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Solomoriah
08-22-2007, 11:26 PM
Hey, I did some Googling but found little information... has anyone here tried using dry transfer decals, such as are used with pine cars for instance, on model rockets? I'm curious, as they are readily available, cheap, and some are actually suitable for rocketry projects.

CPMcGraw
08-22-2007, 11:58 PM
Hey, I did some Googling but found little information... has anyone here tried using dry transfer decals, such as are used with pine cars for instance, on model rockets? I'm curious, as they are readily available, cheap, and some are actually suitable for rocketry projects.

Burnishing them down without damaging the tube, or balsa item, is the issue I have. A pine car is a solid block, which resists the pressure needed to "set" the transfer. A tube, OTOH, is hollow, thin, and easily damaged. Balsa is similar as it has little structural "mass".

Second issue is not chemically reacting with the overcoat spray...

Solomoriah
08-23-2007, 06:36 AM
Ah, so. Oh, well...

sandman
08-23-2007, 08:41 AM
The biggest problem I had wass aligning the dry transfer on a curved surface like a body tube.

I use dry transfer lettering with decal paper.

I appy the lettering to pieces of blank decal sheet, coat with liquid decal film, then apply the decal like normal.

It works pretty good

CPMcGraw
08-23-2007, 10:18 AM
The biggest problem I had wass aligning the dry transfer on a curved surface like a body tube.

I use dry transfer lettering with decal paper.

I appy the lettering to pieces of blank decal sheet, coat with liquid decal film, then apply the decal like normal.

It works pretty good

I wondered about that method, but I haven't tried it myself. Which liquid decal film are you using? MicroScale, or something else?

sandman
08-23-2007, 11:05 AM
I wondered about that method, but I haven't tried it myself. Which liquid decal film are you using? MicroScale, or something else?

I use Microscale Liquid decal film.

foose4string
08-23-2007, 12:18 PM
The biggest problem I had wass aligning the dry transfer on a curved surface like a body tube.

I use dry transfer lettering with decal paper.

I appy the lettering to pieces of blank decal sheet, coat with liquid decal film, then apply the decal like normal.

It works pretty good


That's a great tip, I never thought about doing that. I looked locally for dry transfer letters for my Aerobee a short time ago, and came up empty. Sure, you can can some fancy scrap booking fonts, but nothing in a basic arial or stencil font. I ended up printing the black letters directly to the decal paper, but it would have been nice to have some dry transfer white letters to go with it. I know I can get the plain white letters and various stuff online, which I may do if I have another project that calls for it.

Zeus-cat
08-23-2007, 09:20 PM
I used dry transfers on my Launch Pad Anubis. Unfortunately, the transfers show a little wear from the lawn dart "recovery" that occurred last year. The rocket has since been repaired and repainted.

Zeus-cat

Gus
08-23-2007, 09:34 PM
The new Shenzou kit from Apogee uses dry transfer decals on the capsule and strap-on boosters. Worked very well, and look great.

Green Dragon
08-23-2007, 09:44 PM
I've had very good results with dry transfer lettering on many of my birds over the years, still have quite a few lettering sheets for future use, etc.
I have even used the pine car items refered to, although somewhat small and limited.

the drawback is lack of choices, moreso that hard to use - I use a worn pencil to rub them down with, then place the clear backer over top and burnish them down again real hard with the pencil or a posicle stick or similar.
have never has any issues with crushed tubes or excessive 'imprints' into balsa, just go easy and carful to burnish the entire image .

~ AL

camera batteries dead, otherwise pics would follow, sorry. maybe in a few days if i remember, have other pics the forum will have to see as well :-)