I'm trying to clean up a frame that had some decals on it that were scratched up. I inspected the edges of the decals to see if they were above the clear coat so that, if needed, they could be removed. Everything looked safe so I tested it on a small decal on the seat tube...

Turns out I was wrong.

The topcoat was thinly applied so rather than it being flush with the top of the decal it sat about half the thickness-of-the-decal high off the surface of the paint.

Now I'm left with a decal shaped depression in the topcoat with bare paint underneath. Also, the clear coat, as a whole, seems to have discolored when compared to the bare paint area.

Is there a way to fill in the spots in the clear coat? Is it a lost cause? Should I just sand it all away and rattle-can clear coat it?

I probably should have left well enough alone, but decals with tears in them get under my skin.

I can't exactly envision it - can you post a photo?

Near as I can figure it, a repop decal on top should do.

-Kurt

I thought about seeking out thiese decals and just filling in the spaces that way, but it's a lower end Miyata 112 and I doubt there's enough demand for said model's decals.

I'll try to get a good photo of what I'm talking about. As well as think about a strip and re-paint.

You can wet-sand the clear down a bit, with ultra-fine sandpaper. It won't seem like you're doing much except making a mess, but it works. Be careful, this may not be the frame to "learn" on, but it does work. You can then re-clear it, but you'd need to wash it first, get all the grit and dust off.

Guys the problem is that the decal gets embedded in the paint, so even when you scratch them out with goo off or with sand paper the darn hole will be there until you get almost to the bare metal. The only option I see is to re glue or renew the old decal with a fluid made for it and apply a few coats of clear coat to the area untill you get all leveled. PITA

If you want it to look even and smooth, you'd need to sand off the clearcoat to the base color coat.
Then wet sand smooth the base and respray new clearcoat. Whether to re apply decals is your choice and if you can get the original type which is thin and applied under the clear.