Decals

[slusher]

l can never remember what is the differance between white and clear decals.?? which ones are better for dark models?? thanks...

[Jdurg]

Clear decals are decals that are printed on a clear film so that whatever color you've painted on the part will show through the non-printed part of the decal. E.G. if you have a car painted metallic dark blue and have a decal with the capital letter "D" on it, the interior part of the letter "D" will show the dark blue metallic paint underneath.

White decals are decals printed out on white backing material. In the example given above, if your decal was on white decal paper, the center of the capital letter "D" would be white in color and not let the dark blue metallic paint show through.

As for coverage, the ink/material used on decals is not very opaque. That is, the color of the part that the decal is applied to will tend to affect the hue of the decal itself. If you put a white colored decal over a part painted gloss black, the white printing/material will end up becoming a not-so-white color as the black paint will show through the decal a tiny bit. A way to avoid this is to place another decal with the exact same printing on top of the first one. This can be VERY difficult, if not impossible, to do.

For which type of decal is the best, it depends on what type of decal it is and what the color of the part the decal is being applied to is. Dark printing on the decal will show up just fine over a dark paint finish as the color bleed from the part color won't really impact the decal. For white decals, or white printing on the decals, the bleed through will be fairly noticeable. This is why I only use decals when absolutely necessary, and am happier if I just use bare metal foil (BMF) to mask off areas I don't want painted for things such as stripes on cars. (I paint the first coat of paint the stripe color that I am looking to use, then I mask off the striping that I want with BMF, apply the final body color coat, then remove the BMF that was being used as a mask. The BMF is very thin and prevents any major differences where the lines meet, and the BMF also adheres well to the surface and prevents bleed through.