If I can build one of your rocket kits, and I can fill and sand things smooth, I can probably use water slide decals too. Those I have time to make adjustments if I make a minor mistake in placement.

Self adhesive decals SUCK!!!. Stickers are fine for the kiddies first rockets (you know, the ones that are tiny, and use small engines), but they shouldn't be much larger than an inch in diameter. Large wraps (e.g. the Mercury Redstone and the Venus Probe), and long name decals (e.g. CC Express and the Mean Machine) have no business being made from self adhesive decal material.

Please STOP doing that to us! Your customers will be a heck of a lot happier if you do. Then again, 3rd party suppliers might not like you too much.

Thanks for Reading
Jim
.

__________________
.
.

Dreaming of making the rockets I dreamed of as a kid (and then some).

"The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack."
"The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

Launching is Optional... Landing? That Depends on Trees.

Although I haven't ever seen them tried on model rockets, lacquer-transfer decals might also work well on them. A late friend of mine was a big Hammond Organ fan (he had several of their organ models, and Leslie Tone Cabinets to go with them), and he bought a set of duplicate Leslie lacquer-transfer decals for one of his pairs of tone cabinets, which had previously been restored (but without decals) before he bought them. Also:

He thought the decals, which came without instructions, were water-transfer ones (they would not stick, and he ruined them), and when he called the decal manufacturer they informed him that they were lacquer-transfer decals. He ordered a replacement set, and when he applied them using clear lacquer, they had no discernable thickness; they looked as if they were part of the tone cabinets' wood surfaces! In addition:

Such lacquer-transfer decals might be ideal for rockets' kraft paper body tubes and for balsa, basswood, or plywood fins. They might even work on plastic parts, as long as such parts were first sprayed with a very thin, quick-drying coat of lacquer to protect the surface from being melted by subsequent layers of lacquer paint.

__________________
Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

One trick to using these is to wet the surface of the rocket with some mildly soapy water. This gives you some time to get it positioned properly. Then you screed it to squeeze the moisture out.

Doug

.

__________________
YORF member #11

Yes, and use a set of tweezers to avoid the inevitable 'fingerprinting' from handling the adhesive decals with your fingers. ANY dirt or loose skin gets transferred if you use fingers instead of tweezers.
The soapy water trick works very well, too.

As for the 'Lacquer Decals,' there will be a problem for certain finishes already applied to the rocket; this kind of decal could really mess up a finish if one is not careful to match lacquer to lacquer (as opposed to lacquer-enamel, etc.).
Since I'm using a lot of Rustoleum Accents now, lacquer decals would not work at all; they would be, as we say in pharmacy, contraindicated!

I agree with Jim, though, that self-adhesive decals suck in general. I just finished a Quest Minataur, and all its decals are self-adhesive. If one is really careful and one uses Future/Pledge to clearcoat, they are OK, but they are noticeably thick, which I hate.
Amateurish, at best.
It is so unnecesary to supply this type of 'decal' when much better options exist.

Allen

This goes especially true if I'm expected to fill, sand, and paint a balsa nose cone (e.g. Photon Probe and Photon Disruptor).

I can understand them being used for entry level, but anything that doesn't have brightly colored, or glossy black (pre-finished) plastic fin cans (as you can see, this does NOT include the Sandhawk) should have water slide decals.

Leave the stickers for the kids.... PLEASE!!!

Thanks
Jim
.

__________________
.
.

Dreaming of making the rockets I dreamed of as a kid (and then some).

"The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack."
"The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

Launching is Optional... Landing? That Depends on Trees.

For the past three years I don't believe any builder kits have come with a self stick decal. Only E2X or ARF models come with them. As for the kits that were brought out before that time period, they will most likely stay that way until they are taken out of line.


John Boren

Every rocket I looked at today at Tammie's Hobbies (in Beaverton, Oregon) had self-adhesive decals, including the builder kits. It may take them a while to get rid of the stockpile of older kits, but I saw no evidence of water-slide decals (unless I'm mistaken, and the backing paper for water slide decals has changed to be a yellowish color) and they recently got a fresh shipment of rockets in.

Jim
.

__________________
.
.

Dreaming of making the rockets I dreamed of as a kid (and then some).

"The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack."
"The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

Launching is Optional... Landing? That Depends on Trees.

Don't type so big. It's scary.

__________________
Shrox

Master of the Dark Art of Model Rocketry

www.shrox.com

The simple but not quite free solution, is to get the decals you want from online suppliers.

And there are several good reasons to do that anyway. For one it's good to support the guys that are trying to help us by supplying decals for OOP kits or scratch builds. For another if you purchase an older kit there's a good chance the decals have already turned to junk, even though they may look perfectly fine. Many times you can't tell if they're good or not until you try to use them and the older the kit is the more likely you'll have a problem.

Randy
www.vernarockets.com

Let me refraise my statement. All NEW builder kits that have come out in the past three years have water slide decals. Kits that were designed before three years ago could have water slide or self stick decals. SO, if a builder kit that was designed before the time I arrived at Estes has self stick decals it will most likely have self stick decals until it is taken out of the product line. So if a hobby shop orders a builder kit today it may in fact have self stick decals in it if it's an older designed model.


John Boren