Putting a wash on decals

[Ddms]

I'm building an old Mercedes Benz 300 SLR kit, and they've included decals for the plaid seat upholstery. Yes, plaid. The original cars had blue and grey plaid, but for some reason the decals are blue and bright white. I want to tone down the white in the pattern, but don't know what will do the job without either ruining the decals or giving them a gloss finish.

Any ideas?

[Draggon]

How about a few light coats of Tamiya "smoke"

[Ddms]

Good ideas, Futura Bat. I thought about copying the decals, but I don't have any white decal paper right now, and don't want to part with the $$$ if I can help it. I can get around on Photoshop pretty well, so I could use it to tint the white areas grey. Of course, I'm gonna need white decal paper anyway - I always seem to have a use for the stuff.

Here's another possibility: After posting my question, I found some Floquil "Flat Finish" in my paint box. It's white but it dries flat clear, and smells like enamel. I could tint some with black acrylic ink and apply it to the decals after I put them on the seats. Before doing that, I'll scan the decals so I can make my own if I mess up the kit ones.

Speaking of washes, I've been tinting Future with black acrylic ink and applying it as a wash on kit chrome. It dries to a high gloss, of course. It gets rid of the toy look everybody hates about kit chrome, and darkens the nooks and crannies, giving more depth to the chrome.

Thanks for the Tamiya Smoke idea, Draggon. I think it would work, but then I I'd be back to the problem of finding a dull coat to kill the gloss.

[Draggon]

Testors dullcoat should work just fine on top of the tamiya paint.