FCM Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 For many years I have collected decals from different brands in addition to seeing what happens with the decals that come with the kits. Practically all western kit manufacturers concentrate the production of their decals with Cartograf, but one thing that I have seen in the decals made there is that over the years they turn yellow, it is practically impossible to use the decals made for Hasegawa and Tamiya, which are already yellow in the box, while decals printed in Microscale for more than 30 years are still as new. I discovered that this was because unlike the other manufacturers, which print the clear film as the last layer of printing on the decal, Microscale first prints the clear film and so all the colors over it, in this way even though the film turns yellow, the Decal colors are not affected. That detail was what made me decide to print the FCM decals with Microscale, and I have been very satisfied in these ten years of partnership. LSP_K2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belcherbits Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Just want to put my two cents worth in w.r.t. Microscale. They have been printing all my decals for many years and I have been completely satisfied with the quality. They are opaque and settle down beautifully. Registration, especially in the last ten years or so, has been excellent. I look at ALL the sheets when I receive them and these days, I might have to toss out 2 or 3 out of 500 ... really. I get a lot of positive feedback about my decals. I haven't used Cartograph as a printer but I have seen their results and they are also very good. But Microscale, they are the gold standard as far as I am concerned. Mike Belcher, Belcher Bits LSP_K2 and Peter Browne 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom2 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) Both Cartograf and Microscale are among by favorite decals! Never had any issues with these, they are always perfectly printed, nice saturated colors, can stand a lot of fumbling around, they snuck down in every panel line and conforms to every curve! Warm water and a little of Micro-set and -sol is all you need. Simply put, top notch decals! Edited April 19, 2020 by Phantom2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 My own experience: Cartograph, Superscale and Fantasy Printshop are making excellent decals. The quality of Eastern Europe-made decals is very variable and most of the far eastern ones are not recommended except Tiger Wings and Phoenix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Williams Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) I’m not so sure Tiger Wings gets a recommendation from me. http://www.kitreview.com/reviews/tigerwingsmig19decalsreviewdw_1.htm Maybe they’ve gotten better, but they didn’t make a good first impression on me. Edited April 19, 2020 by Dave Williams Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Browne Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, belcherbits said: Just want to put my two cents worth in w.r.t. Microscale. They have been printing all my decals for many years and I have been completely satisfied with the quality. They are opaque and settle down beautifully. Registration, especially in the last ten years or so, has been excellent. I look at ALL the sheets when I receive them and these days, I might have to toss out 2 or 3 out of 500 ... really. I get a lot of positive feedback about my decals. I haven't used Cartograph as a printer but I have seen their results and they are also very good. But Microscale, they are the gold standard as far as I am concerned. Mike Belcher, Belcher Bits Hi Mike. Great to see you here. I'm looking forward to doing the Revell 1/48 PBY-5A with your fabulous aftermarket tail that fixes the full nappy look in that Cat! Edited April 19, 2020 by Peter Browne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Ray Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 FYI: you guys all talking about the FM-2... I have begun working on a conversion set for the Trumpy F4f-4 again. Stay tuned, I hope to start a WIP thread pretty soon. Hopefully, Jennings will throw a couple in a decal set, especially VC-12. LSP_K2, John1 and Kagemusha 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 Well, it looks I've been lucky as I never had a bad experience with Microscale with their Sol and Set system. Obviously, your mileage can be different but as I wrote, this is my experience. To be fully honest, I did not use any sheet they recently printed. LSP_K2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John1 Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 Somewhat OT but we've got a new 72nd FM-2 coming out: https://www.armahobby.pl/70031-fm-2-wildcat-expert-set.html Now if someone, anyone, would just release this in 32nd!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Mike Posted May 3, 2020 Share Posted May 3, 2020 72? Soon we will have one in an adult size. John1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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