Silvering strikes again!!!!

[Starfighter-33]

Well, wouldn't you know it. The build & painting have gone smoothly so you start applying the decals & WHAM, frustration hits you like a 2000lb bomb. I tried to brush on "future" to my areas to be decalled which worked pretty well. When I sprayed my flat coat now I have "silvering" on about half of the decals. Luckily I have a spare decal sheet but what a lot of work to redo this. I'm gonna have to put this one back in the box for awhile & have afew drinks. Thanks for listening, just had to vent.

[dmthamade]

Hello Starfighter, i would still try using future. Cut slits through the silvered parts of the decal, then hit it with future again. You need to get the future between the decal and the paint. This may be all you need to give you satisfactory results. You will probably have to hit it with a flatcoat again. Doing it this way has worked well for me, saved a Phantom from becoming a wall dart. HTH

Don

[chriswfo]

Next time try Gunze clear gloss. I have been using it for years and it provides the smoothest finish I have found. If fact you need to put a drop of water on the surface so that you can move the decal around once it is applied. It is that smooth that there is no air under the decal and there is a suction effect. Since using the Gunze clear gloss I have never had a decal silver.

[kozlok]

The other thing you can try is to cut a small slice right in the area of silvering, and hit it with a drop of Mircro Sol. I've had this work before.

[jjuwana]

I've experienced this a couple of times too , but now, to save me from putting away the model, I always spray TS-13 (Clear) until it looks like mirror finish, not just shiny but smooth as well, this way there's a small chance of silvering will occur

JAhja

[urloony]

Excuse me while I bash Future a little. I really like this stuff for canopies and repairing scratched clear surfaces and I think most of us would agree. I don't understand why everyone tries to give this stuff 1001 uses. It's like trying to reinvent the wheel when we have perfect products for clear coating and for applying decals. As a clearcoat future dries unevenly, pools, and is harder to apply correctly than your run-of-the-mill clear coat. As far as decal application goes... I don't know how this ever became popular. Future is about the worst medium to use for decals. It does not cause decals to level or to nestle down into crevices. I'm not surprised at all that you have silvering. The only place where future may be effective is if you're applying over a completely smooth surface but even then future is just too thick, I suggest sticking to the tride and true like micro-sol or set or virtually any other brand for decals over future. Keep future on hand for clear parts but keep it on the shelf for everything else. I'm sure now I'll hear about how someone used future to glue their model together or how it cured their cancer... anyway.. good luck.

[Tosa]

Hi Starfighter,

I had bad silvering with Academy decals on my F 86. I used Humbrol gloss clear coat and Testors dullcote. I’ve sliced decals and applied setting solution repeatedly but it didn’t help. Finally I applied Testors liquid cement with a tiny brush and it worked like charm!

Tosa

[Steve Filak]

Liquid cement will work in the most stubborn cases, and in fact, I have used it myself, but you need to be VERY careful when applying it. You really need to use TINY amounts, or you'll wind up completely melting the decals. Use a very small brush, and very small applications of cement if you're going to try it....otherwise, you'll have quite a mess on your hands.