I failed to mention this, and in the video it comes across as if I don't like Walthers Solvset. What I meant by "I don't recommend it" is that Solvaset is quite aggressive and some modelers might be intimidated but this product. If you are not careful it can cause a lot of damage. That being said, it has been my go-to product for many years now, as you can see in the video I don't have a lot of it left. It's a product I'd only suggest more experienced modelers try. It's a very good solvent, and I hope to be able to get some in Canada again soon.
I have been using the Markfit Strong and applying it to the model before placing the decal, then multiple coats, and I just keep doing that until I think it's right and have been getting great results.
An extremely useful experiment. It also demonstrates the need for a range of solvents as there seems to be a wide range of varnishes used by decal manufacturers for their carrier film.
I'.ve been out of the modelling game for 50 years. Since I started back up, I've been using Mr. Mark Setter and Softer. I find them to do a remarkably good job, despite my fat fingers!
Solvaset is the best out there - been using it for years and it just takes patience and willpower to leave it and not touch it to do its thing. I hated it at first but once I listened to directions it is a dream. But it looks as if for those super stubborn decals, it looks like the nuclear option! Thanks!
Solvaset was the first solvent I ever used and I still really love it. I have had a few instances where it was too aggressive with the decals and I've had a few people mention the same thing. But I used it almost exclusively on my latest model and it saved the decals which was a huge relief.
Solvaset is great. I recommend a couple of light coats but waiting a couple of hours between each coat to see and never let it pool up. I take a soft brush to lightly soak up excess. Make up brushes work great for this.
Micro Sol and Set I find are best used together, I’m no chemist but I think they compliment each other rather than just the one shot solvents out there.
Just saw a video by Will Pattison where Solvaset and Mr Softer ate through Aqua gloss and damaged the AK RC paint underneath. Not a good combination. But it worked well with other clear coats and paint.
I think might want to try the Tamiya Mark Fit Strong solution under the decal to completely wet the surface and act as a setting solution, wait a little and then roll the decals out with a Q-tip (cotton bud) to press the decal down to remove trapped air. After getting the decal placed, then apply Tamiya Mark Fit super strong solvent on top. As I understand it this two solution process is more what Tamiya seems to have had in mind. The bubbles you got in your test are trapped air and working it out before applying the solvent is very effective at reducing that problem in my experience.
I use a combo of Tamiya mark fit and Solvaset. I'll put the mark fit down first, set the decal in place. Roll it out with a swab then apply solvaset on top. Works pretty well.
I usually do a similar method as well, but just for the purposes of this video, I wanted to show how the solvents reacted to the decals on the surface. It would have been more of a process to add a base solvent to the mix.
Thanks for posting this video! I am a long time Microset and Microsol user, and sometimes reach for the Solvaset when a decal fails to settle down. I will have to give this new product a shot based on your results.
Thanks Mark, I think it's a bit difficult to find at the moment because of the difficulties in worldwide shipping at the moment, but it's slowly coming on the market.
Excellent video!! I used MCLT on my Bandai Decals for the Y wing Instrument panel. I just ordered a bottle from Taiwan. thank you. I would have liked to have seen this on old Hobby Boss decals.
@@rebelsatcloudnine I’m definitely going to try it. I have a lot of old Eastern Europe models I got at a car boot sale and they have very thick but very old decals. But I’d like to try and build them as originally as possible 👍🏼 Have a nice day everyone, Bon dimanche, Ian
Hi From Michigan! I have enjoyed your channel a great deal as I got back into modeling after 44 years (pandemic!) And I’m loving it- I’ve built 20+ kits since- mainly Tamiya- and after building other brands- am a Tamiya fan boy as well- paints, glues, many tools, 1 of my 5 airbrushes etc- I watched your video on Tamiya Mark Fit Super Strong and ordered it from Japan (only place I could find it via Scalemates, Amazon and others-) specifically to handle Tamiya Decals- as you so astutely demonstrated- it took 3 months to get to me- but- worth the wait! It is the best I’ve seen or used- also low vinegary/chemical smell. I’m finishing up an Academy P-40N now- no label on the Academy decals other than Academy: these are the thinnest decals I’ve ever used- off the paper in 20 seconds in ROOM TEMPERATURE WATER! Difficult to work with as too thin- the Mark Fit Strong here was just perfect- the Super Strong- was overkill: I buy decal sheets from top rated companies as well when I want to do something different with my Tamiya aircraft models kits- and paint direct to fuselage with Montex Masks- BUT I LIKE working with Tamiya’s thicker decals- a bit more forgiving than all others- never had a tear in one- easy to move for me- just getting them to really settle down- your test proved this new product- my results were the same as yours- Thank You! Figured Tamiya had enough complaints on decal thickness- and remedied it this way! Cheers to you in Canada! Half of my family is there- a few Miles away from me here at the border (I was born in Canada)- it’s been nearly 2 years now since I’ve seen my family there- visited and enjoyed that most lovely of countries and people- Nice to hear your voice! Cheers- JW
long before decal sets. I'd used testers 1st liquid glue to set my decals... talk about strong 😂 but i found if i took a paint brush and just barely touched the decal very little at a time. it would form it around just about anything. but it would melt paint and decals in an instant if you put too much on or touched a still wet decal with it. thing that was so cool was that it melted the decal so well that it looked like it was painted on and was not a decal at all.. but it's almost an instant melt on most, and you most definitely can not brush across the decal!!! u must carefully dab it with just the tip and let it lay down very slowly and stay away from any melted decal till it dries completely. also never get the glue on the paint.. and never put so much on that the glue will run down the decal. because it's all over if u do.. very time-consuming, but if u get it right, it's amazing..
