Old cracked decals

[Geoff]

I want to make a model which has been in the stash for a while now, a Bf-109C nightfighter which was based in Norway, a real world build.

When I looked it over prior to starting I noticed the decals had a few small cracks in them which make me think they will disintergrate when I put them into water.

Am I right in thinking I can paint these decals over with Kleer or a varnish to prevent them falling apart? I have not done this before so if anyone has any advice please help.

Thanks - Geoff.

[Ed S]

I've had some luck using a clear varnish such as Testors Gloss Coat sprayed over some old decals.  Other similar varnishes designed to cover homemade decals would probably work as well.  It wasn't 100% but I did salvage some of the decal sheet.  Future doesn't work for this.  At least the one time I tried it, it wouldn't come off the backing paper.

Ed

[thedarkmaster]

My own experiance is very similar to Ed's, with varnish you can salvage some if not most of the sheet, but be prepared to lose some bits.

I do have now some microscale liquid decal film, which claims to be able to " rescue " old decals but i haven't used it yet so cannot comment on it.

[Geoff]

Thanks both!

[Howard of Effingham]

microscale liquid decal works reasonably well.

i have used it on an academy F-14A after some ancient microscale decals 'dissolved' into
zillions of small bits when i tried floating them off the sheet. there was a small amount of
silvering but not anything drastic.

suggest trying on a small unimportant decal from the spares box to help you get used to
using the stuff.