Decals
I sat down with the decal sheets and a saucer of water one night, and over two hours later 23 decals were in place. They were very stiff, and a couple of them shattered, which meant they had to be painstakingly pieced back together. The ones on the neck were particularly difficult to reach. Also, the underside of the saucer has recesses into which the decals need to settle, which meant the main aztec design needed to be judiciously sliced in several places to allow this to happen.
Next morning, another hour’s work saw the completion of the underside of the engineering hull – the rear section and the warp pylons are covered by a single large decal! That was fun…
Lots of decal softening solution needed to be ladled on these decals to make them conform to the compound curves all over the place. But, we’re getting there.
The decals were a real trial – thick and brittle, and with an alarming tendency to shatter. I decalled the nacelles, and every single decal cracked when it was soaked in water. I think it’s the backing paper curling up when it gets wet which is enough to crack the decal! One of the little beggars on the underside of the nacelle shattered into seven pieces and had to be painstakingly reassembled in situ.
Hopefully it doesn’t show.
The rest of the nacelles were decalled, and then I got on with the topside of the saucer. This caused problems due to the carrier film on the outermost decals protruding beyond the rim of the saucer, and having to be trimmed back in situ. Got there in the end though.
The decalling alone on this model had taken about seven hours so far. According to my maps, I had a total of 19 more decals to go on this thing, which, as they unfailingly cracked, added up to about fifty parts to position. Then the paint touch ups began…