

Firstly, welcome to Armorama! I hope you find this place as great as me! :-)

The other guys are right - you should always try to apply decals to a gloss surface, or you will get air trapped underneath.

As for decals lifting off... this sounds pretty extreme. If you've applied them a couple of times there's probably not much of the original adhesive left. I'm surprised the dilute white-glue didn't help, because it's a "classic" fix.

The other thing I'd try is to apply the decals on to wet Future/Klear. When it's dry, an overcoat with matt varnish will even everything out.

Hope this helps

Rowan

I spray mine with a coat of Future floor polish, apply the decals, another coat over the decals only and then apply a flat coat over that. Never had any problems with doing it like that!

Gary, at the risk of sounding presumtuous, you did paint the model, didn't you? You're not trying to lay the decals down on bare plastic, right? Other than a bad decal sheet, I can't think of anything else that could cause this.

Thanks for all of the advice and "welcome's" everyone. I did paint the model the color specified (90% black mixed with 10% gray). I am going to try the clear matt overcoat and see if that works. Thanks again for all the help. I will keep you posted as to how I make out.

Gary

:-) Hi gary, welcome to this wonderful site :-)
How long did you leave the decals in water for? Did you wait for them to float free of the backing? If you did this might be the cause. The decals sit on glue, soaking in water activates the glue, thereby releasing the decal. To long in water will wash away the glue. The trick is to only leave the decal in water for a maximum of 30 seconds. Then take it out and place on a tissue. This will soak up excess water but keep the decal moist. When the decal slides freely on it's backing paper it is ready to be put in position. Some decals take longer to get free than others, don't force them. If you don't let the decals float then my guess is that when they printed that particular decal sheet, they had ran out of glue. If that's the case, writing to the importer should yeald a new sheet. HTH :-)
Mal

Holdfast, I actually only let the decals sit in water for 10 seconds. Then as you said, I sat them on a paper napkin to absorb the excess water and let them sit for another 10-15 seconds to come free of the backing paper. I tried putting them on like that. When that didnt work, I tried using Testors decal setting solution. As someone posted previously, I covered the entier helicopter in MOdel Master "Dullcoat" and that seemed to work great on the decals. However, prior to that, I experimented with something you guys would never even think of LOL. I had an old bottle of "Paul Mitchell Spray Hair Gel" laying around. I used a Q tip to soak it up, then applied the gel around the decal. Sure enough, the gel got right behind the decal and acted just like decal glue......slimy and moveable, and dried clear and strong. Now I know why I dont put that poo-poo in my hair anymore! LOL So, keep that in mind if you ever get stuck on decals. The stuff works great.

First of all, welcome to the best modeling site. :-)

As others have mentioned, you should apply a coating over the paint. This will adhere the decals very well. As for me, I didn't have any problems with them.