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Mark,
You only get one chance with dry-transfers, so your worry is justified.
Start with the simple markings first: the markings on the sides of the sail. Cut each section of the mylar (to which the markings are adhered) out with scissors -- sections for the draft markings, hull numbers, crests, etc. On simple curves and flat areas, you attach a section of mylar and burnish the side of the mylar facing you to push the adhesive backed markings onto the model. Always burnishing from the center of the mylar, out. I use a ball-point pen so I know that every point on the surface of the mylar backing has been addressed.
The objective, of course, is to get the back-side of the marking (the side of the white marking facing the surface of the model) adhesive to present more stick onto the model than the mylar side of the marking. Once the burnishing is done, you then gently peel the mylar backing away, leaving the marking(s) on the model. If all the markings don't transfer you put the mylar back down, looking through it to the markings on the model to get proper registration and re-burnish the markings still sticking to the mylar.
Next, once your confidence level is up after doing the simple ****, move onto the more complicated transfer work, the ship's crest that goes across the leading edge of the sail. You can still use masking tape to hold the mylar down, one on each side of the cut-out mylar with the crest marking in the center of it -- the stiff mylar can negotiate pretty tight simple curve radii, so no big sweat here.
And, finally, the hard one: the crest at the compound curve of the bow. At the bow the mylar is too stiff to be taped down without wrinkling. So, you hold it at the center with a finger and very carefully burnish from the inside out, burnishing a bit all around symmetrically as you tilt the stiff mylar like a swash-plate off a central bearing. Go slow. Check your work by lifting the mylar off the work and checking for drift. You'll re-register the mylar and markings it still contains by looking through the semi-transparent mylar and matching the markings still on the mylar with the markings that went onto the model. Very tedious. Make the bow crest marking that last dry-transfer you put down -- it will demand of you the most care and practice.
Did the kit provide extra markings for mistakes/practice? Duh!
Here's a trick that will improve the adhesion between the markings and the model: Hit the mylar with a light heat from a hair-dryer -- somehow that improves the 'stick' of the markings, even after they cool back to room temperature.
Also, it don't matter worth a tinker's-damn if the surface is gloss or flat. Stop coming up with excuses and mark that thing already!
... You people!
David,
You only get one chance with dry-transfers, so your worry is justified.
Start with the simple markings first: the markings on the sides of the sail. Cut each section of the mylar (to which the markings are adhered) out with scissors -- sections for the draft markings, hull numbers, crests, etc. On simple curves and flat areas, you attach a section of mylar and burnish the side of the mylar facing you to push the adhesive backed markings onto the model. Always burnishing from the center of the mylar, out. I use a ball-point pen so I know that every point on the surface of the mylar backing has been addressed.
The objective, of course, is to get the back-side of the marking (the side of the white marking facing the surface of the model) adhesive to present more stick onto the model than the mylar side of the marking. Once the burnishing is done, you then gently peel the mylar backing away, leaving the marking(s) on the model. If all the markings don't transfer you put the mylar back down, looking through it to the markings on the model to get proper registration and re-burnish the markings still sticking to the mylar.
Next, once your confidence level is up after doing the simple ****, move onto the more complicated transfer work, the ship's crest that goes across the leading edge of the sail. You can still use masking tape to hold the mylar down, one on each side of the cut-out mylar with the crest marking in the center of it -- the stiff mylar can negotiate pretty tight simple curve radii, so no big sweat here.
And, finally, the hard one: the crest at the compound curve of the bow. At the bow the mylar is too stiff to be taped down without wrinkling. So, you hold it at the center with a finger and very carefully burnish from the inside out, burnishing a bit all around symmetrically as you tilt the stiff mylar like a swash-plate off a central bearing. Go slow. Check your work by lifting the mylar off the work and checking for drift. You'll re-register the mylar and markings it still contains by looking through the semi-transparent mylar and matching the markings still on the mylar with the markings that went onto the model. Very tedious. Make the bow crest marking that last dry-transfer you put down -- it will demand of you the most care and practice.
Did the kit provide extra markings for mistakes/practice? Duh!
Here's a trick that will improve the adhesion between the markings and the model: Hit the mylar with a light heat from a hair-dryer -- somehow that improves the 'stick' of the markings, even after they cool back to room temperature.
Also, it don't matter worth a tinker's-damn if the surface is gloss or flat. Stop coming up with excuses and mark that thing already!
... You people!
David,
WELL IT WAS THERE WHEN I STARTED OUT! Vladamir wont be able to recieve my cry for help until the evening(timezones you know) so we will see what he has to say. 
That will put an end to my operational efforts for probably a couple of weeks so I can get to work on the Indexer, and that will be challenge enough!
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