For those of you who really like to customize your builds, aftermarket parts are a necessity. The majority of kits feature the most popular versions of each subject, the USS Enterprise for Star Trek, or Luke’s Red Five for Star Wars. But what if you want to show some love to the USS Endeavour or Red Two? Or what if you want to add the little touches to your Millennium Falcon build to pay homage to the ILM model makers? Well, if you grew up making models in the “dark times”, the only option was to try and create painting masks yourself because the standard water slides were reserved for what sells.
Enter Jim “Jbot” Botaitis. Jim has been making decals for his own subjects for 40 years and has been selling them for 20. Jim’s inspiration for his first decals came at the age of 15.
“Way back when I was 15 I went to the London airshow and saw a Canadian Air Force Hercules. It was so impressive (taking off with JATO rockets) that I just had to make a model. But no decals existed for the Canadian Hercules. So I made my own.”
Soon, an opportunity presented itself.
“A friend suggested I make police car decals … it was a big empty niche waiting to be filled. That is how it started. Police car decals are still a big part of my site.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
I met Jim just last year. After opening a vintage Reliant model and seeing that the included water slides had yellowed and deteriorated, I was left unsure how to complete my build. As I mentioned previously, when I started creating scale models, custom decals were rare and incredibly expensive. Looking for advice, I posted in a popular Facebook group and an overwhelming number of people told me to contact Jbot and see what he could do for me.
I sent Jim a quick email explaining my predicament and asking what he might be able to do. Jim got back to me very quickly with a few follow up questions, including the scale that I forgot to mention, ensuring I was ordering the right scale for my project. After a quick back and forth, I ordered my decals, paid though PayPal and about 2 weeks later they showed up in my mailbox.
The decals were shipped in a strong cardboard package. Having never purchased aftermarket decals I was not sure to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised at the extreme detail of these decals. The details were crisp and the colors vibrant. Not only did they provide the same decals from my AMT kit, additional details that are missing from the AMT release were included. These little details take your build to that next level.
Jim’s decals are printed on a solid sheet of decal film. This is the same type of decal medium that standard decals are printed on, but in this case you will need to trim your decals yourself, whereas commercial decals remove the film between decals. He provides comprehensive instructions on cutting and applying them here. I use a sharp hobby knife to cut out the decals and refine the shape with a pair of scissors if necessary. I actually like this better because I can leave a little bit of excess decal film around small detail lines making the decal stronger and less likely to tear.
I sprayed my model with a topcoat of gloss varnish to seal the paint and help the decal slide a bit better when applied. I dipped the decal in warm water for 5-10 seconds as suggested and tested it before I started to apply. When it moved freely on the paper backing I knew it was time to apply. Jim warns that the decals are thin and you can bolster them by coating them with additional clear coats to increase their thickness. I had no issues with tearing on mine, even without the clear coat, but I was careful not to use sharp tweezers, relying on a moistened cotton swab to help position the decal. As with all decal applications, I suggest that you put water on the surface of the model prior to placing the decal. This will help it to float and once in place you can wick away access water with a dry cotton swab.
Because the decals are thin, they contour to the model better and I used a little bit of microsol to soften them just enough to make them look painted on. I am always conservative with my use of microsol, so I used a single coat to ensure I didn’t damage the decals.
I allowed them to dry thoroughly and followed up with a second coat of gloss to seal the decals to model. Once cured, I followed up with a matte coat to remove the sheen and make them look like painted on details.
Between the great customer service, incredibly reasonable pricing, fast shipping and great product, I can’t recommend Jim enough. On top of this he is just a great guy to chat with and learn from. He also creates custom decals and I am working with him now to create a custom set of decals for an upcoming project of mine.
Sadly, after 20 years, Jim is retiring from making decals. While I am sad to see Jim leave the marketplace, I am grateful that I was able to purchase some of his amazing work and collaborate with him on my custom project. While he may be retiring he is still active, and if you email him with a unique project, you may just coax him out of retirement for one last project!
Is Jbot still in business? Nothing on his site works