Randy Ayers Nascar Modeling Forums

[d_grady]

Greetings gentlemen, I'm absolutely brand-new to NASCAR scale models. I used to do aircraft as a younger man, but got into stock car racing big time in the past few years.

My father-in-law was a massive stock car (and scale model) fan- he passed away last year. My son wanted to do something to deal with missing his grandfather so he started watching every cup race. Pretty soon I started watching every cup race with him. Long story short, we've been to 4 races already this year and plan to hit Talladega as well.

I bought the Salvino's JR Napa #9 so I could show him what scale models are really capable of. He's bought a few die casts, but having been to some IPMS shows I know that a cleanly built scale model- nothing can really compare.

So I'm applying the body decals, and unfortunately I got one too hot with the micro set and torched it. I have a couple of questions about decal application.

1) Are there any fitting guides for these body decals? Or is it just eyeball and best guess? Any visual cues to help you place them?

2) How to deal with the excess decal, e.g. around the wheel wells? I let the setting decal dry over night and attempted to cut the excess off with a brand new hobby blade- big mistake. I cracked the decal on the body.

3) When placing these body decals, I know patience is key. I feel with bodywork I can never get into too much trouble because I can always primer, paint and sand my way out of any mistakes. How do you correct mistakes during the decal application? Do you just keep the decal wet? What's the trick?

3) Does Salvinos sell replacement decals?

If you've read this far, thanks for bearing with me. You all have already been a huge help to me just as a lurker here. Hopefully I'll post some finished builds here soon.

[hurricane21]

Oftentimes what I’ll do with a section that extends below the wheel wells is make 1 or 2 relief cuts across the fender opening and use setting solution to wrap the decal up and under inside the body. The Next Gen kits do take some work to decal. The large ‘wrap’ like sections like the large white panels on the Elliott kit will take some work to get just right. I get the location right and let it dry a little so it won’t move when I apply the setting solution. I’ll keep hitting it with setting solution until I get it to lay how I want it to. It typically takes me a few hours to get all the big color panels in place.

It really comes down to eyeballing it for me. I’ll start with the largest decals first so I have maximum room to adjust things. Plus mistakes aren’t as noticeable with smaller sections. If it’s a line or design that covers multiple areas of the car I like to start with something like the hood or deck lid. It’s easier to line up side pieces to the top than it is the other way around since the top pieces carry the lines or design to the other side. The simpler the paint scheme, the easier it os to decal. The Larson and Elliott kits took me some serious concentration and time. I prefer to paint some of those large areas many times because it’s often easier to tape it off and paint than it is to mess with large sections like the Elliott and Larson kits have. Especially when those areas have a lot of curves and body contour.

The throwbacks are a good option if you’re looking for easy decal work to get a young builder into it while still using the Next Gen car. Mike’s has several and some of the decal makers here have some as well. The Salvinos 70’s kits have plenty of simple decal kits too. They do have the wrap style option for the Petty kits; painting those schemes and decaling them is a chore I wouldn’t recommend for a new builder but the rest of the 70’s stuff is usually fairly simple.

[iceman]

Mike's Decals has the Salvino JR decals under his Powerslide decal list.
# 9 Napa Chase Elliott 2022 Camaro Powerslide
Manufacturer Powerslide Quantity3+
$10.00

[d_grady]

[hurricane21]

A big thing that helps me taping off paint schemes is I'll make a copy of the decal sheet and then cut out the decal and use it to either mark the body with reference lines, hidden under a darker layer of color, or I trace them over a large piece of tape to get the perfect line or shape or whatever. White decals don't like to copy over so that gets a little tricky. But typically if I'm in doubt about i prefer to paint it. The next gen side skirt area is tricky because there's basically a 90 degree turn a decal often has to make and with fit issues and all the time manipulating the decal it's often a better option to paint it. This can be difficult on some paint scheme because of color matching so that plays a factor in how I handle the decal vs painting question sometimes.

[Tom M.]

1. Very hot water with a drop of dish detergent to lubricate the water. I have a coffee cup warmer that I set on 135F to keep the decal water very hot.

2. A hair dryer to heat the decal while you're trying to work it down to the body contours.

3. Setting solution on the stubborn areas.

4. As noted, slit the decal to help it flip under the body around openings.

[Pat Redmond]