Neil.C Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Had an awful time with decals on my Tempest. I don't know if it is me but those roundels that are in three parts, yellow outer, blue and white inner, red dot in the centre, sent me up the wall! Decal on decal on decal is not ideal IMO. After a great deal of effing and blinding I got them on but they don't look great TBH. I'm just using warm water to slide them off and when they go onto the matt painted body they just stick and are a devilish job to try and move them. Any tips, magical solutions etc that anyone can give me? TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 I'm heartily fed up of offset yellow on RAF roundels, and only wish that more companies would adopt the separate system. Not sure why it is always the yellow. However, as a hint, don't put them onto matt surfaces. You've already discovered that the friction is excessive. You'll also find that air will be trapped underneath them , with some silvering where the colour isn't present. It is better to prepare the surface with a gloss or at least satin varnish. Not only will the transfers slide on a lot more easily, but they will also fit more closely. To get them to fit more closely still, especially over ridges and trenches, use Microsol/ Microset which softens the transfer. It may appear to wrinkle at first and look horrible, but give it time. It can also be used to remove silvering by pricking the affected area and flooding it with the chemical. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) Thanks for the insight Graham. Thinking back when I was young I never had a problem with decals but I always used gloss paint! So you reckon if I put a bit of gloss varnish on the decal area before applying it should be OK? BTW can you get gloss acrylic? Edited February 2, 2018 by Neil.C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 3 minutes ago, Neil.C said: Thanks for the insight Graham. Thinking back when I was young I never had a problem with decals but I always used gloss paint! So you reckon if I put a bit of gloss varnish on the decal area before applying it should be OK? You'd be better off giving the entire model a coat of gloss before applying your decals: you'd be surprised at the apparent colour change between matt and gloss which could give your model a peculiar patchy finish. Once you've got the decals on and properly dried you can then apply a final finish coat (matt, satin or gloss) of your choice to produce a consistent overall finish. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 1 minute ago, stever219 said: You'd be better off giving the entire model a coat of gloss before applying your decals: you'd be surprised at the apparent colour change between matt and gloss which could give your model a peculiar patchy finish. Once you've got the decals on and properly dried you can then apply a final finish coat (matt, satin or gloss) of your choice to produce a consistent overall finish. That's a fair bit of work, two extra coats. I only use a brush and acrylics, will that be OK? Can you get acrylic gloss and matt varnish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Yes you can - If you can't get to a local model or art shop try Hannants. You can always use gloss paints first - if you were using enamels then I'd recommend Xtracolour but Colourcoats satin will work nearly as well. I don't know enough about acrylics to recommend anything similar. One extra word of warning is that matt varnish will sometimes dry with white patches. I haven't had this for years until I used a new jar of Humbrol Clear matt and lost the flight deck of the USS Wasp! The usual advice is to make sure the model is dry and the varnish is well stirred and not cold, but I did all that and it still went wrong. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 I'll need to get some varnishes then. Is it OK to paint over decals with matt varnish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Neil.C said: That's a fair bit of work, two extra coats. I only use a brush and acrylics, will that be OK? Thats what i do ... it does take longer but the results are well worth it. Heres my latest Finished build a hasegawa hellcat. I use an airbrush but the idea is the same. You can see it turns out fairly well in the end. Hope it helps ? Dennis Edited February 2, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted February 2, 2018 Author Share Posted February 2, 2018 Looks like that's what I will be doing Dennis. Loved your Hellcat. If I can get anywhere near that I will be happy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 2 hours ago, Neil.C said: I'll need to get some varnishes then. Is it OK to paint over decals with matt varnish? You can paint over decals with matt, satin or gloss varnish. Some modellers apply a coat of gloss first to provide a uniform finish before applying their chosen satin or matt, others go straight to the satin or matt stage. Have a go and see which works best for you. Don't forget that somewhere just short of dead matt or high gloss is a good point to aim for, either of those extremes usually being regarded as too much of a good thing. Also aircraft finishes tend to matt down from high gloss or buff up from dead matt over time so pick a point near there and go for it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted February 2, 2018 Share Posted February 2, 2018 Hello @Neil.C ... if you need any more advice just ask im always glad to help. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted February 3, 2018 Author Share Posted February 3, 2018 10 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: Hello @Neil.C ... if you need any more advice just ask im always glad to help. Thanks mate, very kind. I may well take you up on that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 Neil, have a squizzey at this, its how I do it & I know some others & it just plain works. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted February 3, 2018 Share Posted February 3, 2018 (edited) Future, although formulated to varnish floors, works well on kits (I get mine in ASDA). If you use the method Steve uses, you won't still need to give the whole kit a gloss coat. If you do give the whole kit a gloss coat, apply it with a soft wide brush, you're looking to get a glossy finish which might take multiple coats (give 20 minutes or so between coats) as some paints (Humbrol 29, I'm taking about you) soak a gloss coat up. Edited February 4, 2018 by Beard see Steve H's comment. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 10 hours ago, Beard said: If you use the method Steve uses, you won't need to give the whole kit a gloss coat. If you do give the whole kit a gloss coat, apply it with a soft wide brush, you're looking to get a glossy finish which might take multiple coats (give 20 minutes or so between coats) as some paints (Humbrol 29, I'm taking about you) soak a gloss coat up. Not quite Simon, I do gloss coat as you've described but have never used more than one coat, after that it seems fine. I did used to do a gloss coat only where I reckoned to put decals but them a heap of stencils silvered like crazy on me where I hadn't glossed. Gloss pretty much everywhere now. Steve. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beard Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 30 minutes ago, stevehnz said: Not quite Simon, I do gloss coat as you've described Thanks for pointing that out: I'll amend my post. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 4, 2018 Share Posted February 4, 2018 I should have said so in my original post too. I guess every time I describe what I do with this it varies a little/misses something out. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted February 4, 2018 Author Share Posted February 4, 2018 Thanks for your insights everyone. I've ordered some Vallejo acrylic varnish in gloss and matt to see how I get on and if successful will probably get some large bottles of artists acyrylics which work out more economical if I have to use it on everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted March 29, 2018 Share Posted March 29, 2018 If you use Vallejo varnishes with a brush, or an air brush, they need to be thinned a bit as they can be quite thick. The bottles also need shaking for ages to make sure everything is mixed. It is a bit trial and error with thinning but it stops the varnish from drying to quickly whilst applying it. I would echo all that has been said do far above gloss finishes before decalling, I learnt about it 40 odd years ago after reading an article in 'Scale Models'. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted March 29, 2018 Author Share Posted March 29, 2018 6 hours ago, Mr T said: If you use Vallejo varnishes with a brush, or an air brush, they need to be thinned a bit as they can be quite thick. The bottles also need shaking for ages to make sure everything is mixed. It is a bit trial and error with thinning but it stops the varnish from drying to quickly whilst applying it. I would echo all that has been said do far above gloss finishes before decalling, I learnt about it 40 odd years ago after reading an article in 'Scale Models'. Thanks for the info. I have used the Vallejo varnishes and probably should have thinned them a bit for better results. It's trial and error but I am learning as I go, and with help from this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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