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Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: June 26th, 2016, 8:44 am
by Springy67
Hey all

I recently acquired an Airfix Marauder off eBay. It is the boxing with the decals on brown paper. I seem to recall that these brown paper decals are a nightmare to use but I can't remember what the problem is. Are they prone to cracking? Or is it an adhesion issue (either not coming off the backing paper or not sticking to the model)?

I would be grateful for any advice on what the problem is with this type of decals and the best solution to deal with them (other than raiding my spares or going aftermarket!).

Cheers
Springy

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: June 26th, 2016, 11:01 am
by Ratch
They need soaking for ages before they'll release from the backing paper IIRC

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: June 26th, 2016, 11:38 am
by fredk
Wot he says
IIRC very, very warm water helps to get them off the paper.

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: June 26th, 2016, 3:47 pm
by 59North
Springy67 wrote:I recently acquired an Airfix Marauder off eBay. It is the boxing with the decals on brown paper.
I never heard of that before. This must be a really old boxing, maybe from the 50's.

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: June 26th, 2016, 4:51 pm
by fredk
59North wrote:
Springy67 wrote:I recently acquired an Airfix Marauder off eBay. It is the boxing with the decals on brown paper.
I never heard of that before. This must be a really old boxing, maybe from the 50's.
The kit was first issued in 1973 ;-)
Here's a link to a build of the B26 on the ATF
http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.o ... ls#p595155;

The boxing in the review, with brown paper decals, is a type 15, I think, from about 2005/06

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: June 26th, 2016, 10:28 pm
by Springy67
Thanks guys

It's the same release as in the build review fredk linked to. The mounds appear to have held up well, there is only minimal flash and fit, so far, is good.

So they need soaking in very warm water but, otherwise, they work okay, right?

Cheers
Simon

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: June 26th, 2016, 11:03 pm
by fredk
A very long soak.
eg; with my recent Harrier T10 I dipped the decals in warm water, put them on my decal plate and they were loose in about 30 seconds. The last brown paper ones I did took several minutes laying in the dish of water before they came loose.
IIRC it took an awful lot of micro sol/set to get them to conform to [tight] curves.

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: October 3rd, 2016, 10:11 am
by Eric Mc
For a brief period, just before the Hornby takeover ten years ago, Airfix decals were printed on brown backing paper. I think they were from India. I built one kit that had them (a mid 2000s issue of the old tool Gladiator). The problem I had was that the brown backing paper began to disintegrate before the decal was ready to slide off.

The backing paper was more like blotting paper.

Re: Airfix brown paper decals

Posted: October 16th, 2016, 2:51 am
by Springy67
Finally got to the point of decalling the Marauder. The decals came off the backing paper quickly and easily in warm water but some proved to be quite brittle. Also, they showed an odd tendency to suddenly clamp themselves to the kit - I'd be trying to float them into position, they'd move easily and then - bam - they would attach themselves like a lamprey. That's when the brittleness became an issue.

Anyways, got there in the end.