Helmet / Decal Application - Question

[Huntzman]

Have a question regarding German re-furb'ed helmets & decal applications.

I'm having a problem with the helmet decal. It was a water transfer from one of the leading uniform companies. I put it on correctly (I used to do models so I know I did it right). Tamped it out really good and got all the air out. Let it air dry and everything was going well.

Then at an event, under the heat of the camo cover, the damn thing bubbled up. Now the glue is dried out in the center and the only area that stayed glued is around the border. It keeps it in place, but as soon as it heats up it's gonna bubble up again.

Anyone with similar problems ? suggestions / solutions ?

Andrew

[prussian.guard]

i would scrape off the bubbled area laquer it and call it combat worn.decals were never 100% intact if used in combat

[Huntzman]

PG

I understand what your saying. But it bubbles up the full center. If I scrap it the only thing I will have left is the actual border edging which is the only place that has remained affixed. It won't look battle worn, just intentionally removed.

Andrew

[prussian.guard]

the only way really is to put a pin into the bubble and soak it in water,pull it out and dab it with a cloth

[Huntzman]

I thought about that as well. I'm not sure whether there is an issue with the adhesive not being strong enough, or if there is an issue adhering to the paint.

I'll give it a try and see what happens.

Andrew

[pzrwest]

If the paint on the helmet is not gloss paint when the decal was applied it will "silver" as we call it. Minute bubbles of air will be trapped under the decal in the pores of the paint. When I apply a water slide decal to a helmet I first glosscoat(Testors) the area then when the it is completely dry I put a drop of Solveset on the area then apply the decal and apply some more Solveset. The Solveset soffens the decal and causes it to snuggle down to any imperfections on the surface. The decal may krinckle a bit but resisit the temptaion to to press out the wrinkles. the decal will flatten out and almost seem to imbed it's self into the painted surface. When the decal is completely set(a couple days) I then overspray the area with some more glosscoat and when that's dry I overspray that with dullcoat to match the sheen of the helmet. I have never had a decal to peal, bubble up, or flake off. when I tried to remove a decal applied this way I literally had to scrape it with an exacto knife then sand the area to get rid of the decal it was stuck so well. The reason I removed the waterslide Heer decal was to apply one of the dry transfer KM decals. I'm now sold on the dry transfer decals

[Huntzman]

Pzrwest

No, the helmet is painted a dull coat. I'm wondering if I would just be better off to remove this one and try a dry transfer version.

Andrew

[pzrwest]

Well I would remove it and use the dry transfer decals. BUT you still have to glosscoat the area before applying the dry transfer decal. It also requires a gloss surface to adhere properly. One word of caution useing the dry transfer decals!!!!! FOLLOW the directions exactly!!