Gloss coat for decals

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Spherical

Airman
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Jul 9, 2010
Im currently nearing the finishing stages of a 1/72 Airfix Hawker Typhoon and am at the point of decals and was wondering does the gloss coat for the smooth surface needs to cover the entirety of the aircraft or just the areas where the decals are going to be applied, of course I will add another coat of either matt or gloss to seal it in after finishing.

So what difference will it make applying the clear gloss coat all over, or just where the decals will be placed
 
Sometimes the sheen of the decal will be different to the painted surfaces, so it is always good to do an overall gloss, apply the decals, gloss over the decals and then apply your preferred final coat that way all surfaces will have the same finish or sheen!
 
In addition... there is another reason for applying the gloss overall but not mentioned above. Sometimes paints can get a little bit different tonality when a clear gloss coat is applied. These can become a little bit darker and more vivid. So.. applying a gloss clear varnish at these areas for decals only you could cause well seen difference between these areas and the entire model surfaces. Of course it is not a rule but just in case....
 
Plain and simple (to me at least), it is a protective film covering the underlying paint coats. Take your typical floor polish, it dries into a tough (extra) protective film. A gloss coat always has a kind of blending effect to it in my opinion, so in onder to bring together the overall result it helps to add an overall gloss coat.

Also, perhaps a very important, if not the most important reason is, if you were to look at a typical matt paint coat under a microscope you'd be surprised to find that it actually looks more or less like mountain landscape (this inherently goes with a paint being matte). This doesn't help when you add decals, as air bubbles easily get trapped under a decal that is placed on this rough matt paint surface directly..leading to silvering. Adding a gloss coats (on this microsopic level) helps to smooth out the surface so air bubbles don't get trapped under the decals so easily, and if they do...they can me ironed out more easily.
 
Each of paint manufacturers offers both clear gloss and matt cotes that are dedicated to their paints (enamels). Aditionally many modellers use liquid called Future Floor Wax for preservation of floors and its a few derivative ones that in fact are the same but of different names. The liquid is nothing more but an acrylic gloss varnish and can be used over acrylic paints and enamels.
 
Wurger hit it spot on. I am an acrylic user and only go to an enamel if I can't get that particular color in acrylic. there are many discussions on the use of Future, which, as Wurger states, is NOT a wax but an acrylic clear coat. I am a confirmed Future convert. Thanks to Wayne I finish Mil models with a 50-50 Future - matte acrylic mix.
 
OK guys, many thanks. Am more adept and scratchbuilding and modification on small scale stuff rather than paint and decals.
I am about to change that. I have polished 16x 'pewter-lead' 1/285 scale P-51Ds (sculpted by Mark at RAIDEN), will brush-on primer in the canopy areas, along the top of the engine, and where I will have color. Will coat with gloss. Then will do decals, then clear dull. Pray for me. Then I have 10x P-51B/Cs (others enroute) to make another squadron, these will have some earlier cammie. The two shown in silver paint and "D-Day Stripes" I painted years ago. I also have scads of GUSTAVS to do, 12x FWs mostly done...

Anyway, here is a view of 'Stang Central as of yesterday



shown is part of one of the 6 terrain mats. I need to finish the forests; more tree stampings, some background color, then dabs of paint to highilight foliage. Two blank mats here to do, I can get others...need rivers, town/city, etc, etc big can of worms
 
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