ICM 1/48 Dornier 217J-1/2

I had a bit of a setback this week when applying the decals. Starting with the red hatched lines for the wing-walk areas, after struggling to get them straight and off the backing sheet without twisting them I still managed to put them in the wrong place.

I had already applied Micro Sol to them when I realised my mistake but it was too late as the decals had welded themselves to the wings. I tried lifting them with tape but that didn’t work so using 5000 grit wet and dry paper I sanded them off and in the process ruining the paint.

Anyway I resprayed the affected areas and they didn’t look too bad, the problem now was to replace the hatched lines. I was considering using lengths of tape very close together and masking the gaps between each line or perhaps printing my own via the laptop onto clear decal sheet.

After a scout around the internet I found a masking set by Uschi Van Der Rosten called ‘Dashed Lines, Luftwaffe (DL-48) which were duly ordered from a UK supplier.

They arrived today so I began removing the masking material where the dashes are then laid them (in the correct position this time) onto the model using Tamiya masking tape to hold them in place and protect the paint from red overspray;

Tamiya XF-7 was then sprayed over the masks. After this was done I moved the masks to the next section and repeated the process. When finished the masking was removed and I was left with perfect red hatched lines;

No silvering, twisted decals or wonky lines, just red hatched lines. With that done I can now get on with putting the rest of the decals on. With the Uschi Van Der Rosten being re-useable I can of course use them again on other WW2 Luftwaffe subjects.

A great product!