The unused decals (or any suspect decal) can be saved with a bottle of Liquid Decal from Microscale , a great product that act as ... decal ! Just brush or airbrush some of this over the old or suspect decal , let it dry and use the decal with safe . Just remember to cut the decal from the sheet because Liquid Decal makes a new film over the old one "homogenizing" the whole surface that treated with this .

Hi Michael (@faraomike): I have used Liquid Decal on some older decals before, but I didn't think these were old enough to cause problems. I bought them this month online, which doesn't mean they weren't sitting at the warehouse for a long time. After they started breaking up, I was hesitant to coat them with anything because they were already thick. In my arrogance, I thought I could make them work. In addition to Liquid Decal, I have also simply sprayed the decals with clear (flat or gloss) from a spray can and gotten good results. When I make my own decals in my printer, I over-spray the sheet with clear from a can to keep the ink from bleeding. I have recently started using a laser printer to make my decals, and you don't necessarily need to overspray since the laser will heat-set the inks. I have made and used some laser decals without overcoating them, and they worked fine and are very thin. I always make extra decals so I can test them, just to be sure.

Hi Lis (@lis): Checking how long ago the decals came out is probably a good idea. I also sometimes buy pre-owned decals, which I usually test before I use them. My biggest problem is that I am always in search of something unusual to build, so it seems there is usually only one manufacturer and one set of decals to be had. I like the WW2 Spanish schemes, and until recently, there weren't many decal sets to be found. It looks like these schemes are getting more popular, because it seems there are more decal sets from this period available. I am also playing with my wife's diecut machine that she uses for card-making. I have had some limited success making my own stencils for spray-painting insignia. I plan to make my own stencils and spray paint all of the markings in an upcoming build.

Glad to hear that all came together nicely, George @gblair
The masked cross and corrected '5', are well performed.
Really like your paintwork, I tried to use it on my Henschel as well.

In retrospect, you are exactly right, Tom (@tcinla). I think I was over-concerned with the thickness of the decals and should have broken out my bottle of liquid decal.

@gblair I like unusual paitings too 🙂 Some unusual planes make peddinghaus decals from germany.

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten), Lis (@lis), and Colin (@coling). Lis: I have seen Peddinhaus decals, and have used them on some 1/35 scale armor I built a few years ago. For some reason, Peddinghaus is a little difficult to get where I live, so I tend not to use them much. Colin: I think I was really beating myself about the fact that I had prepped the slats and attached them to clips for painting, and then forgot them when I painted the rest of the plane. I like to use oils for weathering, and I was tempted to use them to adjust the color, but in the end I repainted the slats using a dark base, and then the desert tan.

This is really looking good, @gblair. You shouldn't have the slightest difficulty sitting it next to any Hasegawa 1/32 109.

Great that you have progressed so quickly to the weathering stage, George. The tones you have achieved look nice and subtle, overall. You have made some good decisions on simulating certain kinds of weathering, like oil stains. I also like weathering with oils, but so far only mix limited earth tones plus green and white, where appropriate. I use a lot more oil wash color on my armor models, where I feel I can really go to town. I don't know what your experience is with lighter colors accidentally getting into the panel line furrows, where you want only darker shades of brown or grey. That is one reason why I go lightly with oils on aircraft models, to avoid this. I find it shows up more noticeably after a final flat or semi-gloss coat when the gloss is dulled down. This also makes the panel lines and shade variations really jump out for me. I never know how its is going to look until that final stage. In fact I have added more oil wash over the flat sometimes if it doesn't look dark enough to me in the right places. BTW, have you ever tried Van Dyke Brown? It's a Windsor and Newton Shade. I learned about it from another modeler as a more earthy brown than either reddish Burnt Umber or orangy Burnt Sienna. I like to use it mixed with black for panel lines and straight on armor models for wet mud effect.

I am still grinding away at my Revell and Hasegawa 109G-6s. While they are fine kits, they have some definite challenges in getting the details right (and done in the right order). Being inexperienced with the 109, I am just beginning to appreciate its unique engineering as I slowly paint and assemble things. I hope I can get these dragged across the finish line before public interest evaporates. Working too slowly can be a disadvantage when there is so much interesting stuff to look at on all the GBs.