My O Gauge Journal on
 Modelling the GWR

A personal Journey

More about the transfers

More about the transfers
Fox transfers have a coating of water based glue on their underside. Putting them into a bath of water wets the backing paper they are stuck to, it soaks through and releases them from it just enough so that they can be slid off the backing paper. Leave it to soak for too long and the transfer will begin to lift off the paper of its own accord and start floating around the bath. If that happens, you may as well forget that transfer and start again as it will only curl up on itself and twist into an unusable little knot which you can’t undo. Fox suggest that you add a small amount of washing up liquid to the water, (the problem with that is although it enables the glue to release the transfer from its backing paper it has a lubricating property that may interfere with the glue helping the transfer to adhere to the loco body). I use Methylated spirit. I think that adding something to the water is to let the water soak into the backing paper more easily and the spirit has the effect also of slightly softening the paint used on the transfer so only one drop is necessary. The amount of time to soak varies from a couple of seconds upwards. As soon as the transfer can be moved on its backing paper its ready to be applied. I remove it from the bath, test it and if not ready it goes back for a little longer. You tease the transfer with the wooden cocktail stick to see it moves, make sure that all of it moves and that a bit is still not stuck to its backing paper otherwise you run the risk of stretching or breaking it.

section 5