DNF72000 Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 I put a Tamiya gloss coat over my model before decals and all was fine. I then airbrushed Tamiya XF-86 over the model to give a matt finish but my decals in particular have faded significantly and the black decals for example appear more grey than black. I have overlayed the rest of the decal sheet to show how bad the fading is. This hasn't happened to me before and I'm not too happy with the finish and would even be happier with it back in gloss than its current state so I'm wondering would giving it a new clear coat undo this? Thanks in advance for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 It might, sorry best I can offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 (edited) XF-86 is made from very fine grounded glass (source: Tamiya SDS - http://filia.com/catalog/sikkerhedsblade/543348.pdf), so its final effects are very similar to frosted glass (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frosted_glass) Matt effect of such depends on the existence of a randomly rough surface border between air and paint medium, and it is related to difference in refractive index of both. If you ever had a frosted glass cup, you probably noticed that when it is wet it becomes more transparent- thats because index of refraction of water is more similar to glass than air. Thats also a reason why flat clear does not look flat at all when not yet dry (read: during spraying) and can give user a nasty surprise when it dries up... Gloss clear coat has similar index of refraction to glass, and that means the matt effect will be similarly diminished if you apply the gloss coat, even if it does not eliminate the crushed glass layer you added on top of your decal. If you want to be fully sure of end result, I would perform a test: layer of X-1, then covered with XF-86, then with gloss clear and see how it looks like. Edited October 1, 2022 by Casey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 Flatting a model can affect the colours to an extent, making colours more muted, and as you've seen blacks more grey. It can also happen when you are getting toward the end of a bottle of matt varnish, when the long-term effects of insufficient stirring lead to a more concentrated mix or ratio of matting agent to carrier. That's why sometimes you can get frosting of the actual paintwork as you get to the end of a bottle. The key is to agitate your varnish until your arm is falling off, or get a mechanical mixer and invest in some 6mm glass BBs to put in each bottle of paint. Even then it's not hard and fast. You could re-gloss the wing with the decals on it to bring back the colour, then try re-matting it with a fresh bottle of matt varnish that's been properly mixed, and see how it goes. That could have been the issue. From that photo, that's what it looks like, having suffered from it once myself. Too much matting agent it's best to toss the bottle when it starts to frost everything, sadly. Wasteful, but unless you can source some carrier to top it up, it's useless as a matt varnish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 I got my daughter ( the eldest of three ) to order this unit from Amazon for me. Works great! Cost about $30.00 Cdn. It says battery powered, but it came with an adapter to plug it into the wall socket. Chris 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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