Traditional decals use a carrier film - a top layer of varnish which traditionally extends beyond the edge of the design, often very noticeably so. This film is also used to group individual elements into a single decal - e.g. code letter and serial numbers. That's fine in theory, but the clear areas are notoriously prone to "silvering" - the result of tiny pockets of air being trapped underneath as the decals dry, and almost unavoidable unless they are applied over a high-gloss finish (and frequently still an issue even then). 

So, the obvious answer is to do away with the carrier film, and that's precisely what Ray Horwell at Fantasy Printshop has done with his new range of NCF (No Carrier Film) decals. This is really apparent if you hold a sheet to catch the light and the semi-matte decals really stand out against the reflection. Straight off the sheet, the items have a slightly speckled shine (I imagine this is inherent to the new printing process), but quick tests with Johnson Klear and Alclad II matte varnish produced a nice even finish in both cases.

Ray Horwell recommends that extra care is needed using NCF decals, but I've found them to be totally straightforward to work with in the numerous tests I've done. To all intents and purposes, they've behaved just like standard decals for me. They loosen from the backing paper after a few seconds dipped in warm water and float into position easily, with plenty of working time to get them aligned. Despite having no carrier film, they are quite robust and easy to keep correctly in shape (vital with spindly letters) without any particular tendency to fold over on themselves. Ray informed me that he's received a report of them tending to curl, but this has never happened for me with over a dozen items taken from several different sheets.

I've tried setting solutions and the NCF decals have behaved just like conventional ones - wrinkling initially before straightening out fine. If you apply the decals over prominent raised detail, the usual trick of making pin-pricks to help the items snuggle down work as you'd hope. The glue used seems fine and I haven't noticed any tendency for the decals to lift, but I'm sure you could always use diluted PVA if you've allowed the original glue to wash away by repeated repositioning.

This latter point highlights one of the big pros of these NCF decals - their ease of positioning. While dry-transfers and masking obviously also overcome the problem of avoiding a carrier film, they are "get it right first time only" techniques - basically, if you mess up, there's no chance to adjust things. Add the fact that NCF decals are simply a lot quicker and less hassle than masking, and you can easily understand their attraction.

The colours and opacity look good in the sheets I've seen - although applying a patch of white decal over black paint was pushing things a bit to far. However, Sky worked fine over black. One thing I did notice, though, was that  examining the Sky under high magnification revealed dithered instead of solid colour. This wasn't in a regular pattern like you sometimes see in, say, nose-art decals - instead, it was much more random and was only apparent when magnified.

I think it's fair to say we are still in the early days of this new decal technology, but it really does hold a lot of promise. Some people have voiced concerns that aligning individual decals for things like squadron codes must somehow be difficult. Really, nothing could be further from the truth - just line the elements up to a temporary guide and the job's a cinch.

Ray has already released a variety of sheets in his Fantasy Printshop range:

FPNCF-2100 - RAF 8″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK / DULL RED - £6.95

FPNCF-2101 - RAF 12″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK / DULL RED - £6.50

FPNCF-2102 - RAF 15″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK / DULL RED / MEDIUM SEA GREY - £7.00

FPNCF-2103 - RAF 16″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK / DULL RED / MEDIUM SEA GREY - £7.50

FPNCF-2104 - RAF 18″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK / SKY - £8.00

FPNCF-2105 - RAF 21″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK - £8.50

FPNCF-2106 - RAF 24″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK / WHITE / BLUE/ SKY / RED / DULL RED - £9.00

FPNCF-2107 - RAF 27″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - DULL RED - £11.00

FPNCF-2108 - RAF 30″ LETTERS AND NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK - £12.00

FPNCF-2150 - US 45 DEGREE 18″ LETTERS - 1/32 SCALE DECALS - BLACK / WHITE / RED / YELLOW - £6.95

FPNCF-2151 - US 45 DEGREE 24″ LETTERS - 1/32 SCALE DECALS - BLACK / WHITE / RED / YELLOW - £6.95

FPNCF-2155 - US 45 DEGREE 18 AND 24″″ NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE - BLACK / WHITE / RED / YELLOW - £6.95

FPNCF-2156 - US 45 DEGREE 36″ NUMBERS - 1/32 SCALE DECALS - BLACK / WHITE / RED / YELLOW - £6.95

Conclusion

I'm looking forward to doing more tests with NCF decals and trying them for real on a build. They're arguably not suitable for complete beginners, but anybody with a bit of experience should find them straightforward to use - in fact, I've found them simpler to apply than many conventional decals. As you can see from the prices above, the NCF sheets aren't expensive, so I think they are well worth a try. I look forward to seeing more subjects and scales added to the range.

Many thanks to Fantasy Printshop for the review samples.

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