gundam tutorials: how to apply water slide decals

November 12, 2012

water slide decals are very simple to apply and easy to fix it in place. the process may be longer but the results are better than the usual clear stickers. so how would you know if your decals are water slide? the paper backing comes in a darker shade of blue. and is usually sold separately from the kits, but some kits do come with waterslide decals.

materials:
>waterslide decal
>cutter/scissors 
>tweezers
>petri dish
>water
>qtip
>mr.mark softer (optional)
>mr.mark setter (optional)





lets start by obtaining a set of waterslide decals, it can be bought in most stores selling gunpla.
if not, i do believe that some are also sold through the internet.



every gundam kit has a decal guide in the back of its manual, its pretty easy to find and i doubt you are gonna miss something like it.

decide which part you would want to work on first and find its specific decals on the manual.


 once thats done, locate the decal on the decal sheet provided.


each decal has its specific number, find the number you require on the sheet.


cut the needed decal using your cutter, leave a small border from the decal your cutting.


don't cut to close to the decal, leave enough space for you to proceed to the next step.



using your tweezers dip your decal in a small plate of water. keep it submerged for 15 and above seconds, moistening the sheet would allow the decal to easily slide off properly. but keep it down too long and it might float off the sheet instead, getting it back is quite tricky.


before placing the decal apply mr. mark setter on the surface of the piece.


using some q tips gently slide the decal from the sheet unto the piece.
(picturing the process is quite hard)


now as long as the setter solvent is beneath the decal you are free to move the decal to where you wish it to be, just incase the solvent dries, add a bit more.


once the decal is in place, roll a q tip above the decal to release any leftover solvent beneath the decal.


same applies to the mr. mark softer solvent, apply the solvent on the corners of the decal. doing this melts the edges blending it with its surroundings. leave it to settle for awhile and roll another q tip to clean any excess solvent. 

even if the softer is applied the edges are still quite visible, so spraying a top coat or two can do the trick. 


finished.

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