Can I / should I seal decals with Testor's Gloss coat?

I always clear my car with decals or without decals lol

since you used enamel paint stick with enamel based clear, or 2 part urathane , you can also use future , this is what i use i just apply with an old white cotton t shirt, future never hurts decals and if u mess up some windex removes it and you can start over

JTRACING wrote:

i forgot, on the real car those graphics are probably flat or semi gloss, so leaving them natural would be a more accurate look

I read one guy who said that "in his experience" that that would happen if you didn't seal them--should I just leave it then and take my chances?

I've used a gloss coat before on a car painted white and over time it did develope a bit of a yellowish tint to it. It could have been an old batch or something I did wrong but I've heard of this before on cars with white paint jobs. I did this car about 6 or 7 years ago and the decals are still just like I put them on. No gloss coat was used on it. Probably should have as my polishing didn't turn out so well.

ogrejohn wrote:

I've used a gloss coat before on a car painted white and over time it did develope a bit of a yellowish tint to it. It could have been an old batch or something I did wrong but I've heard of this before on cars with white paint jobs. I did this car about 6 or 7 years ago and the decals are still just like I put them on. No gloss coat was used on it. Probably should have as my polishing didn't turn out so well.

Even if it's doesn't leave the right shine on the decals I rather have that then peeling decals.

On these two I've used Modelmaster metalizer sealer and it hardly yellows at all. 

The Opel is painted with Humbrol gloss black, decaled and MM clearcoat. 

The Mercedes is Modelmaster enamel, decals and MM clear coated.

...and finally the Volvo that also has a Humbrol enamel, decals and MM clear coats.

The Mercedes is about 5 years old by now, the Opel 7 years and the Volvo is 10 years old. No one of them suffers any bad yellowing, a slight hint on the Volvo that is only evident if you compare it to a non clear coated area.

So my suggestion is clear coats if you want to make sure the decals is still hanging on a couple of years from now. On the other hand I have builds outdating these three without clear coats that still has their decals intact.

Niclas

Thanks, Gino, and Niclas--I guess I'll lay down a light coat with my airbrush then...

Thanks for all the help, everyone!

You know a thin coat of wax would protect the decals(I've used meguirs and turtlewax both safely), and won't really change the difference in sheen between the decals and the car much.  both the paint and decals will be shinier, but the decals will still be more flat.

Although(I may have photo's to prove this as well), if I remember correctly from the cruisein car show 2 blocks away a few weeks back, the decals on the mopars didn't appear to be flat in comparison to the paint job.  I will look though, and if I have any photo's I will post them for you.

Well I found one pic that shows decal(maybe paint) up close.  From a distance of a few feet to the right of the green mopar is another one with an actual decal stripe and it doesn't appear to be a different sheen then the rest of the car.  Although it's tough to tell because of the high sunlight.  Also because the stripe is white, but maybe you can save the pics and play around with the lighting in photoshop or lightroom or something to get a better idea.  If you want the full res pics just e-mail me directly(you should still have my e-mail addy) and I will send the two pics to you.

Doog if your worried about the decals, test one of the extra decals from the set with the clear coat over the top and see how it turns out. Another method that I learned from an armor guy, is after you soak the decal in the water, remove it from the backing paper and dip the decal in some Future and then put it on oyur model. but first remove the access Future from the decal and now you have a sealed decal with a gloss finish. Hope this helps.

Tom 

Thanks, Michael, and Tom--I've managed to get a coat of gloss on it and I think it's looking fine! A little bit of polish and wax will finish her up just great!

I appreciate all the great advice from everyone--I knew I could count on you all!