Hey all,
Just finishing up Eagle cal decals on a mitchell from Accurate miniatures and wanted to tell you about using future as a setting solution for your decaling.
After reading an article by Gordon Kwan of Sprue Brothers, I tried this technique and was rewarded with great results.
Thanks Gordon.
What you need to do is to take your future straight from the bottle (not thinned)…brush it lightly into the area that you’re going to decal and then apply your decal. Remove excess future or apply more if needed to position your decal then let dry.
Future has a great way of self leveling and in the end it pulls the decal to the model to reveal all of your panel lines and details underneath for that painted on look.
You can even use this technique on a flat painted surface so you can skip the pre-glossing step…Later just use a thin spray of future over the top of the whole model to get an even finish and finally a flat coat if you’d like a flat finish…future is glossy.
I compared this to micro set and sol technique and found that these solvents sometimes cloud the finish a bit and make the decal look as if it’s silvering…also you don’t quite get to see the details from underneath the way you do with future…as a setting solution.
A couple of things to keep in mind…make sure you apply the decals just after you brush the future…so it is very wet and slick…once it begins to dry it gets sticky…also use just enough to get your decal in place and not too much…if you have a drip you can use a bit of windex to strip it…and to clean out your airbrush.
Also keep in mind that you should allow it to dry adequately…
Future can also be used as an adhesive if your decals are short on glue…this way you don’t get that dreaded silvering…
take care and hope this helps…I was so impressed with the results that I wanted to share them.
Doug