I know they're lacquer based... so I was curious if anyone had some experience painting over them in clear? Are there tricks to this? I have a little project I would rather not experiment with... as these are all vintage!
Us scale modelling guys do this all the time to protect them from getting damaged when we handle them. Success depends on misting the clear on REAL slow, dont soak the decals or they'll wrinkle and get ruined. Creep up on them, and if you got a spare one test the clear coat on it first to make sure it doesnt attack the surface. The 'cooler' the clear, the better...
By the way, if theyre brittle at all, as waterslide decals often are if theyre a little old, they'll fall apart when you apply them. To help with this, give the whole sheet a couple of layers of clear before you cut them out and put them in the water. Also, if they backing has started to yellow with age, tape them on a window and they sun will bleach the brown back to clear most times...
Be careful with the paint you use, any that have 'hot' solvents in them will eat the suckers away. Model paint is made so it wont do it. Doc.
When I was restoring Indian and Harley's and we would use a water transfer decal (After applying it) I would fog it several times with lacquer clear to keep the urethane clear from attacking the decal.... lacquer must be sprayed with several dry coat thought or it too could attack your decal. hope this helps.....
Thats what I figured... fog it... I do have some I can test- I bet speed clear w/super thin/fogged coats with long flash time is the ticket- I'll report back with my findings-
don't use speed clear. i did a jobbie on a bike tank a couple of years ago. i cleared the base, wet sanded, applied the decal (making sure it was absolutely dry) then like these guys said, lightly applied some tack coats followed by a medium wet then a wet...came out nice...
Use waterproof ink when you print them. I used to make mu own decals and the normal printer ink will run like a bitch. Also a normal printer wont print white, you need an Alps printer for that. Easy way around that is to use white decal paper, just needs some good trimming after! Doc.
cool- I based it with 2002 I think- I love 2042... you use it with an alternate iso dcx8 and it locks up so fast dust doesnt have time to fall in it- they used the dcx8 when it first came out and then changed to 61... not recommending the x8- but I've tested it over TIME the stuff is bullet proof and would hardly shrink- Thanks for the input guys... doc I have a 3' wide HP printer with UV ink- you can manual feed- that should do the trick- Tuck