2h
Posts: 147
Registered: 19-11-2003
Location: Frederikssund, Denmark
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Mood: Just looking for a fat lady...
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 posted on 15-12-2003 at 08:42
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Clear coat and Slixx decals
Hi again guys,
Thanks for the tips.
I have now finished painting and decaling the body - goofed a bit on the roof color - it is a bit more orange than it should have been - oh well.
It is the first time i use Slixx, but those decals are very nice to work with, although I had to use a couple of gallons of MicroSol to get some of
them to conform to the body. 
I have painted with Testors acrylic enamel (oilbased) and I want to give it a good layer of clear coat. I am planning to use Plasticote spray.
I don't want to spray the entire car, just to see all the decals boiling up.
Any suggestions on the Slixx decals and Plasticote.
Best regards
Henrik
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tamar
Posts: 804
Registered: 5-1-1989
Location: Gouda
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Mood: A new beginning
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posted on 25-12-2003 at 17:53
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Clear coat and large decals
Hello Henrik
Although my reply will be too late for the X-mass races....:P
you and other readers might be able to use these tips for future projects.
Applying "large" decals
Most important tip...take your time! An average car will take about 4-6 hours to decal.
Most obvious tip is: see if you can make the decal smaller. Try to cut away as much of the transparant decal film as possible. If possible use an
x-acto knife to cut one big decal into seprate parts (like those big Nascar numbers)
Specially for large decals on curved surfaces it is best to work in several cycles.
- Don't leave the decal in the water for too long, otherwise the glue on the decal's back side will dissolve in the water as well . Better
is to just wet the decal and then set asside on a piece of Kitchen/toilet paper.
- Clean the surface on which the decal is to be apllied. You can use water with a tiny drop of detergent, Microset, or as I often do use 30%
Alcohol
- Slide the decal of the backpaper and place on the model.
- Take a soft brush or cottonstick and carefully brush over the decal surface form the centre outwards. This will remove excess water and air from
under the decal.
- Allow to dry for 20-30 minutes, then apply the decal softner as in step 4. Dont try to shape the decal in one go, a large decal can take up to six
cycles to get a good result. While you are waiting for it to dry, you can start with the other decals on the model. In general I always work from the
top down.
Decal Softners
There are several specialised decal softners on the market, but only those from Microscale really work well!! Sometimes even too well:o
Specially if you want to shape large decals you have to be very carefull not to tear holes in the decal. Best is to dillute Microsol with 20% water or
Microset.
A cheap and very good alternative is plain Medicinal Alchohol. The agressiveness depends on its purity (30% - 70%) but you can easilly dillute the
alcohol with water. For large decals if always use Alcohol.
Just repeat steps 4 & 5 as describeb above.
The most aggressive decalsoftner is Aceton (as in nailpolish remover), actually it would be best described as decal melter.
But to cover complex curved parts like dashboards and seats with carbon/kevlar decals Aceton will always do the trick.
Extreme care should be taken as the Aceton will also attack the underlaying paint. Best is to apply the decals first and then paint the rest of the
details.
Paint & Clearcoat
Most people will use spray cans to paint their slotbodies.
Some of these paints do not like the gallons of excess decal softner, so I always give my model a very thin layer of clear coat before applying the
decals. It also prevents the paint from bleeding through the decals (specially on Red Tamiya paint) once you apply the finishing clear coat.
Acrylic laquers are the safest clear coats over decals as the solvent is not as aggressive. Some can even be applied over clear windows (Mr Hobby
Acrylic clear coat)
Unfortunately most acrylics are not oil/petrol resistant. Which is a big problem for a slotcar. 
Cellulose (thinner) based Clear coats can attack the decals, specially large ones that still have tiny bubbles of air underneath. A simple trick is to
first apply a very thin layer. Give the model a quick blast from 40 cm distance, just enough to cover the whole body.
If done well the thin layer will dry immidiatly and won't attack the decals, only seal them sufficiently for the following finishing layers.
Allow for minimal 1-2 hrs between each coat.
Good luck on your future projects
p.s: On this Ford I used Tamiya Black with a second coat of Tamiya Midnight Blue (makes for a more natural black) Slixx decals were applied with
alcohol as softner. Clear coat is Mr Hobby Acrylic Gloss applied in 3 layers of which the last one was applied with the windows already in place.
(photo courtesey of Stephan Martin)
tamar has attached this image:
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2h
Posts: 147
Registered: 19-11-2003
Location: Frederikssund, Denmark
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just looking for a fat lady...
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posted on 12-1-2004 at 17:37
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Hi Tamar,
Thanks for your very good reply - I'll save it for reference.
You were right, just a tad late for the X-Mas race :-) but hey...
As you can see, I can now pester you guys on the LMS forum 
Best regards
Henrik
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tamar
Posts: 804
Registered: 5-1-1989
Location: Gouda
Member Is Offline
Mood: A new beginning
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posted on 13-1-2004 at 02:53
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Velkommen til LMS forumet
Hej Henrik, mr Scalerace.dk Redaktør
Just wait til I get my Scandinavian keyboard.
Jeg vill pester dig od http://www.scalerace.dk 
Med venlig hilsen
Just T
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2h
Posts: 147
Registered: 19-11-2003
Location: Frederikssund, Denmark
Member Is Offline
Mood: Just looking for a fat lady...
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posted on 13-1-2004 at 10:26
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Dankjewel meneer,
I have asked the scalerace.dk admin about opening an English part on the forum (just so you don't have to learn Danish, which is just about as
bad as Dutch).
I am running  with my Plafit Excel chassis, and am beginning to figure out
how to set it up - not that hard once you get the hang of it.
Will it make a difference to use a frontaxle holder with ballbearings when I am using SSH freewheeling axles?
Best regards
Henrik
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tamar
Posts: 804
Registered: 5-1-1989
Location: Gouda
Member Is Offline
Mood: A new beginning
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 posted on 13-1-2004 at 16:13
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Free wheeling
Hey henrik
Yes it will...
Not so much in pure speed, but....
With ball bearings the main rotation is done by the bearings, not the axle. The wheels will rotate on the axle only to compensate for the difference
in turn radius.
Without the ball bearings the axle always rotates in the holder and as this gives more resistance the wheels will also rotate more on the axle.
All in all both will wear down much faster..which causes play. Specially with the soft aluminium NSR uses for its nascar fronts.
p.s. I will split this threat after a few days as it is a new topic (and possible of interest to other members)
Ciao
Just T
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