A question of chemistry.

anvil242 · Post by **anvil242** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 9:02 pm

I've been trying all sorts of new things lately. Airbrush and Alclad being just two of them. I used Alclad Steel for the base coat on my Galactica build. When gloss coating the model prior to decaling (Acreation set, another first for me) the Rustoleum darkened the Alclad base. Now the model is gunmetal grey, not bright steel. It's not what I was going for, but I can live with it. My question is what do I do next? I'm thinking that something in the rustoleum reacted with the Alclad to darken it. What will it do to the decals. The Rustoleum contains acetone, toluene and xylene. Are these going to dissolve the decals? Should I use something else to seal it, leave it alone and take my chances? I've read about lacquer reacting poorly to some other types of paint. My experience is with water based acrylics, so I'm out of my depth here.
Thanks for the help.

Chas · Post by **Chas** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 10:48 pm

Have you always gloss coated with Rustoleum? Why not go with Future - less chance of it reacting with whatever is underneath it I would think.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Mon Oct 07, 2013 10:52 am

I'd hazard a guess that you are correct and whatever solvent the Rustoleon uses interacted with the Alclad. I'd suggest using either Future or Testors acrylic gloss coat.

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Mon Oct 07, 2013 12:35 pm

It's best to be conservative when it comes to clear coating natural metal finishes like Alclad II. Almost any clear will knock down the finish a notch; and a lot of modelers insist that it's not necessary to gloss coat Alclad II prior to decals because of it.

My take is that it depends on the decals.

Alclad does make a series of lacquer clears that I've been wanting to try.