I thought I would expand a bit on the decaling of the center sill.
I cut a length of the double row rivets, trimming pretty close to the rivets as there is not a lot of room on the side of the center sill. You don't want extra material going past the width of the sill, it's a PIA......
Cut off a length of decal to fit in opening, immerse in water for about 30 seconds (don't' soak long enough that the decal comes off the backing in the water.) In the majority of my cases, after a 30 second soak, I'll place the decal on the spot that will get the decal.
The paper backing absorbs a lot of water, after placing the decal, as above, I'll tear a piece of paper towel, and with the ragged edge, touch it to the side for a moment and soak up the extra water. There will still be plenty of moisture in the backing paper to "work" the decal. Try not to touch the decal with the paper towel, you'll risk pulling the decal off the paper. (ask me how I know
)
If you leave all the extra water there, when you pull the decal off the backing, that extra amount of moisture with it's surface tension, increases the chances of the decal wanting to go were it wants to. (ask me how I know
)...lol
(You can also touch the decal to a paper towel when you pull it out of the water, I'm merely showing what works for me.)
For me, I like using the back side of a fresh #11 blade to work the decals. I like the long handle of the Exacto knife and the really fine point of the new blade. I'll periodically check the decal to see if it will slide on the backing paper.
When the decal slides, I'll push it back on the paper a bit, grab the paper with tweezer's, pin the decal to the surface with the blade point & pull the paper out. (need a third arm for that pic.
) If I need to adjust the decal, it's fairly easy to go to the edge of the decal and pull/push it around with the back side of the knife tip. If at all possible I try and avoid adjusting the decal by pushing down on the surface of it. That's when things can go fubar! (ask me how I know
)
Once the decal is in place, again I'll take the paper towel piece and touch it to the corner of the cross bearer/sill, getting any residual moisture.
Let decals dry.
Not so much with these particular decals because they're on a smooth flat surface, but were decals are on a textured surface, I'll use Solvaset to help the decals conform to the surface irregularities. Good stuff! Use it!
The Walthers brand has a built in brush that's good for bigger areas, (like rivets on the center sill,) and the Microscale with micro brush, for small & hard to reach decals.
I, don't apply any solvaset until the decals are DRY! Applying extra moisture to a wet decal that you want to stay in one place, I see a fubar happening.....(dare I say it....
)
Here are two other decal working fluids that have come in handy for me......
The liquid decal film (lft) is used to coat old decals to help maintain their integrity while applying them.
The Micro Gloss is a surface prep liquid that you put down before applying the decal.
I've used both of these several times with good results....