Archer Fine Transfers

Surface Details #4 WWI Stitching, 1/32nd and 1/48th Scale

Sheet Number: AR88004

Reviewed by  Chad Richmond, IPMS# 10346

MSRP: $14.95 www.archertransfers.com One of the fine details involved in building most World War One aircraft is the stitching of the fabric cover, usually on the bottom of the aircraft's tail and on the landing gear plane. Eduard incorporated it in the Fokker DVII kits as a strip insert on the bottom of the fuselage, but that creates two seams that have to be carefully sealed. In the past, I have tried just about everything, including drilling holes and gluing short pieces of thread in the holes. What an act of futility! Scribing looks okay, but it's recessed, not raised. Archer Fine Transfers has the solution. I vaguely remember many years ago Archer coming out with some raised details, but I don't remember exactly what it was. The notation "Formerly SD99006 Surface Detail 6" may be the clue. Of course these would have been made about the same time as that fantastic P-51D data sheet and the V-1 sheets were made, both of which have not been around for a long, long time. Well, whatever the case, they're back. As you can see in the picture of the sheet, you get a lot of stitching on this sheet, which is for 1/48th and 1/32nd scale. I suspect you could use some of each in either scale, according to where it is being used. These are all raised details, printed on a solid clear sheet. Unlike the rest of Archer's details, these are wet slide decals. The instruction sheet, however, tells you to apply them directly to the plastic. I had misgivings about that, and they proved eventually to be true. They do offer the suggestion to use a mixture of 75% Future and 25% water to apply the decal. I trimmed the run that I wanted from the clear sheet, and I made my cut as close to the stitching as possible, which helps later. I dipped the strip in warm water, and within about three seconds I could see it was ready. The stitching slid right off, and unlike most thin, straight decals, laid almost perfectly straight. The fact that it has some rigidity to it really helped in that respect. I had two very small areas that needed a little nudging, but that was it. I let it set for a few minutes and then put a little Micro Sol the length of it and set it aside to dry. The next morning, it looked fantastic, and the edge of the clear film was barely perceptible. It was there, but the zigzag of the stitching actually served to distract the fact that it was there. I sprayed the bottom color using Mister-Kit Fokker Underside Turquoise. It took about four applications of color to finally cover the black stitching. Hind sight being 20/20, I will prime first the next time. The stitching really pops out at you, and no washes or dry brushing is necessary. You can definitely see it is there, and it does look good. Remember I said I had some misgivings about applying it directly to the plastic? Before I shot the color coat, I noticed that the strip of stitching was just a tad long, and had overlapped the tail skid opening. I took a new single edge razor blade, and was in the process of trimming that very, very short piece off, when the decal pulled up about 3/8ths of an inch. Thankfully, due to the stitching, the decal didn't tear. This time, I put it in place with Future. I have a feeling that a coat of Future on the bare plastic, prior to putting the decal on would be the solution to any lifting problem. If I ever get caught up with all the reviews that are setting on my workbench, I'll be inclined to build something to put these stitches to work. My thanks to Patrick Keenan, Editor-WarWheels.Net and IPMS/USA Armored Car/Wheeled Fighting Vehicle SIG Leader for providing the review sample and to John Noack for allowing me to do the review.

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