Thinning MicroScale's liquid decal film?

[John Howling Mouse]

Great stuff.  While I've always used a soft bristle brush, I've often read articles where the builder "airbrushes several thin coats" over home-printed decals but they never mention what they thin the product with.  It seems far too viscous out of the bottle to airbrush as is.

I wouldn't imagine you simply use water, since it is a waterslide decal that you're spraying, but I've been wrong before.... 

I also find that soap and water don't seem to do a very good job at cleaning the stuff out of the bristle paintbrushes afterwards, either.  Anyone know what to safely clean this stuff up with?

>>>EDIT: Found out from FSM that you thin/clean the stuff with alcohol or (yikes) lacquer thinner:  http://cs.finescale.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=microscale%20decal%20film&f=MjA=&u=

[viper29_ca]

Wondering if you could spray on future as opposed to the Micoscale stuff, if it would do the same thing...anyone have any luck with future?

[John Howling Mouse]

I've had so-so luck with Krylon's "Crystal Clear" spray finish used in the same manner you've described with Future.  Only thing is, you end up with a micro-thin coating which is great on the one hand as no one wants a noticeably thick decal but, on the other hand, the coating is not really thick enough to protect the home-printed decal.  In the end, to be safe, I use the Crystal Clear as a sealant for the laserprinted inks, then coat with Microscale's decal film to reduce the amount of tearing for the homemade decals, anyhow.

[Mike Wren]

don't bother trying with Future/Klear, it sort of melts & distorts the decal paper/ink!

[NARSES2]

Thats strange Mike. I hand painted some Hannants clear "decal" film for canopy frames and coated that in Klear/Future and it was fine.

[Mike Wren]

hmmm... strange... I use Experts Choice decal film so maybe that's the difference...?

[NARSES2]

Could be - still trying to figure why the use of water based acrylic paint didn't effect the "decal" paper ?

One thing with the Hannants stuff is it's not Inkjet friendly

[Ed S]

When I've made custom decals in the past with a laser, I used Testors Gloss Coat thinned with lacquer thinner and lightly sprayed a coat over the printed decals.  It worked fine.  Just don't be heavy handed when spraying.   I haven't tried this on any ink jet printed decals.  The lacquer based clear apparently doesn't attack the water based inks and glues.  I think that by keeping the coat very thin, it actually evaporates before it attackes the underlayers.

Ed