Decals.....My Nemesis

I am not going to boast about my modeling skills--mostly because I can't.  I am stuck in the intermediate phase and seemed destined to stay there forever.  On one of my current projects--Jacques Villeneuve's Formula One car I had been making good progress until I met my nemesis.

My nemesis at car modeling that is.... my sink nemesis is this guy named Martin, and my bus seat nemesis doesn't have a name, but he has sharp elbows that seem to stick me whenever he is texting someone.... whish is ALL THE TIME!  I seem to be digressing.

My nemesis in car modeling must be decals.  I have lots of good equipment. I have a good set of knives.  I have a steel ruler.  I have a really cool self healing cutting mat (not entirely sure what that is, but it sounds cool).  I've even got a full range of tweezers and some setting solution for the decals.  What I don't have is patience for getting them on strait, judgement to know when to remove them from the water, and delicate fingers to stop them from ripping, folding or disintegrating.

I have, in the past, managed to get the decals on license plates, dashboards, air cleaner covers and manifolds.  As for this car, I have ruined a few, and now feel dejected.  I am not sure I want to finish this model, even though it started out with such good progress.

I wish I could blame the decals.  They seem very thin and fragile.  Maybe they are defective.  If I could comfort myself with that lie, I could probably tell myself the dozens of others that politicians and pseudo academics try to foist on me on a weekly basis.  Sadly, I cannot do that.  It is probably less about principles than practical honesty.

I had such high hopes for this car, but sadly, it may go back in the box to rest for a while.  A long while, if I can't shake this funk and feeling of frustration.

I used to hate painting car bodies, but the airbrush has made that somewhat easier.  Of course, choosing the right colours and thinning the paint appropriately has also helped that, but I would rather thank the airbrush.  It is just simpler that way.

I used to hate taping walls and baseboards for painting, but the new tape (frog tape I think it is called--they must be competing with duct/duck tape.) has made that easier.

wiring up train tracks and lights used to be a pain, but that has been solved.

So basically, why can't they make better decals for car models.

 

On a side note, as an ESL teacher, I am amused by the word decal.  Do you pronounce it /dee-kal/ or /deckle/ ?

these turned out relatively good