Decal question

[Mooneyzs]

Hello Guys,

I have had a question that has been on my mind regarding decaling. I wanted to find out if any of you have ever color sanded your bodies with 2000 grit paper before laying your decals down? if so did you see the sand scratches in the decals. I have been debating about color sanding my clear before laying down some decals. Never have done it this way before, I have always laid decals over the clear after its been sprayed then lay more clear over the decals once I am done to seal them in. the reason I have been thinking of color sanding is becasue I have had a few pieces of dust in the clear that I would like to get out before I lay the decals down, just concerned that maybe I would see the sand scratches in the clear if I did so but since its 2000 grit paper I am thinking I should be ok with it. What are your guys's thought?? Thanks in advance.

[Darren B]

Hello Guys,

I have had a question that has been on my mind regarding decaling. I wanted to find out if any of you have ever color sanded your bodies with 2000 grit paper before laying your decals down? if so did you see the sand scratches in the decals. I have been debating about color sanding my clear before laying down some decals. Never have done it this way before, I have always laid decals over the clear after its been sprayed then lay more clear over the decals once I am done to seal them in. the reason I have been thinking of color sanding is becasue I have had a few pieces of dust in the clear that I would like to get out before I lay the decals down, just concerned that maybe I would see the sand scratches in the clear if I did so but since its 2000 grit paper I am thinking I should be ok with it. What are your guys's thought?? Thanks in advance.

I dont do much decal work, but my thought would be that after you sand the few pieces of dust out of the clear to reclear were you sanded, and if there were no more dust then decal. Or buff out where you would sand with 2000 grit paper with a buffing set of paper up to 12000 grit to make it really smooth. Its just a thought as I have never done it before.....

[Foxer]

If you have scratches that would show through a decal, why would you stop sanding before laying the decal down? The whole purpose of sanding/polishing is to smooth the surface ... exactly the type of surface decals LOVE! Just polish it out as normal and lay that decal down!

[Mooneyzs]

Thanks Guys,

Yeah my thought was that the decal would show the scratches. The clear laid down very smooth and beautiful other than the couple spots that had the dust. I have always laid decals over the clear with out sanding or polishing then I a clear it one last time to seal the decals in. What I will do is double check the placement of the decals and if there isn't dust in those locations, I will put my decals down and color sand just the spots that have the dust, so the dust is out before clearing. I was really skeptical about laying the decals over a finely smooth sanded surface. Thanks again everyone, helped me with what the better decision is to do.