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Your preferred varnish pre-decals?


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The purpose of the clear coat under decals is to ensure the surface is smooth and glossy with the goal of eliminating silvering. A paint surface that is smooth and glossy already presents the appropriate surface for decals, eliminating the need for a clear coat. That is exactly my direct experience with Mr Color paints, including Mr Surfacer as a primer. My expectation of lacquer paints is that other lacquers, such as MRP, could work equally well.

 

To be sure, it's not just the paint--application technique is very important. The paint needs to be properly thinned; I thin to about the consistency of 1% milk or a little thinner with Mr Color Leveling Thinner. This thinner has a drying retardant already mixed in, allowing the paint to dry a little more slowly and flow a little more smoothly. Air pressure needs to be appropriate to the paint consistency; I spray at 15 psi (~1 atm). The paint volume and distance must ensure the paint is just wet when it hits the surface; I spray at 0.25 to 2 inches from the model, making sure that I can see the paint is actually wet when it his the surface. I use a grazing light to make sure I see this. The paint layer needs to be even; I build coverage in multiple thin layers until I have complete coverage. When I do want a gloss coat, I apply one final wetter gloss coat with the paint, again, only after I have full coverage.

 

Don't just blast the paint on looking for a single pass to provide full coverage. That will often cause uneven coats, particularly with gloss white and yellow.

Spray too far away and you get a rougher texture. Even further away you get orange peel or even a gritty surface.

 

HTH

-- 

dnl

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On 1/31/2020 at 3:32 PM, solher1 said:


I’m interested, what do you do to prepare the surface for decals?

 

Juan

properly degreaseing the surface (I use IPA) and smooth the surface using polishing sticks and/or cloths - not to high shine but basically to the natural finish of the unpainted plastic.

Next step is proper paint application, which is as important as surface prep work. And from what I am seeing, it is the main cause for uneven surface and consequent silvering of decals. dnl42 just described this perfectly.

 

And yeah, I am using MRP lacquers.

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On 26 January 2020 at 12:37 AM, BillS said:

   I’m going to get on my Xtracolor rant again. I’m a fanatic about less being better. With the very fine engraved detail on the newer models, all of the coatings ultimately can obscure detail. This hinders the application of washes for one thing. Since Xtracolor is gloss, no gloss coating is necessary. Properly thinned, Xtracolor sprays perfectly with no airbrush clogging, with near perfect feathering between colors and glass smooth when dry. Once dry it is hard as a rock and stands up to masking. It can be wet sanded between coats if need be. The range of colors is expansive. In the US Kitlinx and Sprue Brothers have it though SB has a limited amount. Hannants UK is the distributor and this is their house brand. The drawbacks are availability, long drying time (6-12 hours) and smell.To me though, all this stuff smells be it acrylic, enamel or lacquer. Lately I’ve noticed inconsistency between batches of the same color. Hannants must address this.
   The bottomline is this: you can’t get a truly gloss finish by spraying layer after layer of gloss whatever on grainy matt paint, not without diminishing detail to some degree. Save yourself a step or two, preserve detail and go gloss!
    

 

Agree wholeheartedly about Xtracolour. Drying time can be speeded up with a drop of Rustin's Terebene.

Gloss is the way to go, and Halford's appliance white for a non-yellowing white. 

 

Future is best for dipping clear parts. Frankly, I miss the original formula stinky Microgloss and -flat made in the 1970s-80s.

 

Tony 

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