So, should I risk clear coating? (the perennial question)

[caheaton]

Well, I'm finishing up my scratch build (started out as a Rising Star), but now modified. Because I wanted to minimize reflections (it's a camera carrier), I painted the entire rocket flat black. I then added a few homemade "decals" to dress it up a bit. I made the decals with an inkjet on plain paper and my (Canon) ink jet printer. I then glued these down using Elmer's glue stick. They look pretty good and are stuck down pretty tight, but I would like to give the rocket a coat of matte clear to keep them from peeling with time. Here's the dilemma. The flat paint I used is generic "Home Depot's store brand" flat black paint. It's rather slow drying...the can says 48 hours but after 4 days I can still faintly smell the paint and the fin tips want to stick ever so slightly to the vinyl table cloth (not enough to mar the finish or leave any paint behind). With the paint being so slow drying, I'm afraid that my clear (Krylon new formula, but says recoat any time so maybe it's just old formula in new style can?) will react with the paint. I'm also wondering if the clear might react with the inks used in my plain paper decal. Canon uses water based inks that will run to a certain extent if they get wet. So...should I chance it? Anybody have any experience with this? I'm planning on experimenting on a paper towel tube first, but thought I'd check to see if anybody else has tried this first.
It really does look pretty good with the labels....they do a lot for dressing up the drabness of the flat black.
Craig

 

[jj94]

Print out some test decals, apply them over a surface you painted with the same paint you painted your rocket, and then clear coat it. Then you'll know what would happen if you clear your rocket.

 

[caheaton]

Well, I made some test decals, painted a paper towel tube, waited a couple days, applied the test decals, waited a day and then applied the clear coat. At first I had a feeling it wouldn't work, as the clear coat had a milky hue. After drying it was clear again, so the milky hue was likely just condensation due to the humidity that day. However, I noticed that it did a poor job of sealing the edges of the paper. I would have to apply it much to thick to accomplish that goal, so I decided to skip the clear coating on the actual model. Instead, I decided to apply a bit of cellophane tape (frosted...the kind that will disappear after rubbing with a finger nail) to the leading edge of my paper decal. This is to help hold it down lest wind shear try to graduall lift the decal. It seems to work. I flew the model three times yesterday and the decals so no signs of wear. I'm already planning to use this technique on "Low Albedo II"...same design but with a 29mm mount.
Craig