TOPIC:

Ive never been sure about clear coating over decals.
Does anyone have any opinions from experience?
If i do or not will decide the order i do the body so i need to make a firm decision before i start painting.
I dont normally but as the decals are 40 years old im slightly concerned about how sticky they may be.
I cant even decide once the decals are on as the body needs masking for flat black areas so if i decal first id have to mask over decals. If i do the flat black first id have to mask super neatly again to clear over the decals if they needed it.

Thought id see what other folk do.

Thanks.

I always clear coat over the top of the decals (for hard bodies). Seems to help prevent them from lifting over time. Depending on the kind of clear you use, it may also help prevent color fading by blocking UV light.

If i do that, id probably base, clear, flat the clear, apply decals, then clear again. Sound reasonable?

Once you've applied flat, it is almost impossible to make it smooth again. Flat changes the texture. I learned my lesson on mixing flat clear with decals and won't do it again.

I ment wet sand the clear coat before applying decals then a final clear coat or two.

I still haven't made my mind up ..I've done 60+ paintjobs on hard bodies since getting back into RC around 2008/9, probably more than the average Tamiya collector were deliberately satin/matt/faded/weathered. Of all of them the only one I've felt the need to clear over the decals was a 2010 Scorcher body with a very shiny pearlescent red (Daewoo Ruby Red Metallic) where I felt the satin finish of the (lets say "aftermarket") decals took something away from the overall look. TBH clearing over them made everything very shiny, but took something away from the scale realism.

The car of mine that most matches what you're working in terms of scale, colour and age was a 1:12 Nichimo Lotus Europa that was only ever destined for the shelf. I didn't clear over the decals (waterslide transfers in this case) on that.

Make up your own mind, but based on my experience, my vote would appear to be no.

The shiny decals thing i hadnt really thought about, but the real cars stripes are shiny.


Im tempted to try and paint the stripes, but that may be a bit extreme, too much chance to get it wrong.
The other thing is decal thickness. Unless i clear it enough to bury the decals so i can flat it back you will see the edges easier due to the shine.

Ill cut a piece of unused decal sheet and see how sticky it is before making my mind up.