I have been working on this baby, it turned out very well



Until I started with the decals:





Now I know why there are so many complaints about Academy decals.

Be careful, in recent kits Academy is using Cartograph decals which are just perfect but be careful if you find an older kit, this may be the result.

Now I need to find some aftermarket decals ....

Hey Drab,

Bummer on the decal's. I think the one that is curled up can be saved. Did you try a white glue/water mix? An old trick I remember doing with earlier decal sets, the Revell decals come to mind.

Also the water temp. has something to do with the glue activation. With the older decals it seems that the water temp. has to be in the 80 to 105 degree range. The warmer the water, the better. Even with the Cartograph decals, water temp. has to be just right or the glue wouldn't stick to the surface.

You might of known all that.

HTH.

See ya in the funnies.........

I agree, one of the problems many early Academy kits had was the decals. But it was not unique to Academy. If others run into this problem, there is a method you can use to help with the problem, but it may be easier just to buy aftermarket decals. I use Micro Scale decal solution to coat the decals, then use Solvaset to set them-- I don't even try to use other decal setting solutions. After the decal is on and the solution has dried to a point where it's just moist, I use a travel hair dryer (this is a smaller version of a large hair dryer) to play some heat over the decals. This usually gets them to settle nicely, but not always. Academy is not the only manufacturer with this problem-- early (and even some more recent) Roden kits are notorious for this, and many of the early Asian and east European manufactures have the same problems, and occasionally, I've run into some mainstream US manufactures such as Monogram-Revell with similar issues. Additionally, the interim Hornby-Airfix B17G of a few years ago (as opposed to the very early Airfix B-17G and their brand new B17G) was an Academy B17G in an Airfix box-- and it had the same decal problem. Hope this helps some of you who may be frustrated with this type of decal-- unfortunately it's not a unique problem to one manufacturer.
VR, Russ

hoi,

I just ordered aftermarket decals with Hannants.

But I still wanted to show this. It can be useful for everyone

Cool Drab. Hope they get there in one piece.

See ya in the funnies.....

i built the academy mig-29A and i problems with the too. i was putting on Iraqi decals when the Arabic serial number decal folded in on itself, i tried to unfold it and bam! it got destroyed. however, luckily there was other Arabic serial numbers decals for different versions. but it was still very difficult to put on. i think academy's old model kits had terrible decals, but newer models kits are way better.

Drabslab,
I've had my issues with Academy decals over the last few years. The last Academy kit I built was the 1/48 scale F4-B Phantom, and it had Cartograf decals which preformed perfectly with the Micro system. But the stencil sheet was done in house and I needed Solvaset to get them to day down and into the nooks and crannies.

All decals preform their best when loosened off the backing paper with warm water. I just keep on refilling my little bowl with warm sink water. One day I'll find a cup warmer with a thermostat, and finally have conquered that problem.

I've found that the Asian decals seem to be rather on the thick side and need a stronger decal system. So for those times that I have to use them, I've gone to Mr. Mark Setter and Softener. They're much stronger then Solvaset, so easy does it, but the results are well worth the effort.

the down side is that I had to order mine from Hong Kong. Still they got here in two weeks time. Then again, same for the Tamiya panel line wash.

Joel

Yup, my experiences with Academy's older, in-house decals have been bad as well. No breakages though, but headaches dealing with stiff carrier film that refuses to respond even to multiple applications of Micro Sol, poor adhesion to the model's surface, and at times heavy silvering despite a gloss finish under them.

As to decals by other Asian manufacturers (in this case restricted to Tamiya and Hasegawa), I've found them much, much better, settling down without any excessive tendencies to silvering, reacting nicely to decal solvents, and actually snuggling down very well despite their carrier film looking rather thick on the sheet.

I've Never had any issues with Cartograf decals, they're solid stuff!