Satin varnish over decals ?

[hoakin1981]

A warm hi to all. I need some help from all experienced folks out there.

I just airbrushed two coats of Gloss varnish on my model to seal in all the colors so far and to prepare the surface for decals using Micro set/sol.

The next parts planned are to seal in the decals using Satin varnish to protect them and to prepare the surface for weathering using various washes and lastly, to seal in everything in the end using Matt varnish.

In all YT videos I have seen on how to apply decals using Micro set/sol though, the last step is to seal them in using Matt varnish in order also to achieve the "painted on look".

So inevitably the question arises. Can I proceed as planned and seal in the decals using Satin varnish and then at the end spray Matt varnish on top? will I in this way also achieve the painted on look for the decals?

Reason I want to use Satin instead of Matt over the decals is because applying washes works better on the Satin surface. Otherwise I could spray initially a coat of Matt to seal in the decals and then on top of that a coat of Satin to apply the weathering. But isn't this an overkill?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[urumomo]

Yes , you can switch sheens whenever you want .
You don't even need all these coats of clearcoat until the end to modify sheen , but this is an unkillable religion in this hobby so I've given up explaining .

 

[hoakin1981]

Thanks for the reply. Fair enough and clear.

The only thing basically that I want to know is if the "painted on look" can be achieved only by painting over decals with Matt or Satin will do as well.

 

[urumomo]

It doesn't matter .
The decals can look " painted on " under a gloss clear coat .
The higher concentration of flattening agent ( silica ) in a matte coat scatters the light and might make visible decal borders less or more apparent depending on the viewing angle .
Irregularities always show more under gloss conditions since the light isn't diffused .

If you feel you need to use clear coats you should stick to gloss as much as possible until the final matte coat or you can end up with cloudy / chalky finish due to the flattening agent .

 

[the Baron]

If you really want the painted-on look, the best way is to paint them on!
I do not go to the effort to paint markings on, myself, but I appreciate the argument for doing it. One of the guys in our local club, Jeremy Moore, prefers to paint the markings on his airplanes and armor using masks he makes. And the results are outstanding. His builds are featured in Tamiya's magazine and Airfix', so you can search on his name and find photos of his work.