I have applied new decals to some of my rolling stock. I painted the boxcars, gloss coated, applied the decals with the solvents, and dullcoated. But I still have that glossy look on some of the decals. Is there anything I can do now to make that look go away?
Decals will pretty much always be shiny. You have to give the model a coat of matte finish, Dullcoat, Flat Finish, etc.
Apply a relatively thick layer of powdered charcoal, preferably with a stiff brush around 1/4" wide. Then take a paper towel and wipe most of it away, using downstrokes. It will stay in areas dirt would really stick, like between boards of a wooden car, or around rivets etc. on a steel car. (If you model the steam era, leave the roof and ends fairly dark.) This will also tone down the decals, and turn the white lettering to a more realistic light gray. Then seal the whole car in with flat finish. Unlike chalk weathering, the powdered charcoal doesn’t disappear when you spray the flat finish on it.
By the way you described your issue, I will bet that you applied decals to a flat finish. The result will be that the decal will be shiny while the rest of the car is flat. No matter how much flat or gloss finish you give it, there will always be a difference between the paint and the decal.
The solution to decaling is to apply decals to a Glossy surface. That way the decal will adhere properly and it will match the glossyness of the paint. That way, when you flat or satin finish, you will have constantcy between the decal and the paint.
Hope this helps.
David B
Sounds like he did gloss coat.
I suspect that the gloss surface and the gloss of the decal were two different levels of shine. One trick I do is to gloss over the decal then, hit it with the dull.
I gloss coat after decalling so the decal has the same sheen as the body, let that dry for 24 hrs and then dull coat.
In your case, I would do another dull coat in the areas of the decals, let it dry for a good 24 hours and then coat the model one more time, that should even everything out. or switch to an acrylic flat.
This problem doesn’t seem to crop up if you use acrylic clear finishes.
Thanks guys. It was really my first shot at it after doing alot of reading here. I guess I should cut myself a break. First try and all. But now that I have the boxcars done, they look kinda crappy. I’ll try your suggestions and see what happens.
After reading this thread, I was reminded that I hadn’t applied Dul-Cote to a lobster boat after applying the stern decals. I didn’t want to spray the whole boat, so I used some liquid Dul-Cote, which is applied with a brush. This can go on much thicker, and cover a much more specific area. It certainly worked for me, as one coat was sufficient to completely get rid of the glossy sheen on the flat wood surface.