It was all going so well...
Then I decided to apply the underwing roundels. These were spares from a WNW 'Hisso' which I'd chosen as they matched exactly the shade of blue I have always had in mind for the fancy fuselage paintwork. The other decals from this set had gone onto a WNW SE5a perfectly without any problems so I had no reason to believe anything would go amiss here. Unfortunately age may have had something to do with what happened (which is a bit worrying for the 50 or so WNW kits patiently waiting their turn in the stash!)
Anyway, on with a coat or two of Klear to give the decals a smooth surface to bond with, then slide them off and into place. They settled down nicely and I set aside to dry off. Unfortunately next day, there were large patches of air under both decals and I assumed the adhesive had lost its 'stick' so applied a copious amount of Klear over and under and again set aside.
Later I was concerned to see extreme wrinkling over both decals, but set aside to dry out completely in the hope that it would all settle down. It didn't and I decided next to apply some Microsol - wrinkling got worse. Oh sh*t! OK let it dry completely again and we'll try some Humbrol DecalFix, which I've found in the past usually zaps anything - but not these recalcitrant b*st*rds! Now I'm really panicking and contemplating stripping the whole thing back down, respraying and using masks to spray the roundels on ..... or, throwing the whole thing in the bin!
A day away from the model and... let's try one last option: hair dryer on gradually increasing temperatures. At first nothing, then as I began to worry the decal would shrivel up and melt, hallelujah, it started to settle (under increasing pressure and coaxing from my fingers). Port side OK, Starboard still very slightly creased but this is as good as I am going to get.
Step back for another day or two.
So you can see why no posts recently. You think you've experienced everything with decals, then out of a clear blue sky the modelling gods decide to have a bit of fun at your expense!
I need to give it some time then apply final varnish to make sure it won't all go pear shaped and wrinkle up again at the last stage. I don't think I'll risk W&N. I think Tamiya acrylics will be safer with their ultra fast drying time. If this is OK then we can proceed with construction and get on with mounting upper wing etc.
So frustrating as I'd spent careful time carving new pointy exhausts etc and I've kinda invested too much to bin it all now.
Anyway, here we are at the moment.
Sandy
