Dip the clear sticker into water?

[reeoyuy]

I saw several hobby magazine/books about constructing gunpla where they dip the thin clear stickers into some kind of liquid.
What's that? Water? What for? Will it work? Anyone ever tried it?
I mean like this (uppermost pictures).

edit: fixed link

[Gone Astray]

Yes, that's just water. They're called water-transfer decals, and I've always found them irritating to use because I lack a steady hand. Dry-transfer decals are much easier to use.

[joelfinkle]

Note:
Most gunpla do not ship with waterslide decals, they have foil stickers, clear stickers and in the case of Master Grades there are dry transfers. A few special cases include waterslides.

Wetting stickers will not do anything useful.

I do not understand the love for dry transfers and hatred for waterslides -- they are unforgiving on position, and missing a small amount on the transfer is very difficult to correct.

Waterslides, on the other hand, while very fragile and often prefer sticking to your fingers than the model, can be repositioned easily then will "lock down" when a dry paintbrush, paper towel or small sponge is applied to the edges, but can usually be coaxed to move again if needed by applying a little more water. Setting solution helps them sink into grooves (much better than a dry transfer) and stick to the surface.

I figured that Bandai found dry transfers cheaper to produce, or that they got better color and detail, which is why we're (in my opinion) stuck with them.

[Ash1985]

Water slide decals are WAY better than dry transfer to me sadley most Gunpla Doesnt have thoes decals , I have a question tho... is there a place i can buy water slide decals for a gunpla model kit? online? Because i see dry transfer decals being sold but never water slide.

[Duo]

Water slide decals are WAY better than dry transfer to me sadley most Gunpla Doesnt have thoes decals , I have a question tho... is there a place i can buy water slide decals for a gunpla model kit? online? Because i see dry transfer decals being sold but never water slide.

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/gumode.html
http://www.hlj.com/hljlist2/?Dis=-2&Mac ... age=Guntop

^^^ most if not all of those are waterslides...

I'd love to know where you have seen dry transfers, because I prefer those personally, never had very good luck with waterslides... >.<

[Ash1985]

Water slide decals are WAY better than dry transfer to me sadley most Gunpla Doesnt have thoes decals , I have a question tho... is there a place i can buy water slide decals for a gunpla model kit? online? Because i see dry transfer decals being sold but never water slide.

http://www.gundamstoreandmore.com/gumode.html
http://www.hlj.com/hljlist2/?Dis=-2&Mac ... age=Guntop

^^^ most if not all of those are waterslides...

I'd love to know where you have seen dry transfers, because I prefer those personally, never had very good luck with waterslides... >.<

In the hobby shop by my house they have alot of Gunpla Dry transfers but no water slides

[reeoyuy]

Yes, that's just water. They're called water-transfer decals, and I've always found them irritating to use because I lack a steady hand. Dry-transfer decals are much easier to use.

I don't think those are water-transfer, I had experiences with it. It's clearly film sticker, with adhesive on its back. The first time I saw dipping sticker into water technique was Hobby Japan tutorial about 1/100 Avalanche Exia; I thought that those are water transfer too, but then after I look closely, those are clear sticker the kit came with.
So yeah, wouldn't dipping sticker into water ruin the adhesive? Or it is intentionally so it's easier to repositioned?

[Heecarl_Reez]

yeah,that's 'marking seal'(aka clear sticker).Actually I don't really know,why he dip the seal on the water.judging from the pictures,it could be helping,to cut the side of the stickers..or...well i'm out of ideas :p

[Geoxile]

Even decals are set on film except the water helps it dissolve unto the surface along with the decal colors or image itself. If you ever work with water set decals you'd know you have to slide the actual film off of the backing that protects it after dipping the entire thing in water.

[Leroy Landers]

Does anyone have experience with sealing in decals with a Topcoat? I've been thinking about doing that for my next model.

[joelfinkle]

Does anyone have experience with sealing in decals with a Topcoat? I've been thinking about doing that for my next model.

I typically do apply a dullcoat on top of my models, even if they aren't full-painted.

For a full-on finish, go visit www.fichtenfoo.com -- he's done a lot of work on decal technique, including softening them to "sink" into grooves, and airbrushing thin layers of Future Floor Wax or dull coat (I forget which order) and sanding them down to level out the decals so they don't appear raised.

[Compass]

In terms of putting the clear sticker into water, it could be to try and get rid of the static charge. In the past, when I tried to place some of the clear stickers, my stickers would basically be statically attracted to the model and be almost impossible to position. Not sure what it would do to the adhesive though.

[jnhchan]

From the notes in the photo. It said that dipping the sticker to the water will allow easy reposition of the sticker. As you know, the sticker is hard to reposition after stick into the model. Dipping into the water allow you to move it when the sticker is on the model surface.