Heeeeelp! Silvering Decal Disaster!

[dr_gn]

OK, so on my Spitfire rebuild I applied a coat of Klear after painting, followed by the decals (using Microsol). Everything looked great, so I overcoated with more Klear ready for weathering.

This morning the dreaded silvering has appeared DAMMIT!

What can I do? Does matt varnish help?

Any help gratefully accepted!

[Spence]

OK, so on my Spitfire rebuild I applied a coat of Klear after painting, followed by the decals (using Microsol). Everything looked great, so I overcoated with more Klear ready for weathering.

This morning the dreaded silvering has appeared DAMMIT!

What can I do? Does matt varnish help?

Any help gratefully accepted!

Hey fella!

Try this - but try it first on a smaller marking until you get the hang of it!

It looks like the silvering has only affected the smaller items, the larger markings looking fine. The way that I've dealt with this in the past is to very carefully score through each marking with a brand new scalpel blade and then carefully apply some Johnsons Klear. If the scoring is close together the Klear will flow under the decal and into the air pockets that are causing the silvering. Repeat until the silvering disappears (you may find that you can't get rid of it all, but enough so that any remaining tiny spots can be dealt with by overpainting them with the underlying camouflage colours). Once dry, you can overspray the markings with matt varnish to blend them back in - the scoring disappearing in the process.

I hope that this helps!

All the best Spence - who won't be enjoying New Year because he has feckin' flu..! :shithappens:

[CockneyCol]

In total agreement with Spence, I've managed to get away with doing the same on some troublesome decals.

Cheers

Col'

[dr_gn]

Thank you both. I will try it - nothing to lose now!

On my Globemaster I used this method:

Brush-apply Klear to decal position as a base, while still wet add decal, apply Microsol, after a few minutes apply pressure with damp cloth.

This resulted in no silvering whatsoever. I tried this with the Spitfire, but the Klear appeared to strip the paint off the model! I ended up respraying some areas!

I have no idea what caused this, since overspraying with Klear caused no problems whatsoever.

Thanks again for the advice...off to install a brand new scalpel blade...

ps Spence - yes the large decals are almost perfect - even the registration lettering (which has a large amount of carrier film) is fine.

Edited December 31, 2009 by dr_gn

[dr_gn]

Hey fella!

Try this - but try it first on a smaller marking until you get the hang of it!

It looks like the silvering has only affected the smaller items, the larger markings looking fine. The way that I've dealt with this in the past is to very carefully score through each marking with a brand new scalpel blade and then carefully apply some Johnsons Klear. If the scoring is close together the Klear will flow under the decal and into the air pockets that are causing the silvering. Repeat until the silvering disappears (you may find that you can't get rid of it all, but enough so that any remaining tiny spots can be dealt with by overpainting them with the underlying camouflage colours). Once dry, you can overspray the markings with matt varnish to blend them back in - the scoring disappearing in the process.

I hope that this helps!

All the best Spence - who won't be enjoying New Year because he has feckin' flu..! :shithappens:

It worked. My humble thanks!

99% of the silvering has now gone! The Klear I applied isn't quite dry yet, but I think its OK.

One thing I did notice : at a wing root at the end of one of the black lines, I had a small pool of Klear (which I didn't notice). It has stripped through the top layer of Tamiya Acrylic. Not a big deal - I can touch it in later, but this is wierd. It's never done that before. This is the effect that was the start of my problems...