Talk:Water slide decal

Help
What material is needed to protect the decal from cracking and scratching when used on plastic models? Wolcott (talk) 05:35, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Try using a clear coat of varnish over them. 98.208.193.96 (talk) 13:18, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Method and history of manufacture
It would be very useful to understand how waterslide decal papers are made. That is, not how they are printed and applied to the item being decorated but how the material itself is manufactured. I know that the manufacturing process is not new. Who invented and developed the materials? What is the manufacturing process? Who makes the material today? Is it possible to make small quantities of the material itself at home (and hence print on the underside of the clear material)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.28.92.5 (talk) 10:20, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Historic method of application
Something that should probably be added to the article: These decals no doubt made their start commercially, using a different method with quite large decals. The shape of the decal was painted in a solvent-based glue. While this was still wet, the decal (dry) was lain face down (paper out) and the bubbles worked out. Once the glue had fully dried, the entire decal was soaked in water, which softened the dextrose. The paper was peeled away, and all the remaining dextrose was removed with soap and water. Obviously, this requires the decal to be constructed with the display side facing the dextrose. A final coat of lacquer protected it from weather, UV and physical damage. One early application for this technique was railroad cars.

The use of the dextrose as the adhesive itself probably followed from this earlier practice. Ironically, the latter technique is dominant on model railroad cars. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.112.75.244 (talk) 00:44, 10 July 2017 (UTC)