winterdyne Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 I do intend to put together a full .PDF for an IF assault marine from start to finish, so this is just a temporary thing. I see the questions asked a lot, so thought this may help. You will need: A sharp knife. REALLY SHARP. A pair of good quality scissors. A pair of really good tweezers. Mine are swiss jewellers' tweezers that I inherited from my late father. They're older than me, and will most likely survive me into the service of one of my kids. Microsol. Microset. A wet pallette (without parchment) - a sponge in a tub of water is ideal. A soft brush - a used (clean) drybrush is great. Gloss varnish (as a seal) Matt varnish (to finish) http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/glossed_marine.jpg Step 0: Gloss the mini! This is important, you need a flat, smooth surface for the decal to sit on. Matt surfaces have a roughness to them that will trap air under the decal, causing it to silver. You don't want this. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step1.jpg Step 1: Trim the decal you're going to apply as close as possible to the printed area. You may want to leave a little bit of film to act as a 'handle' for pulling the decal around if the decal has a lot of printed area on it. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step2.jpg Step 2: Put the rest of the decals away. You don't want to splash them, spatter them with paint or otherwise mess with them right now. They're safest in a baggy and put aside. Honestly, don't skip this step - only have out the decals you're actually going to be immediately working with. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step3.jpg Step 3: Place the decal on your wet pallete, printed side up. The water will leech into the backing paper, loosening the decal from the other side, without running the risk of washing away your printed decal (if you possibly didn't seal it too well when printed), or washing away the adhesive. It's also a lot more controllable than having a sopping wet decal. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step4.jpg Step 4: Apply Microset to the glossed model. This stuff softens decal film (a bit), and also seems to improve adhesion. I've heard of folks using spirit vinegar, but I wouldn't know the concentration to use. For the sake of a couple of quid (UKP) this stuff lasts for ages and does the job. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step5.jpg Step 5: Once the decal is loose, place the decal (on its backing paper) on the model near where you want it to be. Use the tweezers (or a cocktail stick) to gently coax the decal off the backing paper onto the model. Generally, once about 50% of the decal is in contact with the model you'll be able to draw the backing paper away. Pull, don't push - pushing will cause the decal to fold, and you don't want that. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step6.jpg Step 6: Adjust the position of the decal so it's in the correct place. Don't worry about it sitting flush just yet, right now it just needs to be aligned correctly - here I've paid attention to the bottom edge. You can see that the top is still loose. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step7.jpg Step 7: Using the brush, start to press down with the side of the brush, rolling it slightly to start bedding the decal down. The brush will also pick up excess solution (so you'll have to dry it occasionally). The decal WILL start to fold in places on a curved surface - don't worry about this too much, just make sure you don't crease it over - it's like ironing your shirt or trousers - you work the creases to the edges. Allow the decal to rest a bit at this point, the setting solution will already be making it fragile and we now want to make sure it doesn't move. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step8.jpg Step 8: The decal is now nearly done - just raised in a few place. Using the brush we apply a bit of MicroSol (the stronger of the two solutions). This will really soften the decal and allow us to bed it down. However, if you move the decal now it stands a really good chance of tearing. So don't. You may notice the decal crinkle a bit - this is OK, don't panic - it will settle down as the solution evaporates. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step9.jpg Step 9: With the brush (dry), gently press down on the decal to remove the excess solution and help the decal conform. It's pretty much a repeat of step 7, only with the stronger solution. It's really important not to move the decal at this point. Allow the decals to set. If you're not using any 2 stage decals, proceed to varnishing. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step10.jpg http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step11.jpg Step 10 & 11: I've used a few 2 stage decals - My IF logos don't have white on them, so the first decal I apply is a plain black ring, which I then paint in with light grey highlighted with white. I then quickly gloss again (particularly on the areas I've painted) allow that to dry, and apply the upper decal so it aligns with the black ring I put on under it. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/images/decal/step12.jpg Step 12: Varnish the mini. It's a really good idea to put on a protective gloss coat to seal the decals and protect against them being rubbed off (especially home-printed decals like these). Then matt down. Job done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterdyne Posted December 13, 2010 Author Share Posted December 13, 2010 The full .pdf version of this tutorial is now available via my blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highborn Mergula Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Wow soo many steps. All i use is a scissor a twezeer and water. you dont need much more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartali Posted December 17, 2010 Share Posted December 17, 2010 @Highborn Mergula - Well you don't need more than water, scissors and tweezers if you don't mind rubbish looking decals ;) Good guide winterdyne. For people in the UK - do any high street craft/model shops sell decal paper ? I'd like to pick some up this weekend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterdyne Posted December 17, 2010 Author Share Posted December 17, 2010 I get all mine online. I've seen some in a local model shop once, but I don't think they carry a permanent stock. Certainly not seen it as a staple product anywhere, even in Hobbycraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan249 Posted January 26, 2011 Share Posted January 26, 2011 This was very informative. Thank you for posting this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthpig23 Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 started using micro sol and micro set and its awesome. Will use this foreve. great tutorial I use this method and all my decals look smooth when complete. thanks for posting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fudblinker Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Yes thank you for this tutorial, I will have to put this to some good use! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffon Games Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Nice tutorial. This is pretty much exactly how I do mine and if you follow it you will get good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fudblinker Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Quick questions on the decals. Do you coat the entire model in the gloss coat or just the area to get the transfer? And if you do just gloss coat where the decal goes will it still stand out compared to the rest of the paint job if you then hit the whole model with a dull coat? The reason why I ask this is when it comes to slapping some decals on vehicles that can be A LOT of model to paint on the gloss coat to keep a uniform look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffon Games Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 It depends. Frankly, when doing vehicles I will tend to just gloss the area that needs the decal - being careful not to add too much gloss. Just enough to get the job done. As you mentioned though, this does mean that you sort of need to work a little extra hard with the flat coat to get the surfaces to blend correctly. I tend to use an airbrush for this stuff so it's not as hard as using a spray can. Even with a can a few coats will do the job. When doing figures I will just gloss the whole thing. It gives it an extra layer of protection you wouldn't get otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterdyne Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 I tend to gloss the whole vehicle, using Klear. It goes on real thin and is really cheap. An airbrush really helps here - ideally a dual action so you get enough control not to oversoak it - you only need a thin coat for the most part. Once the decals are on a quick coat over them with another layer of Klear, before using oils, and washes. The gloss helps with directing washes which otherwise get caught in the roughness of a matt finish and start to spread. This said, I've not noticed any particular difference once the flat coat goes on between an area that's had more gloss (ie where the decals are) and areas that barely get touched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIIILegionaire. Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 I intend to use the Forge World decals to turn my marines into Crimson Fists, will this tutorial work for them as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bat33.1 Posted May 13, 2012 Share Posted May 13, 2012 I intend to use the Forge World decals to turn my marines into Crimson Fists, will this tutorial work for them as well? Yes it works fine with FW decals. If you want something a bit stronger than Micro Sol try and find some Daco decal setting solution, the red label version is awesome for difficult decals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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