love the demo. have to say i'm surprise you're down on the walthers product. i like how agressive gets on the decals really make the decal snug down on the model. my pereferance. microscale product I can take it or leave it. two stage process not my bag.
Very interesting experiment! Though a bit disappointing with the Bandai decals, is there anything that works with those short of a blowtorch? I have used the Mr. Mark Softer and Setter system with varying results. It made the instrument decals conform very well on the instrument panels of a Fujimi RAF Phantom kit I started a few years ago, they looked almost as good as an Eduard pre-coloured photo-etch. It also worked well with Tamiya decals, but the Bandai decals defy everything. These are just my personal observations, other's mileage may vary.
Thanks for the comment Randal, to be honest I've rarely used Bandai's decals, I try to paint as much as I can instead of using their decals. Plus they have a grainy texture to the printing I wasn't a fan of. But I was expecting something out of them with the solvents. With the Super Strong, I failed to mention that they were the flattest of the bunch, but none of the surface details came through. I was really surprised how little they reacted.
By far the best I've come across (credit to Phil Flory from Florymodels) is Tamiya X-20A. It works beautifully, and has much better surface behaviour than micro-sol in that it spreads out and doesn't bead up. Next level which also works as your nuclear option is to use Tamiya extra thin - yes the glue. Again works well on stubborn decals, just be careful to apply it and DO NOT touch it for a few hours.
excellent video, I always greatly appreciate the effort when somebody take the time (and money) to try and compare modelling tools IRL conditions helping us to decide. One question though: what kind of paint and what kind of clear cote did you used? those handled even the stronger solvents without any discolorization or stain.
Solvaset is the best. If you're ruining decals with it then you're messing with them when they're wet. You have to get the decal where you want it, then blot it well so it won't move and then apply the Solvaset. Once it's applied DO NOT touch it until it's completely dry.
What gloss coat do you use? I recently used Tamiya super strong on Tamiya decals. My gloss coat was Alclad Aqua Gloss (acrylic) over AK real colours and dried for about 24 hrs. The Tamiya super strong was applied twice over the decals (2nd application 2 hours later) then set to cure over night. The next day I notice the Tamiya Super Strong reacted with the gloss coat and decals leaving a white stain on parts of the decal and areas of the gloss surface outside of the decal. Nothing would remove the stains. However the decals did adhere well to the surface. After a test on a dummy model Tamiya super strong over unglossed AK RC or Tamiya XF left no staining at all but decals did not adhere as well and there was silvering. Next test will be Tamiya super strong over 4 different gloss types to see what happens. Update: Tried some different clear coats with only Tamiya Mark Fit Super Strong, Model Master Semi gloss (acrylic): No issues over AK RC or Tamiya XF. Alclad light sheen (enamel): No issues over AK RC or Tamiya XF. Alclad clear gloss (enamel): No issues over AK RC or Tamiya XF. Alclad Aqua gloss (acrylic): Very slight paint discoloration Tamiya XF. With AK RC got heavy watermarks on decal and painted surface that could not be removed. So it appears Mark fit super strong reacts with Aqua gloss over AK RC paint. D'ont know if other paints with Aqua gloss have this issue.
I used Tamiya X-22 Clear over some XF-21 that I was color sampling for a future project. I think that it dried about 24 hours and it was just one coat of clear. I've had solvents react to clears a few times and usually pretty mildly, I've found that adding a second layer of clear will most times get rid of any discoloration.
That's what I thought. 2nd coat didn't remove or hide any of the white stains on the Aqua gloss. Will have to get some X-22. After posting on your video I did some research and found a youtube video by Will Pattison who was testing various decal solutions (not Tamiya super strong) and had the same problem I did with the Aqua gloss over AK RC paint with some but no issues with the Tamiya strong. Go figure.
@@Maddog-nb9vu For gloss coats I've only ever used 3: Future/Klear, which works great but it takes time to layer up and dry. Tamiya X-22 Clear which is a great clear when you need it in a hurry. And recently I tried LP-9 Clear, which I didn't like at first but I tried it again recently and it's WOW! On a flat surface, it's really glossy and because it's Lacquer it dries harder. I've had a few issues with decal solvents discoloring Future/Klear, but only when I used Walthers Solvaset and back then I used a ton of it.
