Here's the text of a post I made to
BNList@yahoogroups.com a couple weeks ago. It's specific to decal striping over ribs, but the same techniques apply to placing decals over doors.
Also, since that's a GE (not sure which model), you might want to save the Microscale decals for another project and use Shell Scale decals (
http://www.shellscale.com/NS Diesels.htm). On factory painted GE diesels, the NS emblem is a little different, as shown on the Shell Scale page. If this is a repaint, such as a locomotive received from Conrail, then the EMD style emblem is appropriate. Check the site for details on that, if you're interested.
Anyway, here's my post, which I hope you find useful:
The trick to doing striping is to work in short segments, say 3" to 4"
lengths. When you begin decalling, get a paper towel and fold it in
quarters and place it next to your dish (I use a saucer sized plate) of
warm water. Dunk the stripe in the water for 10 seconds then lay it on
the paper towel for one minute. Make sure the model surface to be
decalled is parallel with the table, not vertical. Gently brush the
decal onto the model surface allowing for enough length to wrap each
rib. It's not going to lay down on the ribs correctly at this point,
but in the next minute or so you can estimate how much length you'll
need for it to sit down properly wrapped snug around the ribs. Then,
using a small amount of Micro Set, position the decal where you want it,
again, not worrying about wrapping the ribs completely.
Once it has set in place for another two or three minutes, apply a drop
of Micro Sol to each rib, allowing the solution to flow under the decal
at the rib. You may need to reposition the decal a bit, but do so
gently and use only a brush. The decal is very vulnerable once Micro
Sol is added to the equation, so there's no place for a knife blade.
Once the Micro Sol has been applied, do not touch the decal until it has
almost evaporated completely. The process of the Micro Sol evaporating
is what will make the decal hug the rib. "Speeding it up" with heat
from a hair dryer will at best ruin the decal and at worst ruin your
model. Too much (like soaking the decal) Micro Sol will distort the
decal as will touching the decal during this process. You'll see small
wrinkles in the decal as it's drying and it's tempting to touch the
decal with the brush at this point, but the process of evaporation will
eliminate the wrinkles. If a second application of Micro Sol is needed,
do it right before the decal dries, but not while it's still wet with
Micro Sol or after it has completely dried. All you really need to do is
practice this until you've done it successfully once, and if you can
discard everything you know about decals and just do it this way, you'll
get it to work.
Once the first strip is applied successfully and has dried to the point
where an adjacent strip won't dislodge the decal, you can continue
adding strips until you're done. When you apply the next segment, try
to avoid overlap as much as possible, because there will be a color
shift where the two reds or blues are "double thick." A small (1/32"
length or less) isn't noticeable, but anything more will stick out,
especially on a light background where the paint underneath "amplifies"
the colors.
I had the hardest time doing striping for years, which is a bad thing
when you're modeling BNSF. My background in decals was mostly military
aircraft, so the methods I had learned then I still used unsuccessfully
with Microscale. I had always hated doing decals and thought Microscale
decals were crap until I gave up and read Microscale's directions. The
method I described is basically an amplified version of what they recommend.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
Ryan Harris
North Richland Hills, Texas