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. :-) [Reply]
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 !:-) [Reply]
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? :-):-):-):-) [Reply]
"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 [Reply]
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 :-) [Reply]
Everytime i read about clear coats over decals i begin to shake :-)
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. [Reply]
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/up...98P6170004.jpg [Reply]
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.:-) [Reply]
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. [Reply]
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.