I use the regular markfit and revell decal soft. No carrier film is showing after clear coat. I try to use decals by ICM, Zvezda and Italeri as they are not as thicc as Tamiya.
Did not the Tamiya instructions say to put it on the Model first where you were going to apply the Decal and then on the top after applying the Decal?.
Always been a big fan of Microsol and have always (So long as the aftermarket gods have been kind!) avoided Tamiya decals and the grief involved. QUESTION. I have been lucky enough to get a Bandai 1/72 perfect grade Millennium Falcon. Is there any aftermarket decals that are better than Bandai for that model. I seriously do not want to stuff it up! "Help me one can only, you are my only hope!"
If you check around ebay and etsy, there are a few modelers that have made new decals for the Bandai kit. I can' speak for their quality as I've never tested them myself, but they are out there.
I can't remember if I sent you the June Model Art issue regarding decals, but it has an article in which decal solutions are rated against each other. It doesn't feature Walther's, but it has Vallejo's Decal Medium and Decal Fix (both rank poorly). Tamiya's standard Mark Fit ranks poorly as well. Actually, they rank Mr. Mark Softer better than Tamiya's Mark Fit Strong. Mark Fit Super Strong gets a full five stars, as does Goodsmile's solvent (which I doubt can be easily obtained outside of Japan).
I think you showed that to me on a chat. It sounds very familiar, especially the part with Vallejo. Sadly I can't get Walthers Solvaset in Canada anymore. I'll have to order some and hope it gets across the border.
Microset is used more as an adhesive when initially putting down the decal. Microsol softens the decal to help form over the surface and make it look more like it was painted on.
Solvaset isn't anywhere near as strong as it was in the 70s when decals were thicker. Walthers has re-formulated Solvaset as decals have become thinner. To my mind, it's no stronger than Micro Sol. In point of fact, I've had Micro Sol destroy decals and not Solvaset. As with all things, YMMV.
You are aware that you need to apply more than one solution more than once right you have to do a multiple sometimes 567 even 10 times you have to put it on there right
@@rickmoreno6858 Then you somehow failed to notice that he did apply more than one solution. This video is just an empircal demonstration to compare the effectiveness of these solutions and it's not about a final result. OCD spergs. SMH
What the hell is a deckel??? A DEE-CAL (from the Italian Decalmania) is a water-slide marking usually silk-screened onto a paper or PLASTIC carrier film. (Yes there are plastic-based DEE-CALS sold). What has happened to English pronunciation???? NIK-ON instead of NY-KON (its been for 85+ years the INVENTOR personally told me) TO-KEY-OH instead of TOK-YO and perversions of ENGLISH words!!!
I know you are trying to sound smart, flying into a fit like this is seriously juvenile. A lot of commonwealth countries pronounce it like decal and others will say dee-cal. Many English words are different depending on the region of the world. I'm just so confused as to why you and so many others can't understand this and take such personal offence to it. And that doesn't make you right, it just proves your level of immaturity and lack of understanding that there is a whole world out that that doesn't revolve around you. I also mispronounced Revell and Tamiya, but you didn't notice that eh?
I’m sorry I wanted to watch this but had to stop. Please take as constructive criticism that the (unnecessary) background ‘music’ just fights the narrative all the way through, defeating the object of the purpose 😢
Holy crap. This is an informative video and here you are complaining about the soft background music playing in the background. Commenters like you are all the same. Everything is about _you_ and your sniveling little nitpicks, but you take the cake by you 'sperging out and stopping the video just to rage on your keyboard.
@@stevethefishdotnet Oh dear. I merely pointed out that I found it hard to listen to the narrative due to the music that was fighting the narrative of a video I actually wanted to watch. I even pointed out I hoped it would be taken as constructive criticism, not *a* criticism. The fact remains that I had to stop it because I could not follow the narrative I wanted to due to the music.
I didn't have a problem hearing the commentary over the music, but found it painful to listen to the same few seconds of it repeated for half an hour. Please, if you must use background music, try to vary it a bit! Otherwise, it was an interesting video but from the comments saying that the Super Strong isn't available in the UK, I'm disappointed that I won't be able to try it as I'd hoped.
@@ianthomson9363 I've seen videos with very distracting, irritating music that was not background music, but mostly foreground music. People who assume that everyone else enjoys rap or Cookie Monster metal music just as much as they do. I really cannot believe you guys complain about the background music in videos like this. I've seen it before. You're barking like Cocker Spaniels and neither of you spergs have the guts to create content of your own. R@C9 has a monetized channel, and I get the feeling that neither of you nincompoops have a clue as to how difficult it is to secure music that won't ruin one's chances of having one's videos demonetized due to some random creep in the world who might arbitrarily claim ownership of said music. Neither of you have a clue as to how broken this platform is.
Adam, I'm so glad you have such helpful comments about professionalism. I figured you must have about butthundred videos of your own which demonstrate how you have attained a Zen level of professionalism, but I see that you have none. How could that be possible?
Completely invalid comment, you spent twice as much time thinking about how to write nonsense and then just missed out the information, please try to be more professional.