My first experience with HGW Wet Transfer Decals

[Gazzas]

Hi Everyone,

    After some wins and failures, I think I've got these figured out. 

 

The wins came on the areas where I had polished the paint to a gloss with 3000, 4000, and finally, 12000 grit micromesh.  They stuck very well, without fail, without using decal solvent.

 

In the areas where I couldn't get in to polish, the story was completely opposite even with decal solvent.  They just didn't want to stick to non-smooth surfaces.

 

When I was patient enough to let them dry for the full period, they sunk into detail very well without decal solvent.  ON the marking where I wasn't patient enough to let them dry for the recommended period, the portion that hadn't sunk in well enough came off with the foil.

 

I find the little ones the most difficult.  It doesn't help that they are squeezed very tightly around the sheet.  Maybe it's just my less-than-nimble fingers.  Hopefully I'll be better with the tiny ones on my next attempt.

 

Gaz

[CANicoll]

I bought these as well, and heard such mediocre results I gave them away to a friend in my local club.  But thanks for this info - where its possible to get a nice smooth surface, maybe they work ok.  Can't wait to see some pics of your results!

Chris

[MikeMaben]

Hey Gaz, which ones did you use ? Rivets ?

 

The instructions say to use fine sandpaper/micromesh before

application. http://hgwmodels.cz/en/content/17-positive-rivets

[Gazzas]

HI everyone.

   No Mike, I'm building a 1/48 bf109G6/AS so I used their 109G/K set numbered 248029.

 

They're not perfect.  The national decals have a bit of unwanted taper (See red arrows)

I don't know if the white spots are my fault or not...  But they'll take paint to fix.

 

....and

There is some visible overlap in the printing.   Easier seen in this macro-shot:

And you can see it appears to have a bit of texture (in macro shots)

 

But here is where they outshine decals....

On these tiny stencils, no bigger than 2mmX1mm it's often easy to get silvering on decals.  None of that here.  It took all of my abilities to get these down right.  It was too easy to have them slightly misaligned, crooked, or even partially slanted like in the next shot:

Even though this photo is blurry, and that I have failed to keep the transfer straight, you can see there is no flash.

 

On the sheet, the stencils are all very close together.  For a klutz like me, it means it's all tweezer work because there is no excess paper to hold.

 

I've always had trouble with silvering on small decal stencils.  So, I think I'll look at more of these in the future.  Hopefully their national markings improve.

 

They're very fragile.  I've ruined a few that stuck well straightaway.  It's very easy for tiny stencils to fold.  At times, while trying to unfold the stencil I've accidentally removed some of the bits that are supposed to stay.

 

I'm hoping that as I use more of them, I get better at it.  I'll borrow this:  YMMV

 

Gaz

[Rick Griewski]

Thanks for posting this experience.

 

Rick