I have just done a test piece on my F-86 Sabre, applying promark rivets. This showed up a problem to which I am sure many of you will be able to tell me the answer.

I am using the promark rubdown tool. In order to get the rivets to transfer from the paper to the model I had to press so hard that it leaves very obvious troughs in the model - epoxyglass over foam/veneer wing and tail. How do you get the rivets etc to transfer to the model without having to rub so hard that it damages the surface? Temp at the time was 19C. Does warming the model a little with a heat gun/hairdryer help the rivets to stick and come off the paper more easily?

H

Warming both the model and the plane helps. I would get things up to 30 or 35C

The surface you are applying them on to makes a big difference as well. Have you already cleared the model? If so and you used flat clear you will never get them to stay put. I usually apply a light coat of gloss clear, rub it down with 1500 or 200 grit wet. Heat the surface of the model with a heat gun, and also heat the transfer. DO NOT use the ball end of the promark tool use the flat end. Gently rub the transfers on as you peel back the backing.

Promark makes a great product. It just takes a little learning curve. I cut the rivets into strips. Just give each strip a little shot from a heatgun before application, and warm the surface you're applying them to. The heat activates the adhesive. It takes very little burnishing. I usually just use the back of my fingernail. Good luck.

I've had the exact same problem. Sometimes the rivets transfer just fine, other times they just will not transfer. On my Super Bandit, I laid down a coat of clear, sanded it lightly just like David mentions, and cleaned it with a mild solvent that removes any grease my fingers might have left behind. Then I tried applied varying amounts of heat to just the transfers, just the surface of the model, or both. Nothing I did seemed to make the blindest bit of difference, and it was a total crapshoot as to whether one rivet would stick and another would not.

I stopped using the rounded end because I frequently ended up putting creases in my nice new surface on my 7th or 8th attempt to get some rivets to stick. [] Sometimes if I just ditched one sheet of rivets and moved on to the next (I had plenty of newly delivered sheets), the new sheet would make a difference, sometimes it did not.

I finally gave up with a model that had only a fraction of the rivets I had intended to apply. Even then I had to redo several, as various random rivets came off (or moved) when I gave the surface a pre-clearcoat clean - even though I was wiping so gently that the tack-cloth barely touched the surface. Wasn't really a fun experience.

Gordon