Clear Yellow Finish

Clear Yellow Finish, a Hasegawa self-adhesive tinting film

This is a modeling accessory from the series of self-adhesive films of the Japanese maker Hasegawa. The film is transparent, colored yellow throughout and provided with an adhesive layer, so it is not applied with water like a decal but cut out and stuck onto the place required. It is used for tinting the clear parts of a model, typically the covers of headlights, fog lights, tail or turn signal lights and windows, or to suggest tinted glass. The film is non-covering, so the surface underneath shows through, which is the desired effect with this kind of product.

Use

• Cut the shape required with a sharp scalpel on a hard surface, ideally following a paper template traced from the part
• Rid the surface of grease and dust; on an imperfectly cleaned area the film will not hold
• Lay the film down from one edge and press outwards, so that no air is left under it
• Trim the overhang once it is applied at the edge of the part, drawing the blade along the edge
• Apply the film only to a finished, polished and dry surface, not under a subsequent clear coat

Who it is for

The accessory will be appreciated above all by builders of automobile and motorcycle models, where tinted optics and colored glass appear most often, but it has uses on aircraft and modern subjects as well. Working with film is cleaner and quicker than tinting clear parts with paint, and unlike a sprayed coat it can be taken off and applied again if it goes wrong. It suits modelers who have no trouble cutting small shapes accurately.

This is a self-adhesive film, not a covering paint and not a waterslide decal. Store flat, so that the sheet does not go wavy.