Hello, Friends, Romans, & casual iModeler observers!

Today I found a box of some more 1/48 models I've had packed away for decades. (Literally) Because of my Father's death, an Army career, a divorce, then a long stint as a Mailman, (Letter Carrier; USPS) ... and other assorted reasons ... I had to put my "stash" of models in storage. They were initially boxed up and stored in 1983. Since 1997, my models were in sturdy boxes stored in the upper reaches of my garage. It is relatively dry there, but it's unheated or air conditioned. Indiana (USA) weather can range from 103 degrees F in summer to -10 deg. F in winter. (39.4 C to -23.3C) Being in the upper part of a 2-car garage most likely has the summer temperatures well over 120 deg. F (48.9 C), I'd imagine. From what I've seen of my models as I bring them back to "life" has been very encouraging. Very few decal sheets show any damage and look perfectly fine. A few have yellowed, but I've been pleasantly surprised how few have not survived, at least in good enough shape to attempt their use - which I haven't tried as yet.

That brings me to today. While inspecting my latest "find," I came upon 2 models with identical problems. One is a (Tamiya) J2M ("Jack") Raiden, the other is an (Otaki) Ki-61 ("Tony") Hein. Both had colour sheets of the paint schemes available to that particular kit printed on slick paper, which is better for printing the colour shots vs. the type of paper usually used for instructions. My Problem: BOTH kits' decal sheets were stored with the slick paper facing the front of the decal sheet. The decal sheets are now stuck to the face of the slick paper. They appear to be fairly lightly stuck to the paper, but stuck they are! I'm sure I could "steam" them apart, but I doubt the decals would survive that in any useable condition. Yes, I can order new decals from any one of numerous Hobby shops online. However, do any of you know how to salvage the kit's decals in a condition that isn't destroyed?! I'm on a budget these days, so buying new decal sheets is not my top priority.

If any of you have experience with this, I'd appreciate your thoughts and/or suggestions. Due to the fact that I'm no longer on iModeler every day (due to my wife's Mesothelioma) I'd appreciate it if you could include @mikegolf, my "message member name" (or whatever it's actually called) with any answer or comment you make.

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions you may have!
Sincerely,
Jeff Bailey @mikegolf

Hi Jeff @mikegolf!

I would leave them as they are, meaning no attempt to separate them by any means from that slick paper, as I think they would be destroyed. WHEN I WOULD NEED THEM for decalling, I would do as follows:

Put the whole sheet in water, ensuring that the slick paper has become completely soaked/penetrated with water. Should I be lucky, the paper would disintegrate and disengage, maybe helping it with a slight tearing force or by rubbing it with a finger. Then I would decal my model very quickly, as all the decals will have been soaked! Should the decals try to disengage from their backing sheet, with the slick paper still attached, I would stop and wait for a quarter or so for the decals to bond back to their backing sheet, and then try to remove the slick paper.

The decals can then be soaked in water and used - it might take some more time to come off again from their backing paper - , and you would possibly need setting solution as most of their glue would have been gone. Have never done this, it just came off my mind. There is a risk to the above procedure, but what have you got to lose? The only drawback I can see is that if the decals fail, your model will stall till finding replacements.

All the best!

@mikegolf, I agree with James @jamesb. Better start like he says. It looks a more systematic approach.
All the best, my friends!

What i could do Jeff is send you a left over Tech Mod decal set for the Hein. They are well kept as I just used one set of the markings to build a Ki-61 a couple of years ago. Just message me an address and they are yours. I also have a Tamiya Raiden sheet, but I don't think these will be any good as i have had these for over 20 years in the decal folder. They are the original kit decals from Tamiya. The Techmod decals are really nice to use.