BMF under or over clear coat?

[Sidney Schwartz]

I'm getting back into the hobby after being away for a while. This question has probably been answered before, but when I searched the forum for "bmf" I got around 400 pages of results, far too many to sift through. What are the advantages and disadvantages of putting on your bmf before the clear coat or after the clear coat. Thanks much for the insights.

 

[Plowboy]

I always apply BMF after the clear coat. An advantage of that is that I can polish it to give it a better shine.

[Sidney Schwartz]

Can't you polish it before applying the clear coat? Does the clear coat take away the shine on the bmf?

[StevenGuthmiller]

I’ve done it both ways.

Personally, I have had better results applying “most” of the foil after clear.

 

 

Steve

[Dpate]

Do it after the clear, and than polish it up with a good quality cotton swab i.e tamiya or use a good quality cotton cloth.

[Fat Brian]

I've done it both ways. The biggest issue I've found with foil under clear is the potential for the clear to yellow over time and make your foil look weird.

[Sidney Schwartz]

Yellowing would be something to avoid. Thanks all for the comments.

[Spottedlaurel]

I've always done it afterwards. Never tried it the other way around, it just seemed to me that the slightly different texture and sheen of BMF compared to the clearcoat on the surrounding paintwork would better replicate the 1:1 appearance of chrome and brightwork.

[espo]

I think it's sort of like the old "Boxers or Briefs" question. I'm in the over clear camp myself, but you will see a lot of great builds done with the foil under the clear. Try it a couple of different ways and see what works best for your own style of build. Depending on what you're building you may find yourself doing one build in one fashion and the next one the other way. Sort of like shinny or flat body color. 

[doorsovdoon]

I've tried both ways and both look good to me, though I do prefer to do it after clear. Foil before paint on the scripts though is defo the way to go, though I'm still "in training" on that! 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Just as a comparison, this '58 Buick was clear coated after foil.

 

 

The '59 Dodge was clear coated first, and then foiled after.

 

 

 

Just my opinion, but I feel like the foil retains more of it's reflectivity if it's exposed, and not covered with clear.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited December 31, 2022 by StevenGuthmiller

[Sidney Schwartz]

Wow, those are beautiful! Way beyond my capabilities, but inspiring.

[StevenGuthmiller]

4 minutes ago, Sidney Schwartz said:

Wow, those are beautiful! Way beyond my capabilities, but inspiring.

Both are just curbside builds with no engines. and slab chassis.

Pretty much box stock in both instances, with a few added enhancements like better tires, wheels, mirrors, etc.

 

 

Steve

[Bainford]

11 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

I've always done it afterwards. Never tried it the other way around, it just seemed to me that the slightly different texture and sheen of BMF compared to the clearcoat on the surrounding paintwork would better replicate the 1:1 appearance of chrome and brightwork.

Ditto

[Plowboy]

I tried clear over foil on a couple of models. My BIG mistake was using Testors clear enamel. In just a bit of time, it yellowed. But, even when it was fresh, the clear knocked down the shine. One model I stripped. The other I didn’t care enough about to do over.

[AMT68]

41 minutes ago, Plowboy said:

I tried clear over foil on a couple of models. My BIG mistake was using Testors clear enamel. In just a bit of time, it yellowed. But, even when it was fresh, the clear knocked down the shine. One model I stripped. The other I didn’t care enough about to do over.

That's good information. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, Plowboy said:

I tried clear over foil on a couple of models. My BIG mistake was using Testors clear enamel. In just a bit of time, it yellowed. But, even when it was fresh, the clear knocked down the shine. One model I stripped. The other I didn’t care enough about to do over.

That’s why it works so great for aging transparent steering wheels. ?

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Bills72sj]

I must be doing it wrong all this time. I future clear after foil. Mostly for the purpose of making stay down. Never had any yellowing issues nor any foil coming loose.

[Sidney Schwartz]

Sounds like you're doing it right. Could be that Future doesn't yellow. Where do you buy the Future? I looked online and it was really expensive, like maybe they don't make it any more and it's hard to get.

[Hi-Po]

I have always used Future over the BMF and have never had any issues with yellowing or foil coming loose later on.  This also insures that when handling the model that I do not wear off the BMF along the drip rails or other areas that get a lot of handling.

[Bainford]

1 hour ago, Sidney Schwartz said:

Where do you buy the Future? I looked online and it was really expensive, like maybe they don't make it any more and it's hard to get.

They don't make it anymore and it's hard to get.

[Perspect Scale Modelworks]

I've been going with the BMF under paint and clear recently. The upside for me is that I get a crisper line when the BMF is applied to the bare plastic especially if I scribe first. I have trouble getting smooth cuts when the BMF is over clear. I think it makes trim pieces appear thicker when the BMF is over several coats of paint and clear.

The down side is the clear does knock down the brightness of the chrome. I've been using Tamiya TS-13 mostly.

[Sidney Schwartz]

1 hour ago, Perspective Customs said:

I've been going with the BMF under paint and clear recently. The upside for me is that I get a crisper line when the BMF is applied to the bare plastic especially if I scribe first. I have trouble getting smooth cuts when the BMF is over clear. I think it makes trim pieces appear thicker when the BMF is over several coats of paint and clear.

The down side is the clear does knock down the brightness of the chrome. I've been using Tamiya TS-13 mostly.

How do you get the paint off the bmf?

[Sidney Schwartz]

10 hours ago, Bainford said:

They don't make it anymore and it's hard to get.

Maybe I should get into the Pledge black market and make a sack of money. ?

[Perspect Scale Modelworks]

18 hours ago, Sidney Schwartz said:

How do you get the paint off the bmf?

I use lacquer thinner, thin swabs, masking tape and a lot of patience. It can be tedious removing the primer then the paint but I like the results. I'm trying to get the nerve up to remove the clear coat as well.

Here's my current project in Tamiya gray primer: