I just painted my 1/48 Tamiya P-51D with a metallic finish (Tamiya Acrylics - a mixture of X11 Chrome Silver and XF16 Flat Aluminum). I normally spray my airplanes with a coat of future to make the surface nice and glossy for the decals. Should I do the same thing with this metallic finish? Will the future make it look funky? Can I put decals directly on the P-51? Any input would be most appreciated.
When I first got back into this hobby the 3rd and 4th planes I built were a pair of RM P-51Ds Miss Marilyn II and Big Beautifull Doll. I ABed them with Tamiya metallics and because I had yet to join this website just put the decals right over the paint, no Future or setting solutions. I didnt seal them either. Maybe I was lucky who knows but they didnt silver in the least. I havent tried Future over Tamiya metallics as of yet sorry if cant be of more help.
The ones that have used those particular paints will be ale to answer better. But if the surface is glossy then o need, I don’t think, to Future. Being silver, any silvering should be at a minimum but it can still happen.
I look at the paint being merely a color layer, not what kind of surface it has, and I usually go through the whole process before I decal. I don’t use much in the way of glossy paint and so far the only thing I have not needed any gloss coat on is Alclad. But I do give the whole thing a couple of coats of clear after decaling to help hide the carrier film.
Any seal coat over a metallic paint will change the look of it. It won’t neccesarily ruin it but it will be different, and to my eyes less metallic looking. Just a fact of life.
I once sprayed (A/B) a 48th scale B-29 with MM enamel chrome and it looked great then I used testors to sealcoat it the superscale aftermarket decals (which also looked great)…sorry I did it! Lesson learned.
Thanks guys. I’m putting the decals straight onto the silver paint. If all looks good I’ll leave it as it is. [:)]