A New Day

I’ll be getting back to model building in short order. I saw a killer deal on some ancient decals on eBay, so I ended up with a dandy collection of old markings for P-51B’s and P-47’s. These decals are fifty years old and still usable. I cut out a “name plate” and just squished it down onto on old Airfix stand. A real test of any decal–no gloss coat, no nothing. The result turned out really well. The decal did not crack up and did not curl or fail to stick. Even on the rough, matte finish of the stand.

The P-47 sheet is pretty badly yellowed. I’m not really going to be too concerned about that, although this would be a good time for me to start ranting about the “put the decals in the window” idea that’s always suggested as a way to “remove” the yellowing.

I’ll skip the rant. Not in the mood today. But this method doesn’t work for me.

What does work is Authenticals. These decals are extraordinary. They’re fifty years old and in many cases work like new decals. Let’s take a look at the P-51B sheet.

A bit of yellowing but not bad at all. I’m planning to build Kid Hofer’s “Salem Representative.”

So we have excellent decals. They came with excellent documentation.

But the best thing about this package is the wonderful list of references. Compared to the arrogant “trust me” we get today, this is gold.

Present day decal makers could learn a few things from Authenticals.