Quest - Tomahawk SLCM

Finishing

The one problem I had with the instructions was with the lack of clear, detailed illustrations about where to put some of the decals.  I had to make a few guesses, which I see are different then the guesses of other Tomahawk builders I found on this site.  My kit did not provide a single picture of some of the sides of the model, so be prepared to be creative in the application of the decals.  I recommend soaking the cardboard parts (air intake and boattail) with CA glue to stiffen them before finishing to prevent trouble later on.

Compounding this problem, it appears the exact dimensional-fit of these decals as shown on the color package card is quite a bit different than the real model parts, in the wing, boattail and air intake areas.  I had to be very flexible in the placement of the decals (but who would notice?).  Quest's decals seemed to require quite a bit of drying time compared to other decals. I would set some decals and be working on other decals when I would accidently dirsturb decals I thought were dry and fixed already. After several of these episodes, I just let the model sit for a day and went back the next day when I knew they were dry. The long red and blue decals along the length of the tube were in several sections, which were difficult to align well. You have to start at the back and work your way up each side seperately and when you get to the top  - which connects both side halfs, you should pray that the two sides line up OK.  I was saved however, by the slow-setting decals.  If I just put them on in the last 10-15 minutes, I could re-wet them and slide them around easily to align them precisely.  None of the decals tore, even though some of them were handled pretty roughly at times.

After having just completed an Estes Interceptor days before (known for it's enormous amount of decals),  I found the Quest decals to be much more of a challenge to work with.

When the decals were finished and left to dry for a few days, I was about to do a string-stability test. I use a bit of masking tape to hold the string in place at the center of gravity. When I removed the tape, off came some of the decals with it! I was lucky and I had a spare set of decals so I could replace some of them. After those dried, I wanted to apply a layer of Testor's clearcoat to protect them.  Immediatly after the clearcoat hit the decals, they began to wrinkle up.  Apparently Quest's decals are not compatible with Testor's. So although the design is pretty sharp, my rocket now looks like crap due to the poor decals.

The other challenge is that the finish of the rocket - if you want to follow the finish suggested by Quest - requires some rather tricky masking of the boattail and fins. Tricky because the white-stripe area in the boattail has to match the thickness of the decals, and you have to mask along the irregular fin fillets which is never easy.  With a primer and white basecoat, you have to mask and paint red, and then re-mask and paint for blue.

A good smooth-tapered filler application between the boattail and body tube can make applying decals easier, but you may still need to add some small slices to overlap the ends of the decals to fit them flat.  I recommend using Scotch tape instead of regular masking tape - it provides a much cleaner edge, and if you press the edge in well, will not bleed at all.  Depending on the decals you get - you may want to consider trying to match the shade of the red and blue paint to the decals, or the difference may be quite noticeable.  If using spray paints though, good luck is about all you can count on.

Of course, if you are planning to toss the decals and design your own original paint scheme, go nuts...It will likely be much easier than the suggested paint scheme.  I imagine you could do a lot with this kit, espically if you were to modify or omit the air scoop and/or the wings.