Hi,
I've removed the lettering from a black-painted steam engine using MicroSol and a pencil eraser. The process works but I'm left with a noticable difference in sheen between where the lettering was and the surrounding paint.
I intend to spray a gloss coat before applying my decals, but will the sheen still be apparent? Maybe spray with a dull coat first, then the gloss coat? Is it even an issue? Will the duller sheen even be noticable after gloss coating, decaling and dull coating?
Anyone have experience with this?
Thanks,
Jeff
Go ahead and gloss coat.
Put your new decal in place, let dry
Shoot some Gloss coat over the decal, let dry.
If you want the glossy look, you don't need to do anything else.
I prefer my steam locomotives not be shiny, so I apply dull coat last.
Either way , your paint should match overall.
Rust...... It's a good thing !
Even if I'm leaving the engine "basic black", I like to weather the lettering / numbers to tone down the bright white or yellow. I like to use powdered charcoal, then cover the whole engine with flat finish. Powdered charcoal doesn't fade when you spray the flat finish like chalks / powders do. Otherwise, a flat finish followed by black chalk or weathering powder around the area you decalled should work.
The reason you have a 'sheen difference' is because you burnished the surface of the paint with the pencil eraser. That changes the surface texture, but probably not the 'color', so applying a coat of any of the 'clear' finishes to the area should fix the appearance. (At least in theory, you could burnish up the 'rest' of the paint in the area with the eraser so everything matches a little better...)
As noted in other posts here, if you're going to apply decals, you want a layer of gloss over a smooth surface. You don't want little trapped-air bubbles or films under the decal membrane after the adhesive has 'set', and while to an extent a product like Solvaset can make decals conform to irregular surfaces better, they may not help with matte-surface issues.
The coat of gloss clear over the decals is partly for protection, and partly to produce a 'fillet' at the edges of the decal so they are less visible.
You then apply whatever dull finish coat you see fit, to get the consistent surface finish you want.
The next discussion you may want to start looking into involves weathering. Some methods involve chalks, pastels, or fine powders that make models difficult to handle if left 'unprotected'... but that can suffer, sometimes messily, if the wrong "protection" is sprayed over them.