Advice on clear coating F-4D

[dan]

Hi guys,

I am up to clear coating and decaling my 1/72 F-4D Phantom. There are a few decals that go onto the silver painted areas of the rear stabilizers. When I decal I do the usual gloss clear coat followed by the decals, followed by another gloss clear coat and finished with a final flat clear coat. My question is: will the final flat coat ruin the sheen of the silver parts of the stabilizers? I'm assuming leaving those areas with just the second gloss coat will make them to shiny?

What do others do (have done)?

Edited July 8, 2016 by dan

[Mike J. Idacavage]

Hi dan

When I have a mix of bare metal and painted areas that require a matt or flat look to the painted sections, I will carefully mask off the metal areas to prevent them from being over coated with the flat coat. I tend to use something like parafilm when possible to protect the metal areas from over coating. However, as I usually use Alclad which is pretty sturdy, I will occasionally use Tamiya tape IF there are no decals to be protected.

Here's a 1/72 QF-4N that I recently built where I masked off the bare metal exhaust area and metal sections of the stabilizers and then flat coated everything else:

Have fun modeling

Mike

:cheers:/>

[myuziweighsaton]

Unless it's polished aluminum or chrome.. High shine metals, I think a little flat blends the metal and give a nice, realistic result. Otherwise, post-it sticky notes might do the trick.

[dan]

Hi dan

When I have a mix of bare metal and painted areas that require a matt or flat look to the painted sections, I will carefully mask off the metal areas to prevent them from being over coated with the flat coat. I tend to use something like parafilm when possible to protect the metal areas from over coating. However, as I usually use Alclad which is pretty sturdy, I will occasionally use Tamiya tape IF there are no decals to be protected.

Here's a 1/72 QF-4N that I recently built where I masked off the bare metal exhaust area and metal sections of the stabilizers and then flat coated everything else:

Have fun modeling

Mike

:cheers:/>/>/>

Cheers Mike. So to clarify do you gloss coat the metal areas? Eg to decal them

Edited July 9, 2016 by dan

[Mike J. Idacavage]

Hi dan

I should have been more clear with my original message! I did not overcoat the Alclad bare metal on my Phantom with a clear coat. I carefully kept the bare metal sections masked until I was ready to assemble the parts. That included the bare metal keel/exhaust area on the Phantom. I find that the Alclad does look like a more realistic metal surface with out a clear coat. Here's a link to a Alclad finished Atlas rocket that I did in an earlier ARC GB. You can see the decals on the side of the rocket. After finishing with the multiple Alclad coats, I added the decals and left it without any clear coat. Look at my posting for February 3 to see the finished model. BTW, it still looks great today:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=134277

With all that said, I have read that Alclad's Aqua Clear Coat does not affect the metal look when sprayed over Alclad. I have used this successfully on painted models and do plan on trying this over metal Alclad in the future.

Have fun modeling

Mike

:cheers:/>

[Netz]

Unless it's polished aluminum or chrome.. High shine metals, I think a little flat blends the metal and give a nice, realistic result. Otherwise, post-it sticky notes might do the trick.

Actually if you "Have to" gloss cote your metal finish, a flat will restore the natural appearance of the metal.

Curt

[dan]

Cheers guys