Damaged Decals Question

[Kirk]

I have a DML/Dragon Fokker DVIII/EV that's about half built. The problem I've run in to is that the plastic wrapping the decals came in stuck to the front of the decal sheet. I tried to be as careful as possible, but some part of the glossy coating on the decal sheet tore off when I peeled off the plastic wrapper. Now the decal sheet has spots where you can see the glossy covering is missing although the actual colored decals are still fine. My questions are these:

Can the decal sheet be used as is or will the decals come apart when I put them in water? How important is that glossy coating?

I have a can of Testors gloss clear lacquer. Should I spray a coat of that on top of the decal sheet to restore the coating or will the decals work without doing anything to them?

I'd like to fish the model but I'm not sure if the decal sheet is damaged beyond use or not.

Thanks for any help.

Can ou apply the decal, mask it off and spray the drcal surface in place, then remove the masking tape?

[CWatson]

Kirk,

I am slowly building the same kit myself,mine was missing the decals.I was warned by fellow modelers that the kit decals were terribly inaccurate.I was given a set of DML decals that was suppose to come with it and some Eagle Strikes.I can tell you now the Eagle Strikes are much nicer looking and the colors look more "right".The DMLs seemed very orange in compairison.

After I used the DMLs as a pattern to shape the Eagle Strikes I used them to line the inside of the cockpit interior.

This is my first lozenge covered model so I can not compair it to other brands but the Eagle Strikes look good and applied easy.If I were you I would go a route other than the DMLs.

I have seen the decals listed at [www.squadron.com] , [www.rollmodels.com] and even on Ebay.

Charles

[StephenLawson]

Greetings all;
The profile that DML chose is labeled wrong. In this era of study most of us come to know quickly that, when you see photograph of a man standing, sitting in or flying an aircraft you can not assume that it was their assigned aircraft. Oblt. Eric Löwenhardt commander of Jasta 10, went to the Jasta 6 airfield and borrowed a Fokker E.V to test fly and familiarize himself with the type. To answer your question directly yes you can use the DML even if he top coat of gloss has pulled away. Unless you are afflicted with AMS (ADVANCED MODELERS SYNDROME) it won't be too large a concern for anyone who is just building the kit OOB.

The position of the stripes on the Horizontal Tail surfaces is wrong. The black is where the white should be and the white is where the black should be. The personal markings on my sheet are translucent and the waving line is wrong in its designed layout.

The kit provided four colour lozenge decals are way too florescent. It may help to paint all "fabric" covered areas a dark green to mute the kit loz. when applied.

In recent years there has been a good deal of focus placed on the photographic evidence concerning markings and the camouflage of these types. See the aircraft title elsewhere on the "drome." We know that mostly, four colour Lozenge was used and that in a few cases five colour camouflage was used on some portions of he airframe. The only existing portion of a production Fokker E.V is the vertical tail unit of 149/18 ( it is in 5 colour Lozenge.) The Top wing was thought to be a solid dark green is now known to also have been streaked like the Fok.Dr.I or had patterns of the camouflage pattern sprayed on at the factory levels. They are good for making patterns when using better decals. I also prefere Eagle Strike over any others. Copper State was a stong second in the upper surface 5 colour pattern but their OOP.