I\'ve been using the decals recently, and I\'ve had very good luck with them. It *is* a time consuming process though. I\'ll try to outline my process, and maybe that could help.
Materials:
shallow bowl of water
cup of water to rinse brush in
some paper towels
a small brush (old)
GW \'ardcoat (brush-on gloss varnish)
the decals
a knife
tweezers
Microsol
Microset
Ok...that\'s a lot of stuff, but you should probably have most of it already. The \'ardcoat can be picked up anywhere that has a selection of Citadel paints, and the Microsol and Microset cost about US$2.50 each. Those can be found in any decent hobby store (one that sells railroad accessories and such).
1. brush some gloss varnish on the area for the decal. For SM shoulderpads, I juse glossed the entire bit inside the raised outer rim. Be sure to let this dry completely.
2. cut out your decals. cut a square around each decal, and then on that square, cut a shallow outline around the symbol, not cutting through the backing. kind of scrape away the excess decal film.
3. using the tweezers to pick up the decal square, set it in the bowl of water. You can submerge it if you want, but you may have trouble getting it off the bottom with the tweezers later. You\'ll want this in the bowl for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
4. While you\'re waiting for the decal to release from the backing, dip your brush in the MicroSET and brush it on the shoulderpad to wet it.
5. Grab the decal square with your tweezers, and test by trying to move the decal with your brush. If it moves freely, you\'re good to go.
6. Using the tweezers, grab the decal square and touch it lightly to a piece of paper tower to absorb any excess water. Make sure the shoulderpad is still damp from the MicroSet. Use the brush in one hand to move the decal off the backing that is being held in the tweezers in the other hand. It\'s a little fiddly, but as long as you get the decal off the paper and onto the pad, you\'re doing ok.
7. dip your brush in the Microset again, and brush it over the shoulderpad. Use the brush to slide the decal around into position. This is all up to your eye, so try your best to get the symbol centered.
8. Let dry for a minute or two. Take a small square of damp paper towl (wet it, then squeeze it out). Use this to push gently on the edges of the decal, trying to push out any air bubbles. Be careful the first time you do this, and you\'ll get a good feel for it.
9. Let dry completely.
10. At this point there may still be ridges and air bubbles, especially on SM shoulderpads...that curve is a pain! That\'s ok, as that is what the MicroSOL is for. Brush the Microsol onto the entire decal, and use your brush, near the ferrule, to push down any ridges, and push out any disformities. If there\'s an airbubble completely under the decal, prick the bubble with a pin. You may have to repeat this step multiple times for a single model. I had to do it something like 7 times on the last squad of Dark Angels I decalled. It\'s a pain, but it\'s worth it.
10b. At this point, you may want to go to step 3 and do the rest of the squad in one go.
11. Once the pad is completely dry, and looks good, do another coat of gloss varnish over the whole thing.
12. Spray with matte varnish to finish it all.
As a side note, I\'ve got quite a few decal sheets, and I get better results with the sheets that have a darker blue paper backing. You can tell the lighter ones because it\'s difficult to see the white decals unless you\'re looking from the right angle.
