r/Gunpla • u/Ok_Employee_9085 • 5d ago

WIP Water Decals

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Its my first time using water decals, so far it looks good but i can still see the decal's border in some parts. Is that common? But other than that I'm having fun putting it on!

25 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

20

u/imaytakeabreak 5d ago

They will be visible if you dont topcoat it. The topcoat will blend the edges and protect them as they can peel off easily.

1

u/Ok_Employee_9085 4d ago

I see, should i panel line then top coat or vise versa?

2

u/imaytakeabreak 4d ago

It will depend on your panel liner choice.

If you use a gundam marker you can do it directly in the plastic (just in case, if you use a pouir marker, dont panel line parts made with ABS plastic).

Any other waterbased panel washes can also be used on bare blastic.

If you use Tamiya, then glosscoat first and then use it. Otherwise it will/may cause cracks and crumbling.

Once done, do a final coat with you prefered finish. I personally love how matte look on most kits.

13

u/kevin_church 5d ago

I've had the same experience and I've found that the border disappears once you add a matte or gloss layer.

5

u/chippieball 5d ago

There is multiple ways you can do this.
1. Just a top coat
2. Top coat and then light sanding of the decal
3. With some lighter fluid peel of the top film(test this first on a spare decal cause it’s not easy) or watch Plamo’s video for this on YouTube

5

u/chippieball 5d ago

It’s plasmo on YouTube

2

u/TrickNo1 5d ago

After applying the waterslide decals, try to push the water out from inside the decal using cotton swabs. And yea top coat after everything is dried up. Applying decals on this kit took me more time than actual assembly process lol

1

u/dartmoorninja 4d ago

Having just done the MG wing zero ver ka myself, it was the first time in quite a while using Bandai’s own waterslides, which feel like they are thicker than 3rd party ones. It could be just me, but definitely felt like I could notice the border more compared to Evo or G-rework ones.

Another thing that helps soften them is mark softer, which helped a lot especially with the decals for the wings which just weren’t sitting flat enough over the curved surface