Will acrylic paint adhere to decals?

Wingman_kz

Limbas, I haven't tried it myself. In the articles I've seen people have used either enamels or acrylics. I guess lacquers would work the same if that's what you have. Generally whatever they normally paint with. But, like printing your own decals you have to topcoat with clear before cutting them out or applying. I don't know how they'd conform to surface details. Every example I can think of ended up being used on an area without much surface detail. I know I've seen a couple different builds in FSM that the author has done this but short of setting down and leafing through back issues I just can't remember who it was.

It may not be in time to help but I need to pick up some decal paper. I'll give this paint method a try and post here how it turns out by the weekend. It may fall to pieces or it may work well.

Tony

Thanks Tony, will wait for the results of your test.

Those look good, Tony.  They all seem to have settled in, nice and tight as well.

I know a guy on another forum who has the revell kit and is willing to scan his decal sheet.  So, I just ordered the Testors decal maker system.  Hopefully, I can figure out what the hell I'm doing, LOL.

-Fred

Sorry to hear that Fred. Hope you can find some replacements. My little experiment turned out ok. I went back and added some Tamiya Lemon Yellow and later masked over the Tamiya and Acryll and shot a band Tamiya Flat White over them. I used Tamiya tape on one side and a Post It note on the other. The Post It side was smoother but I did have to shoot several coats of white. I trimmed out a few pieces and applied them over some bare F-14 exhaust petals. I put a little puddle of MicroSet on the part before the decal and later applied MicroSol and it worked fine. Had to use a pin to poke a couple of bubbles and then used MicroSol again and it was fine. On the last two with yellow/white and blue/white I tried Solvaset and it worked fine too although I touched them with a brush and messed them up a little. The first blue/white I didn't give the paint long enough to cure and the white lifted a little at first but after everything dried it was ok. Here's some pics. My first time using Photobucket so I hope it works...

Tony

PS Pics look ok in preview, hope they aren't too big...

Well, I'm thouroughly boned.  Decals shattered the second they got on the plane. 

Don't know what I'm going to do, now.  Cutting Edge is no longer around and they were the only ones who made an aftermarket set.

-Fred

Another way is to paint the model red there, cut out that part of the decal and put it over it. Might be a little tough since the area around the red is white, so the red needs to be masked carefully. Good luck, sounds like your plan will work.

PS I have a bunch of solid color Microscale decal film, and I don't like it at all. I use the black stuff for deicing boots, which is ok, but it's all really thick, to the point where on a curved surface the edges lift up. Just my

stikpusher

How about painting the red stripes on to the decal before you apply it to the model?

Well, this is the method I've decided to try.  I masked using tamiya masking tape and sprayed a few light coats of Tamiya X-7 gloss red.  I unmasked as soon as I was done spryaing, to avoid ridges.  I waited a few minutes for it to dry (light coats dry nice and fast) and sprayed a coat of Future.  I'll give the Future until tomorrow to fully cure.  Tomorrow, we see if it worked out. 

Have to say though, except for the one decal, where the stripe has a very slight slant to it, they look really good, so far.

-Fred

Fred, I picked up some clear decal paper today. Made a little mistake that I didn't notice until I'd already cut a sheet but hopefully it won't affect this project. I picked up laser paper instead of inkjet. But since I'd already cut it...

I shot 2 bands each of MM Acryll, MM enamel and some PlastiKote lacquer. Didn't use any Tamiya. I masked a band of each with Post It notes to see if I could build enough color without creating too much of an edge and that seemed to work out ok.  Then I sprayed a band of each freehand. I topcoated all of them with some Testors Semigloss lacquer. I'll let them dry till this evening and cut some strips out and see how they work.

Tony

How about painting the red stripes on to the decal before you apply it to the model?

Keep us updated, Tony.

I haven't tried it yet as I'm still waiting on the paint I need to finish the kit, prior to decaling.

-Fred

Limbas, I haven't tried it myself. In the articles I've seen people have used either enamels or acrylics. I guess lacquers would work the same if that's what you have. Generally whatever they normally paint with. But, like printing your own decals you have to topcoat with clear before cutting them out or applying. I don't know how they'd conform to surface details. Every example I can think of ended up being used on an area without much surface detail. I know I've seen a couple different builds in FSM that the author has done this but short of setting down and leafing through back issues I just can't remember who it was.

It may not be in time to help but I need to pick up some decal paper. I'll give this paint method a try and post here how it turns out by the weekend. It may fall to pieces or it may work well.

Tony

Tony:  What kind of paint do you use on the decal paper? 

IE won't let me edit my previous post so...

Now I haven't tried this either but have read in several different places recently about folks that need to match up decals, stripes and such, for one reason or another. The one's I've seen pertained to someone painting their stripe, whatever on a blank sheet of decal paper, coating it with clear and then trimming it out and applying. Maybe you could try the same with your decals, if you haven't already applied them that is. Mask them on the sheet, spray what you need, unmask and coat them with some clear coat then trim and apply. Maybe you've read those articles too.

Just a thought...

Tony

I don't know if Micheals will have that or not. Microscale sells solid color decal sheets, military sheets, stripes, all kinds of stuff. Their Trim Film sheets even list the FS number. One of my LHS's sells some of their sheets, mostly railroad related.  I haven't had a chance  to use them yet but here's a link to their site...

Microscale

Tony

They make solid sheets of decals?  Didn't know that.  I'll have to look to see if maybe somebody carries it locally.  Think Michael's might have it?

-Fred

Because of the risk of masking, how about buying a red decal sheet (they make sheets of decal material in solid colors?

Then, cut the bars with an X-acto knife or razor, and apply over the existing decal.

Yes...

Thanks for the heads-ups, guys.  I was thinking of using post-it notes to mask, as anyone who's used them, knows how low-tac that crummy adhesive actually is LOL

-Fred

Decals in my life have a wonderful (or not) habit of sticking to EVERYTHING! Tools to move them, the backing paper, my fingers, nearby masking materials.... I would highly suggest getting either some red stripes to apply or a set of postwar stars w/stripes. Odds are if you try masking over and painitng teh red stripes, you willl need to do so anyways. At least if you have luck like mine

Yes, the paint will adhere to the decal. Whether or not the masking will pull the decal off is another question, altogether. It depends mostly on what you use to mask, how well the decal is adhered to the paint beneath it, and what you put over the decal, if anything, to seal it.

I would recommend sealing the decal with Future or another strong clear. Once fully cured, mask, paint, and remove the mask as soon as possible. Remember to pull the masking material off as close to parallel with the surface as possible.