The tale of the transfers has taken a few twists and turns until today!
While the inkjet printer has produced a surprisingly good level of colour density and detail for the transfers, they do require some tricky preparations prior to application, as I was to discover.
There are quite frequently asked questions "out there" on various modeller websites, but sadly, few provide much in the way of satisfactory answers. It never ceases to amaze me that on so many well established forums, so many people seem to completely misunderstand a simple, straightforward query, and go waffling off about something only vaguely related - if indeed at all?! Time and again I have wasted time wading through page after page of really interesting, but utterly irrelevant replies - more often in forlorn hope of a useful answer!
Clearly, an experimental approach was required. Being already aware that the "ink", or dye to be more precise, is water soluble, the raw transfers would have to be thoroughly pre sealed and set before attempting the application process, and having gleaned a little information, including various slightly puzzling warnings to only use an acrylic varnish - which in my my own ignorance I have always assumed was itself water based - rather than oil or spirit varieties, I started with what I imagined was a fairly innocuous Ronseal Clear...
Nope...!!
Hmmm?! Well, the brushes are meant to be easily washed out in warm, soapy water, and I was fully expecting to see the print start smearing or blurring. I definitely wasn't prepared for such an immediate and aggressively destructive reaction though!
It looked as if I would have to bite the bullet, and go fishing; though with prices ranging from about seven quid to the obscene, for just two little crests, and nowt else foreseeable, buying some proper stuff was a bit disconcerting. What else could I do?
I never got on with Humbrol varnishes, and so haven't used any for absolutely years. A rummage in the drawers produced an ancient tinlet of "Clear satin", with a faded price label of less than a quid on the bottom, so rather madly, I thought it might be worth a long shot. When I opened it up it stank like hell, but still seemed to mix quite well, after stirring for an age anyway!
Perfick...!
Despite the apparently obvious quantity of extremely unpleasant solvents contained in what I assume to be an old fashioned, oil based varnish, it behaved utterly impeccably!!
After having waited for a suitable amount of time for it to cure, I got a dish of warm water and dropped the first one in, with some trepidation I must say...
It was absolutely fine, with an intact transfer cleanly separating and sliding off the backing...
That was where even more of the fun started:
Both Glenn and I had assumed that a white carrier film would not be opaque enough on a jet black surface, hence the carefully painted patch on the tanks, but back when the good man was about to do the final prints, he checked his pack and panicked, thinking he had mistakenly ordered the transparent variety! In response, and obviously while completely trusting his dad's measuring capabilities, he had carefully removed the black borders, assuming they were no longer required. No problem, it happens to the best of us!
I'm afraid that it was a problem though, and became evident at the moment that first transfer started to move! I continued applying it anyway, and discovered another difficulty: The carrier was not only white, but an extremely efficient blocker to boot! I found that despite the contrast, it was almost impossible to see through it to the boundaries of the patch underneath, and be able to line the crest up accordingly! I rather sheepishly had to request some more crests, with the black borders restored, and another little envelope of two more, plus a spare, was delivered in double quick time!
Another unexpected issue was revealed when Glenn machine cut the new ones out of the sheet. It had not been so obvious on the white edges, but this particular carrier film "ragged" quite badly when cut with any sort of bladed tool - even a brand new Swann Moreton 10A! Snipping round with scissors only reduced the problem slightly, and still really showed up on the black!
Nothing that cannot be sorted later down the line..?!
The images do look rough, and for all the world give the appearance that the transfers are still stuck on their thick paper backing sheets - but I can assure you that is an illusion!! The carrier film is quite acceptably fine, and so the terrible looking white edges will be covered with thinned black enamel paint, before some overall coats of protective varnish are applied.
After a touch of gentle burnishing, the paint round the edges should help to thoroughly seal the large transfer down anyway?!
Pete.
