EDUARD decals test & RANT! 😡 (Part 1) 

They've been producing this type of decal since 2020 and are still persisting with them. Eduard don't seem to be considering negative customer feedback. However, the reason I wouldn't want to use them is there is no solid advice regarding their application. "You should have tried this or that" just makes me even more reluctant to bother with them.

I agree with some that say 3/10 was generous. Even I was surprised at the utter failure of these, 3/100 would seem more appropriate! The decals should be the icing on the cake of your model, not a mass of aggravation and fear. Can you imagine doing 100’s of stencils like this 😱 Nice vid Pete, honest, fair and highly entertaining as usual 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Fair play for testing it out yourself. I'm not defending Eduard they are obviously bad results but, I imagine Eduard have put maybe 6 figures into development of printing decals in house so they aren't going anywhere. I just wish they put their hands up and admitted that they need more work instead of pretending there's nothing wrong.

Having recently purchased an 2022 Eduard P-51 kit i cannot thank you enough for this video. Whenever I get around to the build I will not be using those Eduard decals.

Peter you have been vindicated these decals are appalling and 3 out of ten is generous. Whoever tried to defend these monstrosities wants to have a word with themselves. Eduard need a big rethink and ideally go back to conventional decals.

I think 3/10 was being very generous. Why deviate away from what works? If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Ah Mr Eduard. Weve been expecting you...

There is such a huge weight of evidence of dissatisfaction that I can't believe Eduard can continue to ignore this issue. One thing though Peter, I have heard that it does work better(!) if no decal solutions are used.

I'll comment from the perspective of someone who has just returned in the last year to the hobby after 50 years and is learning all the time by watching videos and reading if guys who have been doing this for years can't do it what chance will l have for beginners and returners making a kit is fraught with problems trying new techniques so on, us guys don't need more and as @timsands said decal should be the icing on the cake and not leave you in tears 👍

I actually find the new decals are brilliant i always use Mr Mark setter then to get rid of the carrier film use plenty of Tamiya enamel thinner on a soft brush and gently rub it away try that Peter

Spot on peter i loved eduard until this thing with the decals , now i steer clear , its just ot worth the stress

I've not wanted to buy an Edward Kit ever since they changed the decals to these weird ones.

Thanks for highlighting this Peter. Love Eduard kits if not their current pricing so much here in Australia, but their new 'magic' decals are a serious FAIL. Until they get these sorted, Eduard need to return to conventional decal films or provide Montex Super masks in the premium boxings instead for those not content with conventional decals.

Im amazed that people defend these awful decals 😮 some people will truly defend anything no matter how bad.

I paint all my markings (Japanese exclusively) and I use the Eduard stencil decals quite successfully as my Hasegawa kits don’t come with any. My method is to apply them over paint, add decal solution and then the next day I use a toothpick to scrape off the carrier film. I’m successful 95% of the time. While I realize stencil decals are small and not the challenge larger decals are, but for stencils the Eduard decals are quite handy.

And breathe! Great review and fair. However, there. Is another possible reason the Kinetic kit is cursed!

MR Edward you are most welcome, ... Aah not in my house😄

no Eduard kits for me, from now on, not until they change the decals.

Great review as usual, I've not bought any of their kits as to the bad reviews online.

Wow thanks Peter for the heads up on this.

Peter, I have the same problems with the Eduard decals. I have done tests like you just did. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. I ruined a model because of these decals! Junk!

Thank you, mr. Oxley👍🍺 The next question now is: How do we find out which Eduard kits have these crappy decals?

I have to agree not good decals spent hours doing the Gunns Bunny Mitchell kit came to the decals went down ok some of the film came off perfectly but the large body decal just fell apart so model didn’t get finished. Now as an experienced modeller on the railway scene there is a company that makes decals that work the same way gloss coat decals down and clear film just falls off no problem so the system can work. But I have Eduard kits but already got aftermarket replacements, your comments are very well valid in my opinion 👍

Point proven Peter...I think the key phrase you said their was, " not user friendly ". Surely, they need to have a re-think with regards to using this type of decal 🤔?.

Hmmm - worrying. I have the new F104 “zipper” in my stash and it looks like I won’t be using their decals so. Thankfully I also have the kinetic F104 in the stash and as far as I know they use cartograph decals, so I think I shall use the kinetic ones on the eduard kit.

Thanks Peter. Great review of the Eduard decals. I've just got the FW190. Those decals won't be going anywhere near the finished kit.

I can see where both you and Eduard are coming from. My one and only thought was that it _doesn't_ look as if you gloss-coated the model before applying the decals? I could be wrong, and it's just how it looks on camera? But if I am right, that could be one more test to try. But even so, only the "tape method" would be the only _practical_ way of removing the carrier film - especially if you had a model covered in tiny stencils as many modern aircraft are. The "tweezer method" would be far too impractical. So may be worth one more *quick* test to confirm with a good gloss coat before the decals were applied???????

When I saw RANT!, I said to myself "this should be good".

Peter, I agree 100% with your assessment and conclusion! 3 out 10?, no, 0 out of 10! If even one decal is damaged in this process it is a failure! I experienced similar results on the F4F-3 Wildcat. Trying to remove the carrier film resulted in the same inconsistent peeling away in shards with some edges of the markings damaged. That is not acceptable in any way, shape or form! The decals behave brilliantly, go down very well. This nonsense with removing the film is where it goes wrong. This issue has definitely led to my decision to avoid purchasing Eduard model kits going forward. Take care and see you in the next one!

Yes indeed Peter! I have my notifications in order and do indeed look forward the next installment

maybe wet the backing on the decal again before trying to remove it ??

