Most difficult part of decal job is done for MP4/27

With warm, sunny weather back to GTA, my motivation and energy levels are quite high at present. I like decal jobs, so I decided to continue with one for MP4/27. Spent weekend applying decals to body and some wing elements. I opted to use all decals for day glow red instead of painting. That let me avoid painful masking and paint matching headaches. I've warmed up with decals on wing elements, before I started big ones on the nose and side pods. As expected big side pod decals were problematic, because Fujimi made simple flat decals for such a curved surfaces. With lots of Mirco-Sol and some heat from hair drier, I managed to put them on with not too many and not so big wrinkles. Most wrinkles are on the underside of side pods, so hopefully will not be very visible. Clear coat will help a bit too. I did screwed up nose stripes though. They are a bit of center. For the rest there weren't any troubles. Apparently McLaren has even less decals then Ferrari. I basically have just few more to apply on rear wing end plates and front wing elements.

Same as for F10, I've decided to use CF decals on wing elements, to avoid extra masking and painting of SG black.

Finished decals application on the body

Finally an update for this model. Decals were applied to the body according to reference photos. Despite reports about problems with Fujimi decals, they work just fine for me. I prefer to use warm water and Micro-Set solution while positioning decals. I found Fujimi decals reacting well to Micro-Set and Micro-Sol. Flat decals, like those Shell logos on side pods, are always problematic over highly curved surfaces. That would be my only complain, but it's generic and not specific to Fujimi decals. As evident on the photo, I've put body panels together and used masking tape to hold them. That trick allows me to align decals properly, according to shape of the car and reference photos. If decals are applied on separate panels, there is a chance to get alignment wrong. Fortunately there aren't that many decals on modern Ferrari F1 cars. So, decal application job is not too hard. I still have wing elements to complete next.

I'm not settled yet on use of CF decals for this model. Usually I don't bother with plastic kits. However on some of the wing elements applying CF decals might be easier then complex masking and painting of SG black. Also there is less risk of ruining paint job, if I use decals instead of SG black paint.

I really cannot understand people who don't like decal application. I've spent months preparing and painting, and only few hours applying decals. Yet model never looked better then now. Decals really make it alive for me and enjoy process and results a lot.