I'm building an F-86 Sabre and painted it with MM Aluminum Metalizer and don't know if I should put the decals on before or after using the Metalizer sealer. Any help will be greatfull. This is my first natural finish a/c and my first try at metalizer paints.

Thanks , Doug

Hi Doug,
I would think you would want to put the decals on after you put the sealer on.
Decals look and work best on a smooth surface. The sealer would probably provide a smoother surface than if you put them directly on the paint surface.
I am kind of guessing so hopefully someone else here will be able to give you a definate answer on this one for you.

Wayne

not to contradict you man but i biult an f4 freedom fighter from testors ( very cool looking plane) and put the metalizer on after the decals, Well lets just say that your decals may have some transparent parts to them that normally dont show. The effect of the metalizer effect is masked by the clear parts of a decal and you are left with weird coronas around the dacals. Just a bad experience i had.

Put your metalizer on....spray it with the metalizer sealer, let the sealer dry fully, and see if you have a smooth enought surface, if not....shoot a layer of future over the sealer, decal, use some decal set and decal sol on the decals, then shoot a coat of dull coat over everything, and your decals should look look like they are painted on.

Where it is a metal finish, would you be looking for a Matt finish? Or a gloss finish? if you are going for a gloss or semi gloss, instead of the dull coat, you can hit it with another coat of future, or get yourself some Tamiya Flat Base, and add to your future, you can make a semi gloss.

Thanks for the info.

I use Future all the time before decaling. I wasn't sure if Future would just make the Aluminum Metalizer look like silver paint defeating the purpose of Metalizer.

i dont see the advantages of
"metalizer" just what does it do?

Exactly What the Name says.

Makes the Parts painted look Like Metal. I Havent used it yet but Ive seen models that have used it on Armorama and they look very nice.