rob1957 Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Hello . I'm sure the following has been asked many times before . I'm about to do my last wet coat on the '71 Duster by AMT and I'm confused as to the sequence of decal application , polishing , wax , clear coat . I picked up Tamiya Polishing Compound : Coarse , Fine , Finish . I've got my Tamiya Wax , Micro Sol and Micro Set for my decals and my Clear Coat . Problem is , sometimes I think I'm buying products that I may not need and I'm starting to get frustrated with poor results . I'm in my 60's and I just got back into model building as a retirement hobby . More fun than building bird houses . Help ! Robert . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Decals can be done before or after clearcoat. Clearcoat. Polish. (Coarse, fine, finish, if you need all three. I use Wright's Silver Cream for all polishing.) Decals, if you didn't apply them before clearcoat. If you haven't opened the wax, take it back where you got it for a refund. You don't need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Brian Posted October 15, 2020 Share Posted October 15, 2020 Since you plan on polishing the body I would put a couple coats of clear over the decals. Nothing is worse than burning through the clear and ruining the decals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 10 hours ago, rob1957 said: Hello . I'm sure the following has been asked many times before Bookmark this page: http://italianhorses.net/Tutorials/tutorials.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 This is how I do it. I paint my model clear them and put my decals on. I have models 30 years old with perfect decals. I keep them in cases and that helps keep everything new. I don’t own any decal solutions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 One question that comes to my mind is the final finish your are going for, mainly the hood wish is often done in a flat black. I prefer to clear over any decals myself. I know many others prefer not to but that choice is up to you. The reason I ask about the hood finish is that it will make a difference in how the decals look. Decals should be applied on the smoothest surface possible. Even a little orange peal in the color coat will leave the decal and its edges obvious. This is even more obvious if you're applying on a flat colored surface. The "340" hood decal that would go on the hood would look best if the hood was painted a high gloss black. Color sand and polish until it is as smooth as possible. Then apply your decal call out on the hood. Allow to dry and then spray it with a flat clear. You may want to try this on a scrap piece of plastic with a decal that you aren't going to use anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob1957 Posted October 16, 2020 Author Share Posted October 16, 2020 Thanks for the advice everyone . I'll put that link on our favourites bar for future reference . I was wondering how I would tackle that blacked out hood . espo , you mention , after the high gloss black , to "colour sand and polish " . What is the colour sand and could I use Tamiya Polishing Compound ? Flat Clear on a high gloss paint , I gotta try that out . Thanks again all !! Robert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob1957 Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 Colour Sand : Dropping into our local Lee Valley I noticed these Micro-Mesh Cushioned Abrasive pads with the colour coded chart to match the corresponding abrasive pads . Great product , we'll give them a go , see what happens . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 On 10/16/2020 at 6:53 PM, rob1957 said: Thanks for the advice everyone . I'll put that link on our favourites bar for future reference . I was wondering how I would tackle that blacked out hood . espo , you mention , after the high gloss black , to "colour sand and polish " . What is the colour sand and could I use Tamiya Polishing Compound ? Flat Clear on a high gloss paint , I gotta try that out . Thanks again all !! Robert. The "color sanding" is done to get the smoothest finish possible. I also use the sanding pads that rob1957 has mentioned. His post came in as I was typing this. A couple of light finish coats of TS-80 Flat Clear should seal the decal on the hood surface and give you a finish very close to OEM. Decals just standout if applied over a flat painted surface, where as a gloss surface minimizes the decals appearance along the edge and sometimes if the painted surface has an orange peal type finish the decals remain visible even after being painted over with clear or even flat or semi-flat paint. I don't know exactly why I only know from experience in trying to do what you are looking at with this hood. I have seen builds here by others of this very kit , maybe one of them will see this and offer information as to how they did theirs. Please post your build, I would enjoy seeing how it turns out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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