Glossy to Flat looking Decals help ?

[SpiceMan]

Greetings to all my fellow Guillow's model builders & friends.

I could use a little help with my current dilemma. So here's the scoop ...

I'm in the process of finishing-up my little Bird Dog ( as a 3-channel RC ), and have covered it with the kit tissue, and spray painted it with Olive Drab Flat Acrylic. Looked pretty nice to this point , but ... adding the "glossy decals" kinda screwed-up the "flat" look of the little gal , when viewed from the certain angle.

So my question is ... can anyone recommend a compatible liquid / paint that I could gently brush over the decals to transform the "glossy" look, and make theme appear more "flat" looking?

Suggestions appreciated.

[Brenda]

Flat coat clear paint. Comes in small spray cans. Do whole ship and problem solved.

[davidchoate]

Had the same problem. Is it a newer kit
,I had wrinkle problems as well. I did a P-40 500series in acrylic OD,and it wasnt too glossy,but i cleared coat it anyway cuz it was for displaying. My BirdDog i wanted to fly and so i removed the defective decals

[Mitch]

I realize you want to fly but there are always compromises. I am surprised you where able to paint it. Did you dope it before that? I am also surprised that the decals stuck to the flat paint. My answer at this point would be another coat of dull cote. In the future, you could make color copies of the decals and apply those instead. I have done that on a few models with satisfactory results.

Good Luck, Mitch

[SpiceMan]

My thanks to all of you for your good suggestions.

Your suggestions got me thinking in the right direction, and after careful consideration, I decided on "decal removal".

My biggest concern was the huge "U. S. Army" decal that I'd placed on the top side of the right wing, as per the drawing. Not only was it very glossy looking, but it landed up having enough wrinkles in it to make it look like prune skin. This certainly detracted from what otherwise turned out to be a fairly nice looking little Bird Dog, so this one ( and only this one ) had to go. The others were left in place, and still look pretty good.

Luckily, it wasn't stuck down very well, and I was able to find a loose corner, and then work a sheet of paper between the decal and the wing skin, and remove it without damaging the skin or the paint.

She's lookin pretty good at this point, so I'd probably best just leave her "as-is", and see how well she flies.

[SpiceMan]

I realize you want to fly but there are always compromises. I am surprised you where able to paint it. Did you dope it before that? I am also surprised that the decals stuck to the flat paint. My answer at this point would be another coat of dull cote. In the future, you could make color copies of the decals and apply those instead. I have done that on a few models with satisfactory results.

Good Luck, Mitch

Thanks Mitch for the info..

The painting of this bird turned out to be somewhat of an experiment for me. I didn't want to go the "dope" route, because I'm not familiar with how to mix it to get that "Olive Drab" look that I was thinking would be appropriate for the Bird Dog. Instead, I opted to use a set-up similar to an Air Brush. I went over to my local Home Depot store, and selected the color from the many "color swatches" that they have, and had them mix up a little pint size "sample" container. Cost was $3.00.
Used a 50% paint, and 50% water mixture to get a good viscosity for spraying. Turns out that it worked quite well.

As for the decals, you're right ... they didn't stick very well ( especially the big U. S. Army one ). I'll probably coat the edges of the small ones with some watered-down Elmer's glue, to keep them in place.

Gotta just LOVE this model building Seeing them fly as "converted to RC" is cool too.

[SpiceMan]

Had the same problem. Is it a newer kit
,I had wrinkle problems as well. I did a P-40 500series in acrylic OD,and it wasnt too glossy,but i cleared coat it anyway cuz it was for displaying. My BirdDog i wanted to fly and so i removed the defective decals

Hi David,

In answer to your question, "Is it a newer kit", I suppose it is. Purchased it probably a year ago. It's all Die Cut. I'm wondering if Guillow's will be converting this one to a "laser cut" kit somewhere down the road. Sure would be a GREAT improvement