Clear coat over decal ?

I'm working on my Porsche GT1. I plainted with Testor (Model Master) Flat White and now i don't know what to do...

1. Put clear coat and decal after (what i do usualy)
2. Put decal, wait a day or two and put a clear coat.

So, does Tamiya Decal, Model Master paint and testor clear coat will work ?

Help please i'm confuse...

1. Put clear coat and decal after (what i do usualy)

If you put decals first, you can get silvering around decals because flat color underneath.

If I remember well, Testors clear coat yellowing with time.

Ideally you should have painted with glosswhite instead of flat. But, its ok. Spray clear gloss over the flat white (one thin coat), just to make the decals lay nicely on the car body. Put down the decals, then spray with gloss clear again (two coats). Now polish and buff. You'll be satisfied I'm sure. Hope this helps. :D

normally, you shouldn't spray an acrylic coat on an enemal coat. But the invest yes !
If I were you, I would spray a coat of clear, then, put the decals, and after the decals are really dry (around 3-4 days), I would spray another coat of clear so as the finish is plain and quite brillant.

This is how I do for my cars with tamiya cans by the way !:)

I'm about to reach the clear coat stage too, except I'm gonna be clearcoating over Tamiya Gloss Aluminum (which isn't very glossy btw...) in fact, the gloss aluminum is a tad rough in texture... definitely needs sanding and such. I saw Alclad II aluminum at a hobby store for $10.99.... WAY too expensive for so little of the stuff... the $7.50 spray can will last me a good 2 models or so

Now, here's my question. What does everyone use for the gloss coat? I don't think it would be wise to invest in Tamiya polishing wax and compound given my limited budget, so what do you all use? Future Floor Polish? Testors Glosscote? I've heard Future yellows in time, and so too does Testors. Is there any way to avoid yellowing? :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

"If it's yellow in the bottle, it's yellow on the model."

To avoid yellowing keep your models in cool places free from sunlight.

I have a question for everyone: If you spray a coat of TS-13 (tamiya clear), apply decals, and then spray another coat in like a day or two, will the paint crack at all? Thanks

i don't think it would crack..... analogy would be putting regular paint over a previous coat of paint.... i remember it cracking because it has different curing rates.... so if you spray clear coat over let's say fresh yellow paint then for sure it'll crack..... there's no rush anyway, just, sit back, and watch the paint dry :p

Everytime i read about clear coats over decals i begin to shake :eek:
I here to many bad stories and have had trouble as well when doing clears.
IMO the car looks better with out a clear over the decals. Spend some time on polishing etc and you can get a really good finish without a clear.

if primera man say no.. then i won't do it :D

thanks guy

you could buy motomaster clearcoat it work great and not goes yellow with the time (and its safe for decals).


mario:D

Originally posted by Vric
if primera man say no.. then i won't do it :D

thanks guy

LOL....I hope it turns out OK or you will be tracking me down and paying me a visit !!
;) ;)

I don't agree with Primera about clear coat over decals.
I'm using auto clear coat and I never had problems. Finish is great and can't notice that decals are on cars.
I heard problems with puting Tamiya clear coat sprays over decals, but on this way there is no problem.
Here is one photo of my Pug with clear coat over decals:
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/573098P6170004.jpg

I always sprayed a coat a gloss clear over my decals and I never had trouble.
the only thing that is important is that you must wait 2 or 3 days after you last decals is put before spray you clear coat.

But as you will see daggerlee, there's several techniques.:)

I always apply a clear coat over the decals and I have do it in all my models.
This way I get a good shiny body colour and protect the decals.
With the time the decals tend to become more and more fragile (temperature, dust, etc).
The clear give a more realistic look since he eliminate the "yellow borders" and acts like a shield protecting the decals
during the time.
The only precaution we must have is wait 2 our 3 days before apply the clear coat and if you have build a F1 car use matt in the wings and all parts that are matt.

Thanks for the replies everyone

I made my post because of what Pat Covert said, he's a guy who writes for Scale Auto. He says you must use TS-13 clear over TS color within one hour (or one day, I'll have to check the article) or else you must wait one month before you can clearcoat it, due to the drying speeds, otherwise the paint will crack.

I'll look into this. Thanks guys :)

I'm bumping this thread in hope to get more tips because I'm really concerned about clear coats that yellows.

I clear coated my Corolla WRC (catalunya) with Humbrul clear coat and it looks all right but it yellowed a bit, it's not noticable when you look at it but it I put another body (painted in ts-26 pure withe) that was not clear coated, I can see a difference.

First I blamed it on the Humbrol spray, so I got Tamiya ts-13 and I used it on my racing Mini cooper and it looked very nice, after a few coats I sanded and polished the whole body and now the decals looks like they are within the body (no more relief), it's a great effect and I know the decals are protected.

Now I'm working on the Canon Porsche 956 and I want to clear coat it but I don't know what to do now...

I wish there was something available that will absolutely not yellow.

Hi,

I used Future as a clear coat on my mercedes SLk, it looked beutiful but now i've noticed the cracks that are being developed. Is it because i didn't let the paint dry enough before applying future ? It sucks, that car was a beauty too.

Anyways, when i airbrush my models i like to spray so that when the paint touches the plastic its almost dry, this way i can create nice even thin coats. Should i do the same with future ?

I've sprayed future over decals and its successfully blended the decal to the car, I suppose i could use a decal solution but thats another step i don't want to deal with.

Thanks

One thing is that on race cars, when is the decal put on the car? After the finished paint and clear. Decals on race cars do not look glossy as they would if you applied a clear over them. If you're going for the realsitic look, do the decals after....hope this helps

Brian

WoW ! what an old thread !!!

And yes, Clearcoat work perfect over decal..

Originally posted by Vric
WoW ! what an old thread !!!

And yes, Clearcoat work perfect over decal..

P-Man might be right on priming and stuff :finger: but I think we - hrmodeler, now you Vric, and myself, cana teach him a lesson or two about clear coating decals :flipa:

lol :lol2:

j/k

dang it! Seems like no one agrees on what to do over decals! I'm kinda interested since i'm planning on doing a Tamiya Sauber-Merc C9 with TS-17 (and a few decals, of course). My previous experience with sprayed gloss alum included cracking, possibly due to lack of attention paid to how long i waited to clearcoat after the colorcoat.
--i've had a car sprayed with Tam italian red and clearcoating over a Revell-Monogram decal (R-T stripe on back of '69 Charger), and the stripe split where it crossed an edge in the body
--but i've had a car sprayed with Tam metallic red with R-M NASCAR sponsor decals which worked fine! (i polished that one and bam! no edges, purrfectly smooth) :2cents:

geezz... there is many other thread about clearcoat over decal (we have at least 1 every week) why did you bring up this 2 years old thread ?

There is one directly on the front page:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=273751

and an other there:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=273086

i always clearcoat over my decals, i use dupli-color clear, and it works excellent and it wont ever yellow, and i have used it over enamel paint without problems,and even once over a waxed paintjob, and had no problems