Before I go any further I would like to point out that everything I write is just my opinion and you can take it or leave it. There are plenty of ways to skin the cat. Some succeed with methods I failed at and vice versa. Discussions on social media can get unnecessarily heated.
On the subject of finishing a model, I've been through a lot of trial and error. The truth be known that a good modeller never stops experimenting. Things that haven't worked for me in the past may work for me in the future so I keep repeating experiments. I find it useful sometimes, instead of starting a new kit, to revisit and refurbish older kits and incorporate new lessons.
I started out with the Humbrol varnishes and I found them to be problematic. You can't really do any further washes and weathering until it's fully dried and cured which could be anywhere up to forty eight hours. That doesn't really suit my timetable. I enjoy blitz building, not least because I don't have the space to prolong a build. Moreover, gloss coats, particularly the enamel ones, never fully dry if not mixed correctly. It's caused me endless headaches after applying wash fluids which then don't come off. .The technique I settled on was to do a gloss coats for the application of decals then a further coats to apply washes, then a finishing coat for the desired finish. In theory that is. In practice, I never found a good gloss coat until someone suggested Pledge all purpose floor polish.
I fell in love with it immediately. It's self-levelling, meaning you can brush it on without leaving brush strokes and it dries within minutes and you can get back to work very rapidly. As a rule I try to leave it about twenty minutes but I'm not a patient individual (which causes me most of my problems).
I now use it as a mainstay and then apply washes over it. Humbrol weathering powders are great for this but the indispensable wash is made by Flory Models, particularly their Dark Dirt wash. I came across Flory washes from one of their instructional videos on Youtube, and I've used it ever since. The one word of warning is that it sometimes takes some serious elbow grease to wipe it all off and sometimes requires a little bit of touch up work with the airbrush. Though that's probably more to do with my overall incompetence.
For this I find microfibre cloths are the best because they don't leave the bits of lint that other fabrics and kitchen roll do. A simple dark wash will do more for an aircraft than a dozen other techniques and sometimes you don't need to do very much more - as per the photo above. One of the skills of modelling is knowing when to stop. Sometimes less really is more. You'll hear me say that a lot.
When that's done it never hurts do do a sealing coat with the floor polish before adding decals. More advanced modellers will apply the wash after decaling for realism, but I invariably end up rubbing the decals off even if I do a sealing coat. I admitted defeat on that one.
Decaling is probably worth a dedicated post but it's all part of the finishing process which is why I talk about it here. Decaling can be a long, slow and infuriating process, particularly with large decals and ones designed to fit the body. This is where it real helps to have refined your painting process to ensure the receiving surface is as smooth as it can be. If you've had "orange peel" issues, you can level this out with extra coats of polish/varnish, but you're still going to have problems with trapped air which leads to decal silvering. I'll do a dedicated post on fixing silvering later on.
There are a number of decal solutions on the market that assist with the process. The industry standard that everyone seems to swear by are the Micro Sol and Micro Set solutions. Personally I've had no success whatsoever with them and find they tend to shrivel and destroy decals too often. Again that's probably my incompetence so you may wish to give it a try anyway. Instead I use Humbrol's Decalfix, though heavily diluted with water. I'm not sure what actual difference it makes and I've noticed that if your surface preparation is done well and the decals are thin enough (some are often quick thick) then no decal solution is required at all.
What I found with decal solutions, particularly before I switched to the Pledge floor polish, is that decal solutions will eat into varnishes, leaving a frosty corroded patch on the paintwork. This is easily corrected with an overspray of whatever varnish you used but with dedicated varnishes, too much can result in a dulling of the finish and an overall white frosting. Perhaps thinning the varnishes helps though you have to be sure to use the right thinner for the product you're using. I think my earlier problems are similar to my earlier issues with paint, attempting to do it all at once and probably at the wrong pressure. It's probably worth researching if varnishes respond to different pressures.
I've found, though, that the floor polish is a bit of a "wonder drug". Most of my finishing problems went away after the switch. But that then leaves the question of the final finishing coats. Here I've found the water based Vallejo satin and matt coats are pretty good. The matt coat is a lovely rich matt that sucks the light out of the room but if you are using it you have to be sure it is your final action because it tends to rub off and may need a repeat coat over time. There are gloss patches on a Sepecat Jaguar I have where I picked it up with my bare hands.
As yet I haven't found a slam dunk solution for a finishing coat, and I tend to find that the floor polish, if applied thinly and sparingly leaves a more satin coat. It only goes high gloss after three coats. The satin coat is actually nicely muted so you can just leave it at that. Matt coats tend to be a magnet for dust and the aircraft are then harder to clean. Leaving them as satin at least gives me the option in future if ever I do find an absolute solution.
With just washes and selective application of weathering powders for streaks (applied with an old fashioned paintbrush) you can make a model that starts to look like the real deal. In conjunction with the more ambitious techniques such as pre-shading, you're then entering a different league of modelling and on your way to producing professional looking builds.
One little indispensable asset in my toolset is the Tamiya panel line fluid. As it happens, I tend not to use it for panel lines. I tend to find it stains where you don't want it to stain and it doesn't really do anything that a wash or weathering powders (in conjunction with pre-shading) doesn't. The fluid, though, comes with its own syphon applicator brush and by using capillary action it's absolutely ideal for whole panel staining, wheels and landing stalks. I've found many abstract uses for it. Lately I have used it for panel lines but applied with a finer paint brush for greater accuracy. Nothing says you have to use the applicator brush. When it does go wrong, cotton buds dipped in white spirit will fix most problems.
Finally, you can have some fun at the end with a water based rust fluid. You can discreetly wash corners of flaps and streaks from hinges for that added bit of realism. It takes time to perfect and it's worth looking at how the masters do it on Youtube.
Ultimately, when it comes to the finishing, there's only one way to do it - and that's your own way that you develop over time. You'll establish your own techniques and refine them, taking inspiration from others. If something is working for you, don't let anyone discourage you. This is an art, not a science - and in the end, unless you're gunning for competition standard, you have only yourself to please. Do whatever's fun. That is the point, after all.
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