T: Fuel Tank Advice on applying VOC petrol tank transfers please.

Jim Bush

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I need some advice from an experienced painter on applying the card backed transfers supplied by VOC please.

I assumed these are standard waterslide transfers and I applied them the usual way by soaking and sliding into position, dabbing dry and getting air bubbles out with soft cloth. They dried overnight very nicely, nice and flat. I hit them with a couple of clear coats of House of Kolor urethane (light first coat and allowed to set up, followed by flow coat), which was fine initially - but after an hour or so they started to bubble, then after a while longer looked quite bad. After a few days, I decided I would see what's going on and found they had not stuck at all to the sanded paint underneath. A complete redo required.

I came up with two reasons against me succeeding
- I had used wax and grease remover to clean off my fingerprints from applying the gold leaf lines and I believe at this final step in the process is a no no - and should have used soap and water, or the HOK post sanding cleaner. The clear coat also was not properly adhered either and I could lift if off in small sections which leads me to believe that the W&G remover was the issue
- I applied the transfers to a sanded sealer surface - wet sanded 600-1000grit, rather than the unsanded black base coat.

I have taken the tank back to primer and will be redoing the gold leaf lines and transfers again. I have one more set of transfers and must nail it this time.

I read in the Whitakerpedia about using meths to apply the transfers- this seems drastic? That may be old advice for early decals.

I am an 25yr experienced hobby painter, with a small booth, air supplied mask and proper guns. I do about a dozen paint jobs a year typically for Norton's - mainly the dry metal flake of the 70's. I specifically use the House the Kolor products and have never had any issues like this. Thankfully this is my own tank.
 

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timetraveller

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I am not a professional painter so please treat what I write with care but from my experience with base coat all one need to do is to very lightly sand it down with water and, say, 1,000 grade wet or dry. Once it is well dried out,, ?overnight or heated for some time, then I do the same as you. Use water to release and slide the transfer into place. Pat it into place to remove water and air and then let it dry out again. Then just the same as you; a very light spray of lacquer to seal it and then once it is set some more layers of lacquer. This works for me but I only spray for myself, not commercially.
 

Ian Savage

VOC Vice President
VOC Member
Jim, the key words in TT's post was 'very light spray' the modern transfer inks are more susceptible to solvents I've just put a head lug transfer on my twin and probably did 6 or 7 very light dustings of acrylic lacquer allowing each to dry.
 
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Jim Bush

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Yes, agreed - very light initial coats, allowed to dry. There is always the temptation to just keep going once started. Like anything with painting- patience and discipline.

It has been many decades since I used laquer - I don't believe it has been available here in Canada for some time. I have been using the 2 pot urethane finishes - they have proper UV protection and the HOK ones are gas stain resistant, but the solvents & catalysts are very unique. This time I used a new HOK Clear - USC-01 their latest show clear, but has a new catalyst. I have had good results in the past with transfers using their standard UC35 Clear - I think I will go back to that to be sure.
 

Somer

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
A friend of mine has probably done 200+ Vincent tanks. He gave up on waterslide decals years ago. Modern paints attack them. Vinyl is immune to it but due to its thickness, they stand proud. He finally had some very thin vinyl ones made and uses those. He said every batch of paint is a new learning experience due to the changing composition of paint. One time he had to re-do a tank 4 times! Occasionally I hear of people having success with waterslides/clear. You might practice on the bottom of your tank. Good luck.
 

greg brillus

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
My painter has done loads of tanks/decals for me with the supplied VOC spares co waterslides.........He uses a small bottle of some kind of "Modeller's dope" this must be like a type of wall paper paste that helps to bond the decal to the painted tank surface. i think it is specifically designed for modeller's to do literally the same when applying decals to model aircraft........He never has any issues at all.
 

nkt267

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
When I did my tank I sprayed a coat of 2 pack lacquer before I put the transfers on, somewhere to rub back to if it goes wrong.Left it to dry for a couple of days and applied the transfers,again left it for a few days in the warm to make sure they had dried. Gave a light,very light ,dusting with the 2 pack clear again and let that dry for a few days..Then a coat of lacquer. Once dry do the lines and then a couple more coats of lacquer over the whole lot..John
 
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