I have acquired some Peddinghaus decals for a modified HL KV-1 I've thrown together.
Asiatam lower hull, metal tracks, wheels, 3:1 reduction units on steel gearboxes, DBU; I even made both front and rear mount MGs have fire simulation and made the head light
use a grain of wheat bulb and switchable.

So my question is what is a good invisible coating to reduce the decal sheen? I tried some new formulation Microscale Flat and it was awful; lumpy, streaky really needs to be airbrushed on.
I ended up removing it ( and the underlying paint ) and re-shot the model. The old 1980s Flat formulation was great stuff but as it is with many thing that worked well it's gone the
way of the honest politician.

So what do youse guys use?

Jerry

Tanque don't know if this helps i use the Rust-oleum frosted glass on my tanks i think it works great i have not seen sheen like someone said in an earlier post that they have i have not had a problem with it and i have coated it pretty thick at times i use stencils and paint my markings so you may have to try it on a scrap decal that you wont use to see how it goes

To avoid decal silvering (what that 'sheen' is called), apply a gloss coat to the areas where you'll be putting the decals before you put them on.. or on the whole model if you want. Then flat coat it when everything's dry. The reason decals 'silver' is because air gets trapped in the rough surfaces of a matte finish.

DITTO!

Also, a decal softening agent for those uneven surfaces. Once all has dried, I use Testors DULL COTE over the decal and the rest of the tank.

HTH









~ Jeff

Peddinghaus decals are very fragile, both in applying and overcoating. They say in their literature that they print them on an ink jet printer so the ink is very susceptible to the chemicals in paints like Testors dull coat. I used them ( took two sheets to do one tank due to the fragility of the decals themselves ) for a Sherman. I will never use them again. Some praise them, but for me, the cost should guarantee a better product. Anyway, peddinghaus sugests you use an acrlic clearcoat. I used Model Masters ( with an airbrush ) with good results, then I oversprayed with Testors Dullcoat to seal evrything up. Previous to all this, I also overcoated the entire tank with clearcoat for the decals ( does a lot in eliminating silvering). I sprayed the whole tank so when you put on the dullcoat there will no be any shade variances with the colors ( some with clearcoat, other areas still flat).
Hope this helps.

Jim

The tried and true method that has been serving static model builders for years is still the best for decal adhesion.

After final paint, before weathering, cover either the general area of the decal or preferably, entire build with a light coat of Future. Apply the decal with a setting solution, if it's an irregular surface, use a decal solvent too, recoat with another light coat of Future, then wash, weather, dull coat or whatever you'd like at that, the decal will essentially be part of the tank at that point.

I'd skip the decal solvent if I were using inkjet decals and go with a couple coats of Future to seal.

Airbrushler, your going to have to do a thread on dios, You do a great job on the earth on your dio. I want to do some to display some of my tanks when not in use. I dont have a clue how to start one. Sorry , didnt mean to jack this thread carry on....

I have have used this stuff for overcoating the paint job.........I have never had a problem with bad effects on decals, but those were mostly the decals that were in the box, which are kinda thick and indestructable. I don't have many (any?) after market decal sheets of high quality. The bottle on the left is Pactra AB 28 flat clear, and is about 100 years old. I have never used it much for some reason. I always wait about a week to apply this stuff.

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http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=11100113