I am going to be starting a Revell Fokker Dr.1 in 1/72 scale soon. I have allready decided that I will be doing the “Olive Brown” streaky finish that all Dr.1’s came from the factory with. I will prob. be using acrylics. Before I begin to put decals on, I have been reading where some talk about putting a gloss clear coat on. Is this something I need to do? I want my overall finish to be very flat as I don’t think a battle weary Dr.1 is going to be shiny with all the castor and mud stains they had. Once decals are on, can I spray a flat clear on over?
Decals are best applied to a gloss coat, this helps eliminate silvering. And yes, once on, they can be sealed with a flat coat. If its only a couple of small decals, you can just gloss that spot. But if there’s lots, it might be best to do the whole thing. I use a gloss paint which deals with that problem and saves me adding an extra coat.
One way I had it explained years ago was to think of gloss as a nice piece of flat ground. The decals will adhere to all of it. But Flat is like a series of hills. The decal sits on the peaks with gaps in between. The light reflects back off these low points which creates silvering.
