Is there a way to remove decals underneath clearcoat?

[kaho]

Hi. I have recently screwed up a decal while polishing the body. I applied all my decals before airbrushing on GSI acrylic clear. When everything dried and cured a week later when I tried polishing away the height difference between the decal and the paint surface, I realized I worked too hard and burned through both the clear and a chunk of the decal.(The pic shows how the top edge of the decal is jagged and feathered out due to rubbing damage) Im also guessing that the clear that I applied were not even thick enough to allow me to make the raised decal surface to be sanded flush to the rest of the body at the first place. (Or perhaps this homemade decal was too thick itself) There are others of this kind of decals I have applied onto the body which are also damaged, but none of them are as pulverised as this piece here.

Please drop in some suggestions to save this model as this is one of my more anticipated throughout my entire, although short, modelling career. I would be really grateful!

Thanks!

[sjelic]

I would clear coat it again.

[Martbee]

Agree with him.

Maybe paint with a fine brush the damaged decals and put more clear on it so you'll ve able to make an even surface.

[MPWR]

What did you paint with, and what did you clear with?

Adding more layers of clear to hide the edges and 'bury' the decal may work- be careful, as clear can take a long time to dry when built up thick.

[Lambo003]

Man! you're in a tight spot with this one!

Clear is very difficult to sand and touch up once it has gone through to your base color. Especially over a decal that has broken edges. Broken edges usually means the decal did not adhere well to the surface of the model. Continued sanding will only make it worse.

I'd go with the above and try to apply a few more coats of clear.

If that doesn't work, then you will need to lightly sand the damaged decal away. Once you have the decal removed, continue to lightly sand the edges of the clear and feather it out as much as possible.

Once you're satisfied with your feathered edges, you can apply another decal and then clear again.

Again, Clear is a tough one once the surface has been broken. Even the edges of the clear will have a tendency to want to crumble on you.

Good luck and let us know how you make out!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Since I assume you airbrushed the GSI acrylic bottle clear, I'd suspect your decal didn't adhere too well to the base color and your sanding magnified the problem. However with acrylics you have a decent chance of saving it, or removing it. Go ahead and carefully recoat it with clear. If you airbrush, concentrate (if you can) by applying it in light coats building it up slowly over the affected area before going for an overall gloss on the rest of the body. Otherwise you'll need to sand off the decal carefully and reclear that area, or strip the entire coat of clear-if the red is a lacquer you might be able to save it if you strip the clear with Windex (ammonia is a good remover of acrylic) or perhaps mild 70% rubbing/isopropyl alcohol. Good luck!

[kaho]

Just to let you guys know how my busted up project is turning out, but first of all, let me thank all you guys for the suggestions. Seeing how you all pump out solutions to a newbie error merely within one day just puts tears into my eyes!

It was quite an easy job when saving the entire car by removing the damaged decal. Since it was sanded through already all I had to do was put microset right at the rip of the decal and eventually it can be peeled off millimeter by millimeter. Whatever that was there to attempt sealing the decal just comes right out along with the decal!

However, when I tried to feather out the clear onto the bare red paint, looks like I have made another mistake :22yikes:
I was only touching the red with 1000 grit sandpaper and red paint just flake off dot by dot. It revealed the primer underneath as of the primer didnt do its job right.



Now I am forced to repaint, at least the left rear fender. Since I decided to not put any decals on it anymore, it seems reasonable to remove the decal on the other side rear fender. To my surprise I didnt even damage the decal but the whole thing simply slid right out 2- seconds after being exposed to microset :22yikes: :22yikes:


You can still see the surface gradient between cleared and uncleared on the right rear fender.