Original vs Replacement

I have been debating using replacement decals on my Vintage ships.

So, I am creating a poll to get your opinion on this debate.

I have been thinking about this too, DF.

I am a HUGE supporter of original, but I do agree that sometimes, especially for decals, repro may be the only option. I voted for vintage, but those sticker sheets are very few and far between.

we do what we have to do. id use repro's to display something.

Quailty is the key for stickers. If they look VERY VERY close to original, then it's probably not a bad idea.

I have an X-Wing that is only missing one sticker. i'd probably put a repro on that.

I just don't have a steady enough hand anymore to cut them out myself and hope I didn't mess them up too bad. It is rare, but I have seen some people on ebay offer pre cut sheets.

I have found some original decals for the Falcon on e bay. Exhuast ports and afterburners. Watching them.

I say if its going to save you some grief and they look passable, why not go with replacements? If you have them on display, how many people will see them and think "hey that's a nice collection! Too bad the 3rd exhaust port on the left is a replacement sticker, that totally fxcks everything up!"

I agree with DZ. If you are concerned about selling the stuff later then I wouldn't do it. But if you don't care about that and just want to complete something so you're happy, then go for it.

This is a little different, but from time to time I break accessories to other figures, ie. they fall off my shelves and sword and stands, etc. break. Usually my DC stuff and I've had to glue a few things, lightsabers included. It REALLY makes me mad because I think it isn't mint anymore or whatever. But after I fix it and set it back up I feel much better. I'm not in this for money, as I've said before. I'm in it for the artwork, sculpts, thrill of the hunt, etc.

Anyway if you just want to complete a ship or something then do whatever it takes. That's my opinion. Like DZ said, you're the only one who will know but I know that sucks sometimes. The pros and cons of collecting this junk. I mean, it IS just plastic. <--- $0.02

xaos wrote:

I agree with DZ. If you are concerned about selling the stuff later then I wouldn't do it. But if you don't care about that and just want to complete something so you're happy, then go for it.

This is a little different, but from time to time I break accessories to other figures, ie. they fall off my shelves and sword and stands, etc. break. Usually my DC stuff and I've had to glue a few things, lightsabers included. It REALLY makes me mad because I think it isn't mint anymore or whatever. But after I fix it and set it back up I feel much better. I'm not in this for money, as I've said before. I'm in it for the artwork, sculpts, thrill of the hunt, etc.

Anyway if you just want to complete a ship or something then do whatever it takes. That's my opinion. Like DZ said, you're the only one who will know but I know that sucks sometimes. The pros and cons of collecting this junk. I mean, it IS just plastic. <--- $0.02

I agree. If you are just wanting to make the ship look complete use the decals. I have thought of finding some of those really rough looking vintage R2's and buying the decals for them. I'd say buy the repros if they are close and put them on. I've only got one ship vintage a landspeeder and luckily the stickers are all there and well placed. Hope this helps!

I think Repro stickers are OK on somebody elses Ship, but not MINE. Ha!

Na!, I think they are ok for Display purposes if they are quality enough, which most arent. They wont increase the value but for appearance purposes, why not?

** Buyer beware, some repro stickers are inverted scans, make sure yours ARENT**

And on the other hand Ive seen some REALLY good ones, that who ever did them, some how some way even "Antiqued" them up a bit, to look slightly aged for a well rounded vintage look, thats a SCARY thought.

Original Full sticker sheets are GREAT if you can get a hold of them, but now days Full sheets are hard to come by, and can serve a greater purpose if left whole, just incase if you ever run across a boxed item or are attempting to rebuild a boxed item (Reverse engineer it) you might want to hold on to your FULL SHEETS to add to Boxed item your rebuilding.

Ive reverse assembled a few of my boxed item, they arent MISB, but are now COMPLETE Boxed items, even if they are OPEN boxed items.

Plan B for some collectors is to remove the Stickers from other vehicles for consolidation on a rebuilt vehicle and this is a VERY DELICATE operation, cause most Vintage stickers that are applied are very hard to remove intact or in good enough shape to be worth reapplying to something else.

--- Good Hunting one and ALL

Thanks for all the input. I have decided that I will wait for the ever so scarce vintage decals. Is rubber cement a good option for reapplying them?

Rubber cement...I would test it on some of the plastic first. While it might be okay for the paper part (sticker) it might do some hazing or discoloration to the plastic.

I think I agree with most of the opinions here. For me, repro, as long as it's a good quality, would be fine for display, but it would be nice to actually get some vintage stickers to put on the vintage vehicle.

DF, My advice is to go to a store and in the scrap book section pick up a box of Photo corners.

They are double sided, and supposedly removable. I have used several of them on a few of my ships to re apply vintage stickers. You can trim them to fit any shape, and they seem to work quite well. I can try to take a few pics of the ships I have used them on if you would like. The ONLY thing that miht be an issue for you is that you might see the outline of the photo corner through the back side of the sticker. You won't notice it from a distance though.

Thanks for all the options for reapplying decals.

I had a decal come off my landspeeder and I tracked down some Falcon thruster decals.