Sealing decals, am I missing anything?

[penguinpc]

With a flat paint I:

-Paint over base coat with one or two coats of Future.
-Apply decals using Micro Set (I think, it's the blue one) before decals, and then Solvaset after.
-After decals dry, seal with one or two more coats Future
-Paint with dull coat

With gloss paint I have been:

-Apply decals directly to base coat using Micro Set (I think, it's the blue one) before decals, and then Solvaset after.
-Seal with dull coat

Anything I'm missing?

[Johnnycrash]

Nope.

[WarpeD]

Not so fast, John.

Depending on the pedigree of the decals, I understand some folks prepare the decal sheet itself in some way. I'm curious about this myself as some of my older kits in the stash, the one's I really, really know I'm going to build at some point, have decals that may be more fragile than they were when I first got the kit.

And some bubblejet printed decals need pre-sealing, right?

This might be a missing step, but I don't have the chops to offer up what *may* need to be done.

Where is Dasphule when you need him???

[Johnnycrash]

My answer still stands. What you bring up is a separate question/procedure: Preparation/Preservation of questionable quality/age decals before application to model.

One could also say that there are a multitude of other things missed as he didn't mention how he was prepping the surface plastic to be painted, and all that involves, and then the paint issues...

Assuming surface is good, paint is good, decal is good... Procedure described is good.


For decal prep: I try and cut off a decal that I am not going to use, and experiment on it with a clear coat (I usually just use Testors Clear). Give that a spritz, and hope it reacts well. If so, give the entire decal sheet a few light coats to help hold it all together before application.

[WarpeD]

Ah. Good work. You split that hair right down the middle, John!!



But while you do raise a good point, I always want to see the big picture as well as the specific steps.

Evaluating one's decals is the first thing one should do before anything else, lest they be unfortunately surprised. I can't recall the number of times I've read threads that share dismay when a beautiful build and paint job is capped by decals that fall apart the minute you try to get them off the backing.

You're right, though. Separate process than application.

[Saturn]

Anything I'm missing?

Only that Walther's Solvaset is a big gun and should be used sparingly, and only after the decal has set and dried for 15 mins.