Gloss Clear + Decal + Matt Clear - How to achieve?

The final painted finish on my 1/48 Revell Blackbird is Tamyia Black Rubber. Black Rubber is a super flat finish. I was concerned about decal silvering, so after the Black Rubber dired I coated the painted surfaces with MM gloss clear. I couple of coats were required. I used Tamyia "Mark Fit" strong decal setting solution to apply the decals. After the decals dried I applied a final coat of Tamyis clear flat. I was amazed. There was zero decal silvering. This photo was taken prior to weathering.

the Baron

  A gloss coat fills those and creates a smoot surface.

 

 

 

this isn't necessarily true.  A gloss coat only makes the surface shiny, not necessarily smooth.

that being said, I rarely gloss before decals.  But I will gloss after, to allow for washes without damaging the painted surface.

I typically seal all my weathering work with a light flat coat as the last step.

I use Future as a gloss coat before applying decals, and rattle-can Testor's DullCote for my matte coat.  I'll usually apply a second gloss after applying the decals, to seal them if I have any weathering to do.  I apply the Future in as light a coat I can.  Usually I brush it on by hand and let it level itself, too.

Remember that the whole purpose of the gloss coat for decaling is reduce as much as possible, or eliminate, the silvering that can occur under a decal's clear carrier film.  Silvering comes from air trapped in tiny pockets, pits, etc, under the clear film.  A gloss coat fills those and creates a smoot surface.

But it's not 100% necessary, or rather, not every modeler uses a gloss coat for decals.  You may decide you don't need to.

A gloss coat can also serve to seal a finish color coat before weathering, especially if the product you use for weathering will attack the color coat beneath it.

Thin your gloss coat and just make one or two light passes, it's all you need as long as it's covered. It doesn't matter if it dries semi gloss at all. After the decals you just do light coats of matt as well, in fact that's desired. It will come out fine. You definately don't want to bomb on the clear and no need to anyway. My experience is heavy coats of matt mute decals and true color, so keep it light.

That said, I use a softening and setting solution on the decals like Solvaset. Back when I was doing/ building and scratch building model trains ( many moons ago now) that's the only way I could get decals to lay into corregated siding. Between that and trimming edges of the decal flim as close as possible to the lettering helps greatly as well.

Gloss the whole thing

Decal

Matte

Works fine

I usually use Alclad Aqua Gloss and their Flat

I'd do the same as Goldhammer, but with the extra step of a gloss coat after the decals go on.  I started doing that as a way to blend the edges of the decals in with the surface.  Then finish it off with a matte coat.  Even if you don't do that, I think you'll actually be pretty happy with the extra depth you get on the finish.  Hard to explain, but it just looks better than a single matte coat.  I'm really liking the MRP clear lacquers that I have.  They don't stay soft like some other clear varnishes tend to do, so you don't have to worry about burning into the clearcoat with fingerprints while you're weathering things.

This F-16CJ vertical stab was the first time I did the gloss both before and after the decals, followed by the matte.  I really liked the result, so its my go-to method now.

wpwar11

My experience is the surface only has to be smooth for decals to work effectively.  Gloss isn't neccesarily needed.  Im still kinda new to this but that's my take.  I would use a decal you can live without and test on the surface.  Place it on an inconspicuous area and see what happens.  

 

If you go that route, paint a spoon or piece of styrene sheet the same as the model.  Don't risk doing damage to the model if you don't get the results you wanted, and have to strip it back off

My experience is the surface only has to be smooth for decals to work effectively.  Gloss isn't neccesarily needed.  Im still kinda new to this but that's my take.  I would use a decal you can live without and test on the surface.  Place it on an inconspicuous area and see what happens.  

Hello Dave!

That's not an easy one... If you only apply gloss in "spots" you risk those "spots" to be different colour than their background... This could be helped applying those gloss spots with an airbrush, with feathered edges. I'd apply gloss generously, area-wise, and also put another layer of gloss on top of the decals, and just then seal everything with flat.

Just to show you I'm not only theorising here:

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

I'd gloss all of it, decal, then do a flat/dull coat over it all.

Pick a dull coat of choice. Lots of them out there.