Home Racing World

Running into a problem I haven't had before. When I apply a decal it wants to grab immediately, not giving any time to slide it into final position. RRR decals on both bare acrylic, and acrylic with a thin spray coat of Future. I've gone to the method I found here for releasing decals paper-side down on a wet paper towel instead of submerging in water; is maybe too much of the adhesive being retained? I've torn one or two trying to adjust them just a smidge- what do I need to change? The paint and Future surfaces were about 24 hours old; maybe more dry time?

I found that for small decals (HO and small detail items in 1/32nd), the towel method is fine, but my standby, never fail, even if the decal is 40 years old... you get the idea. I got this from Louisville's Mark the Master Builder.

Dip the decal in water and take it out. Set it aside and wait. When you can easily slide it, you are ready. I clip the decal in a "mosquito" hemostat from the very start until I slide it off.

I dip the decal in water count 5 Mississippi set it on a paper towel, then right before applying it I dip my finger in water and touch the car close to where I want the decal to end up, then I use a paint brush to get the water out.

I have had a sticky decal and what I do is dip a paint brush in water then twisting the brush close to the decal edge you can get just a little water in there and you can get it to move.

Hope this helps I sure messed up my share lol

Ok, 5-Mississippi and wait.

Just another problem I didn't have at 12, but do at 58. Adapt and overcome.

On behalf of all of us raised in and on the Mississippi, I thank you.

Mix a little dish washing liquid with the water that you are using. Put a little of the solution where you are going to place the decal, once you have placed the decal you should be able to push it around with the end of a dampened cotton swab. If the decal does not want to move apply more solution around its edges.

My opinion is applying over the Future is probably the problem. It is water soluble and possibly the wet decal is making it sticky enough so the decal gets frozen. Just my opinion. Why do you put decal on top of the future and not just on the paint and use Future on the whole project?

I only tried the Future base coat when I was seeing the sticking problem on bare paint. The five-second dunk with a little detergent sounds like the answer.

Future is not water soluble once it has dried. When I still had aluminum siding the surface became dull and I did the entire house with Future, which lasted about a year and a half before dull spots appeared. If you need to remove Future diluted ammonia takes it off. I do know someone that put Future on a white painted car and that turned a tan color almost immediately.

Then the surface was dirty to start with. Many of my cars with Future and none of this discoloring ever happened.

Good luck with your decals.

Yep, same here I pour the stuff over the model 2 or 3 heavy coats, Future that is

I use a Chinese take out plastic container pour it from the bottle onto the model and drain the stuff back into the bottle have the same bottle at least 5 years and no discolor, lot of dust on a few

I use two drops of dish washing liquid in the water, then I "paint" the area that the decal will placed. Apply the decal and use the corner tip of a paper towel to draw out the excess water from underneath.

Well I used a combination of all of the above, and got everything where I wanted it. Thanks for the tips.