To paint or not to paint

I'm not sure how any type of weathering can be achieved on bare plastic at all. Decals stick better on gloss clearcoat or Future.

Paint- the plastic will change tone (fade or darken) with age.

My thoughts only,always paint.

Agree, paint. Decal results are not great on plastic, carrier film will show, plus any filing and joint corrections that should have been filled, will be glaringly obvious. Just my .02

Painting is well worth the time.

The problem with bare styrene is that it is translucent, not completely opaque, and you see a bit into the surface- not much- but enough to spoil the appearance of a painted surface.  Sometimes a coat of clear dullcoat will reduce this effect, but not entirely.  But that is still a stopgap.  Painting is best.

Both brush painting and spraying with spray cans do require a bit of practice. If you are not an experienced painter, practice on scrap plastic to hone your skills before tackling the good model.

Brush painting flat paints is easier than brush painting gloss paint. It takes a lot of practice to do a decent job of a gloss surface, but the Falcon is virtually all flat anyways, right?  However, you will need to gloss up any surface to be covered with decals.  Then, you can apply dullcoat after decaling to get it flat again.

Thanks, all of you, for your responses. Don in particular, I've wondered  if clear coated plastic would still look plastic or take on the look of a painted surface.

I've aquired a Paasche airbrush and am ging to spend a few days practicing with that.  Then I will paint, decal, and clear coat the model.

Thanks again, Craig