How do you hide Decal Film over a bright, shiny Natural Metal Finish? Have a 1/72 F-86 and can’t “trim away” clear film on many decals like kill mkgs, serial, etc… Future floor wax works fine for me on flat finishes…
Future should work over a bare metal finish. I’m working on a P-51 in a BMF and simply brushed Future over the areas where any decals went.
The only downside is that it will change the “shine” a bit. If you put it over paint that has that classic metallic “gleen”, it may knock it down a bit.
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This is going to sound a bit tedious, but here’s what I do. On the 1/72nd Monogram B-36, finished in Alclad shades, I was faced with this problem. It soon became apparent to me that something had to be done about that clear film between letters and numbers, especially the large ones. The film simply had to go. So I waited until the decals were almost totally dry, then got to work with a new #11 x-acto blade, very carefully cutting away the film. Practice first on an old model with some scrap decals put on and let to 90% dry out. Make the cuts.Use a piece of labelling tape (w/backing still on) if you don’t have a steady enough hand. Lift off the discard with a q-tip lightly moistened in water. Tears or missteps are fairly easy to fix. Micro-set for snuggling down those newly exposed edges.On the plus side, you’ve got best realism and a metal finish unaffected by clear sprays. Of course, on the down side, it is crazy-making. Hey, we’re modellers; we’re used to that, right?
Tony,
I think I’m going to try that technique more often. Even though I get no silvering with my current techniques, I still hate seeing that film in between letters, numbers and such, as you alluded to. (Matter of fact, I neglected to mention that I used that technique on the code letters…)
Anyhoo, that P-51 has a decal on the nose, “The Bengal Lancer”, and you can still see the film, even without any silvering. That’s gonna be a pup cutting around stuff like that, but similar to your “we’re modelers and we’re used to it”, one of my maxims is “You’re a modeler, deal with it!” [:p]
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Excellent tip, tonyryan. I’m gonna try that on my next model. Crazy? Of course, that’s why we do this stuff.
Glenn
How did you burnish that foil to look so smooth? The plane looks great by the way blackwolf. I see yer a Dire Straits fan too 
good man.
madda
Hey Madda,
Actually, it’s not foil. It’s a combination of Testors Silver (regular stuff, square bottles) and Monogram/Humbrol Polished Aluminum (Really great stuff, buffable too. Out of production though. [:(][V])
And if I were stuck on the proverbial island with only one choice of someone’s music to have along, it would have to be MK & crew.
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Ahhhhh, I have the silver, but not the polished aluminum. I do have the regular aluminum, how different is that from the polished? My next third model is going to be Robert Johnson’s plane, but I haven’t decided if I want to do “Double Lucky” or “Penrod and Sam”. If I do the nmf model, I’ll have to choose between foil or paint. Did the silver take a long time to dry, my first plane was a 1/72 tamaya p-51 and it seemed like the silver paint took forever to cure.
I really loved the soundtrack work he did for “The Princess Bride.” MK is a fantastic guitar player. Hmmm, there might be an idea for a model, the pirate ship Revenge.
madda