Sealing an Alclad II paint job before decaling?

So just to confirm, once the decals are applied, you do NOT apply any sort of clear coat? That seems almost sacrilegious to me (I've always thought there should be a final coat to seal everything in), but if that's how it's done, that's how it's done. For the record, I will be building a P-51D Mustang.

I used polished aluminum and did not want to dull it down (done in civil livery).  I find decals stick to alclad well enough that no sealing is needed.  Alclad is final finish. It is good and stable.

Once the decals were applied, what did you use as a final coat to dull down and seal the model?

Just finished decaling a plane over Alclad.  Not only do you not need to gloss the surface for decals (it is glossy enough), I find adhesion of decals to Alclad excellent, and have never had a problem with decals pulling up from the stuff.

I did use a small amount of setting solution (setting, not solvent) when I applied the decals.

Thanks for the responses, guys. If I don't need to seal before decaling, what do I use after decaling? Just a simple flat coat? Can it be an acrylic flat coat?

First off, don't use Future. It alters the hue and shine worse than any other gloss I've used. Second- do any decals actually go over the non- metal areas? If so, just trim the carrier film off around those decals. If you can't, then I'd suggest glossing it with Alcad's Aqua gloss. Its a nice acrylic gloss coat but doesn't change the metal shine much at all.

You could brush paint the future on. Another option would be to mask round it, or paint the colour first, add the future, then mask and ad your NMF. I have not yet had to add decals to none NMF areas when using Alclad. But I use a gloss paint so it isn't an issue for me.