heres one for you- i'm going to attempt to restore an older model, and in doing that i think i can get the decals off without damaging them, thing is, whats the best way to keep them safe and usable til i need to put them back? i've already used micro sol on one of the decals and after a few minutes it started to peel off really easily, so thats not a problem but has anybody done this succesfully?

Hi Phil

Sorry no help, but I do not think that is good idea!

Just buy a new set of decals and use them (if that is possible) .. if there is no decal set (or it is OOP) have a look at the Montex or Gators site if they have a usable maskings set or at least generic markings (as roundels, stars, crosses numbers ...)

just my 2 euro ct

best wishes

Steffen

Hi Phil

How long are you intending to keep the old decals before re-applying them? I'm TOTALLY guessing here, but maybe they'd be safe if you kept them floating in a tot of water and re-applied them with PVA adhesive. Perhaps if you laid them on grease-proof paper? This definitely sounds like a project where you should practise on a kit that doesn't matter - and I'd be really interested to hear the results!

All the best

Rowan

i hear what you're saying steffan - so heres the background story to what i'm doing. the decals for this particular aircraft are not in production anymore (and neither is the kit itself i think!) its an airfix chipmunk that flew from RAF newton, which is near where i live, so its a good bet i've watched this actual aircraft flying over

i also have another unbuilt version with different markings and it would be nice to have them on display together, but the one thats built already needs a bit of work to bring it up the the standard that i can build kits to nowadays

that reply took me so long to write, i missed your post rowan! i forgot to mention, i was thinking about putting them on some decal backing paper thats already had the decals used off it, and i should be able to mask some of the decals if they give me problems. i also think the key thing is that once they do come off i should get the filling and repainting done as quickly as possible to minimise any problems keeping them usable
-what am i getting myself into!

i managed to find the original decal sheet yesterday, that has two more options on it, so if this plan goes pear shaped i can turn it into either a canadian chipmunk or an RAF scheme from the 50's