Airfix Spitfire MkIa - Part VII

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but I have made some progress on the model. Camouflage pattern (Humbrol 30 acrylic paint) has now been airbrushed on the upper surfaces of the plane and I can say that all the hard work spent on masking did pay off. Still, I do feel that there has to be a better way to do this task.

Once the camouflage was in place, I've sealed the paint job with Vallejo's gloss acrylic varnish (straight from a can). There is a dual purpose for this step - first and foremost it protects the paint job and I have already seen evidence of the fact that Humbrol acrylics are rather fragile.

Second, glossy surface is preferable when applying the decals. Not only do they adhere much better, but it's also the best way to avoid so called 'silvering'. To explain silvering one needs to understand what makes a surface blank or matte. Basically, a blank surface is smooth -  the more smoothness, the greater the shine. Flat finish means that the surface is porous; not necessarily porous to the touch, but it will be rough and uneven if you take a look at it under a microscope. Silvering occurs when a decal is applied on such porous surface. What happens then is that the light passes through the transparent film on which the decal is printed and bounces back from the tiny spaces in paint surface which are now trapped beneath that decal. As a result, the light bounces back "unevenly". This creates an unattractive optical phenomenon called 'silvering - decal film becomes clearly visible as a slight silvery tint of the surface, thus spoiling the illusion of decals being painted directly on the surface of the model. Best way to avoid that problem is to paint the model, or at least the areas where decals are to be applied, with gloss varnish of some sort.

Green camouflage and two thin coats of Vallejo gloss varnish has been applied.
Next, the decals.