Hi guys, this one is marked "imminent " on my build pile.....but I have a question: In doing natural metal finishes, I use Alclad II aluminum over gloss black. The decals to me always have a different sheen than the surrounding paint. They look more glossy. Can anyone suggest how to effectively tie together the sheen to provide continuity?

Hi Jim. You could finish with a clear acrylic of the sheen level you want over the alclad and the decals, I use Mr Hobby Flat Clear. The acrylic won't affect the alclad.

Cheers, D

So it depends on if there is a lot of clear carrier film with the decals and how easy it is to trim it off.

remember that paint over metal on a real aircraft has a different sheen as well, so in many cases it actually makes sense to leave the decals glossy.

if you can trim off most the clear decal film and you really don't want glossy decals, I have had fair success carefully hand painting on clear matt on top of the decals - just make sure it is a good brand of matt for brushing. Valleho clear matt is excellent for hand painting. you could also make intricate masks and airbrush on the matt finish over the decals.

Another option is to get pretty aggressive with a decal solvent - if you hit a glossy decal with a fair amount of solvent, they often lose a lot of their gloss once they dry. you'll want to experiment on some extra decals from the same manufacturer tho - some decals can be destroyed by too strong a decal solvent. Also test that your decal solvent doesn't leave puddle marks in your alclad (and be fastidious about mopping up any decal solvent that is on the NMF before it dries). this is all delicate work using the decal solvent and things can go wrong if the chemistry between the decal and the solvent is not right (for example - never use Solvaset on Tamiya decals!) and also because the decal gets quite fragile while wet with solvent, but it can really make the difference when doing decals over a realistic NMF.

if there is a lot of clear decal film you can't avoid putting on the model, you will want to follow Damien's advice and lay down a clear coat over the alclad first. the NMF won't look quite as nice clear coated, but then again it'll look that way anywhere there is clear decal film anyway. so clear coat, decal, then clear coat again. The initial clear coat is important if you want the clear film to be invisible.

here is an example of what heavy use of decal solvent can do for you - the decals were quite glossy and also had a lot of carrier film on the serial #, a/c data,squadron codes (the "C3" part - i managed to trim the film off the part of the "M" that was over NMF), and "hoo flung dung" decal. I laid the decals straight over the alclad (though I did trim the clear carrier film off along the nearest convenient panel lines) and once mostly set hit them with Solvaset several times. eventually they conformed so completely to the alclad surface that they took on nearly the same sheen (slightly more matt actually). There is no clear coat either underneath or on top of the decals. the clear carrier film also almost completely disappeared with this treatment, tho from certain lighting angles you can still see it is there.




note that the main part of the wings are an exception - those were painted with silver lacquer (not alclad) and clear coated, just as the real P-51 laminar flow wings were.

the large dragon decal you will be working with will be challenging to do this way tho.

challenging, but not impossible. Many thanks for all your input guys!!!