Fair play you gave the decals a try. Should have road tested properly first.

i with you on this one

Peter, have you seen the Modelling Weekly video about the Eduard decals? He did 2, one using the blade and tweezers method and the cover film came off relatively easily (although he still had one that lost a small bit of the colour. He then did another one with an updated method using white spirits (or enamel thinner) to soften the cover film (after letting the decal set for 24 hours). This method seemed a lot easier and the film softened up and could be wiped off with a cotton bud. I might try this method when I do my Spitfire Mk Vc. The biggest problem is that I want to do the Malta marking scheme in that kit as I really like the look of it, but if the decals are a disaster I suspect it will be difficult to find an aftermarket set for the same or similar markings. Anyway, time will tell. I just hope I don't have the disastrous results that you had.

My biggest problem with regular decals is having the perfect smooth surface to help "disappear" the carrier film. Do I want to add more possible ifs and maybes to the mix with this style of decal. I don't think any positives out weigh the possible negatives on these. There's already enough work to decaling a regular aircraft...now just add more for each one? No thank you.

If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it comes to mind. Seems to be an unnecessary faff to me. I’ll stick to the basic waterslide type decals.

I've recently built an Eduard Mig-21 and an Fw-190, really nice kits, they had probably become my favourite make; really dissapointing to see where they have gone with the decals. Applying those looks the opposite of fun.

I've read to use blue-tac, but I haven't tried it myself.

Have all their kits now got this ctap decals?

I have twenty to thirty Eduard kits......but l have nothing recent enough for the daft decal option thank god!

these are the worst sh!t decals ever, i tried using them as normal decals and a few weeks later the film was peeling off under my clearcoat

Peter Oxley...your video👍👍👍.....Eduard decals...👎👎👎👎👎.Nuf said!

From the amount of silvering it looks like your finish isn't smooth enough. I find with these decals you need a really good gloss coat and I spend extra time making sure the decals are all down properly, as any area which doesn't contact the surface fully on a normal decal will just give you a little bit of silvering whereas here they will tear. Like anything you need to learn how to use them. Don't get me wrong I wish they would go back to Cartograph or even their old decals as I don't like the print quality and I would rather not have this removable film and I now mainly buy the Weekend kits and get AM decals.

Great 🙄 I’ve got an Eduard 1/72 Hurricane in the stash, looks like I will need to source some replacement decals. As you say Peter what’s the point of having multiple options if none of the decals work 🤬

My Eduard's 1/48 scale Zero (84191) has a production date of this year, 2023. A couple of years ago I bought their 1/48 F6F-5N Hellcat Nightfighter (84133). That one is from 2016 and is now close to being finished - finally. So the Hellcat's decals should be fine?

i would be wanting a full refund on the price of the kit , if got those decals in a kit .

More than fair, thank you

Peter, have you asked Eduard for comment? The seemingly successful demo video I saw was on a glossed surface.

As decals that are used normally (and this is how I use them) they are good. I agree that you should not attempt to take the carrier film off. Hence why I only use them as normal decals.

Hi Peter I have never used these and dont intend to but looking around it seems the answer is to put them over a high gloss clear coat with set and sol. What do you reckon? But i am with you its a load of faff.

Maybe gloss finish would work better

The way to remove the carrier film is to use odorless spirits on a brush. It will gently lift the film into little balls that you then brush away. This, of course, requires a satin or gloss top coat to protect the paint, something you didn’t do. This is what Eduard recommends. I don’t know where the whole tape and tweezers thing came from other than other RU-vidrs trying it and posting their vids. I’m sorry, Peter, but this test isn’t fair or complete. All you’ve done is repeat a process that doesn’t have a good success rate and isn’t recommended by Eduard. If you want to be totally fair, then repeat the test as I’ve described above. If that does’t work, then you have a legitimate rant. Until then, not so much. Otherwise, love the channel.

Nope they are too risky, you may get some off intact but all? Try again Eduard

I'm not sure how valuable a test is when the decals were applied to a matt surface. I'd be interested to see it repeated with the decals bonded to a glossy surface.

Peter, what on earth are they thinking? Has anyone had a good experience with these decals? And as you've said, your experiment is of a very straightforward decal on a flat surface, not anything curved nor intricate. These decals are total rubbish! I can see one thing, unintented however, they may be good for. If they are silver colored, the way they're coming off with the masking tape, it looks like paint chipping from an aluminum airplane. Not what's intended though. Hopefully these people will re-evaluate their decision, and return to proper decals.

I thought that using setting agents with these type of decals destroys them, giving you the problems you had.

Lifes too short to mess about with this rubbish

I'd like to hear from eduard regarding their rubbish decals & what they plan to do about fixing this issue for future releases. They must be loosing sales over it.

Excellent result. Heard you should remove the film with 80 grade sand paper.

3?! How can you give 3? Those decals are useless, that should make it a zero! You're far too nice, Peter. 🙂 Still, thanks for the video. 👍

What a nuisance, I have a couple of their newer kits,will need to replace the decals or trim the carrier film.👍

Ah, c'mon, they're not awesome, but with more patience (not seen in the video :), you can get the paint on look. I made the whole WWI model with these decals for the first time and it went good. I just left the carier film on large decals (whole wings), but other went ok. One thing to consider is to have full adhesion under the decal, then simply scratch the carier film from the edges and slowly peel it. Yep, it's tedious, but it's workable.

Why is my experience the complete opposite? The last five kits I've built have been Eduard using these decals. I've not had one issue.

Better try plain distilled water instead of decal solutions.