Model Railroading > Microscale Decal Help. Have You Seen This?

Reworking a BLI NW2 that had its decoder fail and decided to fix the BLI stripe shortcut whereby they omitted the upper orange stripe and painted the hand rail orange instead. (Really BLI?)

Washed the shell in warm water with a tad of dishwashing soap.

Used a new Q-tip to spread Micro set over the area.

Soaked decal for twenty seconds in clean water and let sit for a minute or two.

First decal stripe separated into three pieces so maybe this set is a bit old.

After decal had dried I added Micro Sol.

Ended up with white spots on edge of decal material. What might have caused this and is there a fix?

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/25 12:30 by ChrisCampi.

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You said you applied Micro-Set after the decal dried. It's supposed to be Micro-Sol. Applying Micro-Sol should fix that, although it may take a few applications after the previous one dried. Those spots are probably air bubbles reflecting overhead lghting. That said, I see some fuzzy stuff towards the cab in the scond pic. Looks like it's maybe off the Q-tip? I use small paintbrushes to apply Micro-Set and Micro-Sol.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/25 10:26 by tehachapifan.

tehachapifan Wrote:
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> You said you applied Micro-Set after the decal
> dried. It's supposed to be Micro-Sol. Applying
> Micro-Sol should fix that, although it may take a
> few applications after the previous one dried.
> Those spots are probably air bubbles reflecting
> overhead lghting. That said, I see some fuzzy
> stuff towards the cab in the scond pic. Looks like
> it's maybe off the Q-tip? I use small paintbrushes
> to apply Micro-Set and Micro-Sol.

Thanks. I made a boo boo. I used red label, Micro Sol after decal had set, not Micro set. Corrected above. I also wonder about the Q-tip. That was probably a mistake. I'll try a few more coats of the Sol as you suggested.

Looks great!
Regards, Jim Evans

Ted Ive seen this before, use the microsol so it has a good bond and let it dry. Then gently rinse with a damp soft brush, its just dried residue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/25 14:26 by TomG.

TomG Wrote:
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> Ted Ive seen this before, use the microsol so to
> has o good bond and let it dry. Then gently rinse
> with a damp soft brush, its just dried residue.

Thanks Tom. Will do. 

Oops, sorry Chris. I must have a secret bromance with Ted I'm not aware of.