Applying Lozenge Decals

wbross · 23 September 2005, 09:42 AM

As i said the other day i am new at this and have started a build on the Roden
Dr.1 and D.V1 and was wondering if anyone could tell me where i cna find a good ref. for applying lozenge decals?
Thanks Walter

Barker · 23 September 2005, 09:53 AM

Ask away.

There are people here who live for this sort of thing.

StephenLawson · 23 September 2005, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wbross

As i said the other day i am new at this and have started a build on the Roden Dr.1 and D.V1 and was wondering if anyone could tell me where i cna find a good ref. for applying lozenge decals?
Thanks Walter

Greetings and welcome to the Aerodrome. There are no Fok. Dr.I types that used lozenge. On the Fok. D.VI there is an excellennt thread in the aircraft title here.

From our own Dan San Abbott on the subject of :..The fuselage, fin, rudder, tailplane, all struts, ailerons, under-carriage and axle wing were made at the Fokker Flugzeugwerke. The upper and lower wings were made at the Perzina Pianoforte Fabrik or at the second works, Pianoforte Fabrik Nuetzmann. Fokker owned both of these factories. It seems the Perzina or Nuetzmann used 5 color... in covering the wings and Fokker factory used 4 color on the fuselage and empennage.
excerpted from http://theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21927

Now if your talking about what direction just follow the chordwise application on the wings. See the decal instructions. I recommend Eagle Strike 4 & 5 colour.

wbross · 24 September 2005, 07:17 PM

Thanks for takeing the time to answer.

Best Walter

Kitboy · 25 September 2005, 11:38 AM

That is nice!

I just bought the DVI from Roden two days ago and had the same question

I looked in the link, but isn't the question if there is any reference about if any special techniques should be used applying these decals?

Greetings, Nico

StephenLawson · 25 September 2005, 12:06 PM

If that is what he or you are looking for, the search engine here will pull up several references for "Roden Decals" or "Roden Fokker" and how to avoid problems. Whether their sucsessful or not the thread posters in those topics will say.

Mr_Flibble · 27 September 2005, 05:21 AM

Microscale Sol and Microscale Set are definitely a great help when applying large decals like complete sheets of lozenge-camo. They help the decal to adhere better and form the decal thightly over the details and textures of the surface.

Brad Cancian · 27 September 2005, 05:50 AM

Hi wbros - I'm guessing you are after a description of a technique for applying lozenge decals in general? If so, I'll chime in and briefly describe the technique I used on my last model (Eduard Albatros D.III), which was my very first time using Lozenge decals - quite daunting the first time around I must say!! I used Eagle Strike lozenge and rib tapes - I had absolutely no dramas with this brand of lozenge decal and from what I am told the colours are fairly spot on.

The first thing I do is spray the area with a clear gloss coat, this helps the decals adhere much better. I then cut the decal slightly over-size so it will hang over the edges of the piece I am applying it to. Next I apply some Microset to the area (Microset being a wetting agent to aid in decal adhesion), then place the decal onto the surface. I then pat the decal with some absorbent paper to help draw the moisture out from underneath (important when we are looking at such a large area being covered in decal). After about 5 or 10 minutes, I then coat the decal in Microsol (Microsol being a decal softener, it makes the decal conform very closely to the surface - very handy around curved wing tips etc). The decal will go very wrinkly when you apply the Microsol - don't panic and don't try and touch the decal - after an hour or two the wrinkling will dissapear and smooth out!

Once the decals are completely dry (usually overnight), I trim off the excess using a very sharp blade, always working perpendicular to the surface (that way the entire surface is covered in decal). I give the edges a quick dab of Microsol to reseal them. When using this technique on wings, I strongly suggest doing only one side of the wing at a time and letting all the decal dry before decalling the other side of the wing. This means that you can avoid unsightly "edges" where the bare plastic is showing along the trailing edges of the wings.

I use the same technique for the rib tapes - the Microsol allowed the tapes to conform right around the leading edges of the wings of my Albatros with some gentle persuasion and patience (although I did have to paint the rib tapes running along the scalloped training edges).

Once all this is done, seal the whole thing with a clear coat of your choice, and voila! I also used some post shading to "scale down" the contrast of the colours using an over spray of Tamyia "smoke" around the rib locations - I think this gives the lozenge a much more scale appearance - up to you if you want to try this of course! Anyway here's my results of using such a technique (this technique may not work for you, experiment a bit!):

In the next pic, notice how the Microsol allows the rib tape decal to conform all the way along the leading edge of the wings and even all the way around the wing tips (ie a complete 180 degree turn) - this leading edge rib tape is all one decal! Such is the magic of Microsol.

With Roden brand lozenge, I beleive that these decals are a little more difficult to work with in that they don't adhere as easily and require gentle handling due to being brittle when dry, but not having used their lozenge before I'm not really quallified to answer! I hope this is what you are after, if not, sorry for the long story!!

BC

wbross · 27 September 2005, 10:23 AM

Thanks for taking the time and the great photos. All of you out there have been very kind with me as i am new around here and have not worked in plastic in many years. Great model hope that ill be able to get mine to look that good someday.

Best Walter

P.S. I live in South Florida and went to publix today and tryed to buy some Future Floor Finish which i see is very handy to use in the finishing of models, they told me that they dont carry it anymore, any one out there have any ideas or if they still make it ?

StephenLawson · 27 September 2005, 12:01 PM

Most supermarkets carry it as a general stock item in housewares. As Brad Cancian, I too would rather use Eagle Strike lozenge. Past and current issues are the best in my opinion.

While the Roden are not the easiest to use with patience thay can be applied. They usually fail on compound curves. Spray them with clear gloss and let dry to the touch, cut them and use within eight hours of drying to the touch using solvaset. It is a one step decal sol & set and seems a bit stronger than the micro sol & set.