I have never done a car before. I’m an WWII aviation guy so obviously a mirror finish isn’t something i get much practice with. I’d like to say thanks for the awesome link i found to italian horses. That was a great insite into polishing and waxing scale models. My only question is this. I am doing an indycar that will have a considerable amount of decals. Just wondering on this process. Do i paint my finish coat, wax, decal, clearcoat, wax again. or just go from finish coat, to decal, then clear coat and wax the final clear coat. Also what is a good clearcoat to use that won’t yellow and will accept the waxing.
So many modelers, so many methods… Which Indycar kit are you doing, btw? I am busy with Sam Hornish’s '02 Panther ride in 43rd.
On to your questions. Now first off, I don’t stick to this myself allways - and test everything!
What I tend to do is to clearcoat before decalling. Once properly dried, maybe smooth it out a little, I dont wax at this stage. Then decal. Then wait. Then wait some more. You want the decals and the softener to be properly dried out. Which is why I tend not to follow the instructions all that much and build the body in parrallel to the rest. Then wash the thing with clean water to get rid of excess glue and solvents. Let it dry properly. Then I clearcoat again (at times). But please, if you do clearcoat over decals, first test and do not apply a heavy first coat. Esp if using TS13. This is then the final layer which you can wax, otherwise waxing over decals have not thusfar caused me issues.
Good luck and enjoy! And welcome to this side of the modelling world!
Alright thanks for the advice. It is actually not a kit. It is a diecast strip down and rebuild. I am an avid sim-racer and finally figured it is about time I had a duplicate of my car to put on my desk.
Yeah decals should be your last layer, at least for representing decals on the real car. Sometimes decals are used to represent part of the car tht is painted, which presents a problem. All the sponsorship decals and such on racecars are not painted on, so a clearcoat over them would be grossly inaccurate. Hopefully understanding the why will help to guide you.
Yes, a clearcoat over racing decals will be inaccurate, however to protect your build for years to come (even todays excellent decals WILL yellow over time, peel due to humidity or heat, or be damaged by handling) I highly recommend you spray on a couple coats of Krylon Crystal Clear acrylic. Acrylics go on over ANY kind of paint, and are safe over decals. To me the inaccuracy has to be measured against durability. Your call.
You can also polish and wax over the acrylic clear as well.
Awesome, I usually do a Krylon accrylic clear coat as the last step over my models and was hoping it would be safe to polish over it. Thats great to hear.