Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone can give me any tips or advice on how i can make my decals stay on the model once i have attached them. They always seem to peel off even after i have applied a coat of clear dust to the entire model.
Thanks.

Decals usually don't stick well for two reasons. First, they should always be applied to a glossy surface, and NEVER to a flat finish. If you use flat paints on your model, that's ok, but before decalling, give the model a clear glosscoat. You can always make the finish appear flat again later by spraying on a clear flat coat after applying your decals. Second, it is possible that you are leaving the decal in your water bowl for too long, and this can dissolve too much glue from the back of your decal, and this means there's not enough glue to hold the decal in place. Dip the decal for only 30 seconds or so, then let it sit on a non-porous surface for a minute or two. It should then be ready to slide onto your model.

Good luck!

thanks,
Can u recommend any particular product for a glossy coat?

Yes. Tamiya makes an excellent glosscoat, it comes in a 100ml spray can, it's their TS-13 Clear. Build up a few light coats, rather than one heavy one.

Some folks may recommend, and have had good luck using, Future floor acrylic shot through an airbrush, but I have heard too many accounts of cloudy areas showing up later.

future floor wax has worked well for me, I have only built three models so far after a 25 year layoff but thanks to this site I listened to everyones advice and airbrushed on the future then used micro set and micro sol, let sit for a few days then went over the model with a non gloss clear coat to remove the sheen of the future and have had excellent results, you have a decent airbrush?

thanks for the help,
I have not yet purchased an air brush so I will have to start out with the spray can option. I think I will give that go. But for future reference, can u buy the floor wax stuff at a hobby shop?
Cheers.

Also just another question,
When spraying a model is it possible to spray it with an undercoat of a different colour. example, using acrylic spray can (white) with a coat of say a grey or green on top? I have heard that this can darken or lighten the final appearance of a model?
Thanks

The acrylic floor shiner is called either Klear or Future (not sure which in Oz) - you can get it in any hardware shop, or supermarket. You can also brush it on with a good quality soft, flat brush: it'll give you a lovely smooth finish.

I always use grey car primer as undercoat, but others use white acrylic primers. If you are brush painting I would have thought an evenly applied, not-too-thin coat will cover the primer. If you are spray painting, just keep shooting light coats over the undercoat/primer til you have the coverage you need. You must mist the coat on, and not apply too much, too quickly, otherwise the paint will pool.

always primer then for the fuselage light colors first then dark, hard to cover up dark colors with lighter ones,masking comes into to play too. future floor wax is not so popular for floors anymore, look hard and you can find it all wal-mart......have fun with modeling, its a great hobby.

Future/Klear is not actually sold in Australia. Johnson&Johnson stopped selling it here long ago.

There are similar alternatives though. Go to a supermarket and buy something called Pledge One Go. It's does the same thing and is actually thinner which helps in my opinion. It is tinted slightly yellow, but it's not noticeable for most things, only if it goes over white maybe.

Anyway i prefer to use Tamiya TS13 for clearcoating homemade decals, or any decals for that matter. Though it is laquer based and will damage some decals if applied to heavy. I only use floor polish for canopies.

Andrew

To get the truest color reproduction on your final color coats, use a white primer. This is especially true and usually quite necessary for the lighter colors, such as yellows and reds.