Decals on clear parts (headlight covers)

[Malcolm]

I'm coming to the end of the Tamiya TS050. If you know the car, you understand that it has very prominent front headlights with bulbous clear covers.

Anyway, I've got a set of Studio 27 cf decals that include thin (about 1mm wide) decals to go around the headlight covers at the point where they attach to the body.

Following advice given (mainly here) I always clear coat both before and after decaling. But obviously this won't be possible on the headlight covers because any clear is going to increase the opacity and they really do need to be crystal clear in order to look as realistic as possible.

I am thinking that I might forego the clear coats, but then again I know a number of people here speak well of 'Future'. I'm not sure if we can get Future in the UK. But would it be the answer in any case? Does anyone have suggestions?

Thank you for any ideas.

Best wishes
Malcolm

[stubeck]

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheComplet ... %20More%20 has some info on what Future is called now. Its a few years old but explains some of the naming.

[Malcolm]

Thank you stubeck.

By the way, if I'd been made to give you $1 for every time I've referred to your TS050 WIP over the last couple of months, you'd probably be able to afford a real one!

Cheers
Malcolm

[stubeck]

That makes me more happy than you can imagine Thank you so much for saying that.

With the clear coat, I'd definitely recommend testing on a spare part first. I haven't done it myself, and have had some weird luck with the Future I do have, and haven't tried it with a plastic window yet, but likely will soon as I have some saloon cars to finish the next few days.

[Malcolm]

It's good to bring happiness into someone's life ... the TS050 is such a complex shape, that it's hard to work out what you will/won't see when it's complete and therefore which parts are a waste of time trying to correct when you then discover they are hidden. I'm trying to build in a way that differs from Tamiya's instructions in the hope of making the painting process easier. But there is a limit as to how far you can divert from the Tamiya instructions before you make a corresponding part more difficult to complete.

Anyway, back to the point. I found this listed:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pledge-11182-R ... ooghydr-21

Can anyone confirm that's what I need (there is much confusion over the constant change of Future's naming).

Thank you
Malcolm

[gp-models]

Why not going for a paint job? Some masking and spraying semi gloss black. Another solution (bit fiddly) would be a black marker with a bigger tip, using the edge as gauge and the pencil in an angle that you can achive a small outline around.
Not to confuse you more, but paint would not need to be coated

[stubeck]

I don't believe thats the right one. This is the one in the US, https://www.amazon.com/Pledge-Floor-Glo ... ag=mh0b-20 I believe. Annoyingly its only available in massive quantities here.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pledge-Multi-S ... 313&sr=8-1 might be what you're looking for.


For the kit, I'd recommend putting the parts that the number board goes on together and leave the interior unpainted. Put the flip ups on the side of the chassis on prior to painting, and only paint a minimum of the area on the front hood and rear hood. I plan to build the 2019 version and I'll also put the chasiss together first before painting and not wait to do it before painting. I'd also put the areas around the front wheels and the hood together and paint the red instead of using decals. You'll want to confirm, but when I built it, I built exactly per Tamiya's instructions and ran into a lot of issues with overspray going on the outside as I painted the interior, and most of the parts can't be seen at all after so it was a waste.

[Orso]

A long thread about Future: https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hypersc ... 02532.html
Only the first or perhaps the second page has information. The rest is a debate about if it should be used or not.

[phicks]

I have had good luck just applying decal directly onto clear plastic followed by coat of wax ( after ample time
for decal to dry)