I’m a modeler first and a runner second when it comes to model railroading. I’ve been rebuilding and repainting engines and rolling stock for some 40 plus years, I will say that painting and detailing model railroad engines and rolling stock is not so much an art, but you have to have skills to do these type of project, and for me it was self taught through the years. I’ve made every mistake that you could make model painting and I’ve had some real messes to straighten out. I’m not going to try to answer your question, because I don’t think I could answer anyone’s question’s without seeing what you are doing through the paint process and why you get the results that you get. As far as decals go there are processes for that to, including decals must go on gloss paint, then clear coated for protection from peeling, etc. All being said I would try to help anyone who needs help, but you would probably have to contact me and we would need to talk on the phone, I wouldn’t be interested in doing emails, or texting on something like this.
I would say to watch YouTube videos on model painting, some videos are very good and some are what I would call very bad. I use both the air brush and spray cans on my G Scale stuff, I get good results with both, but it’s two totally different way of painting.
trainman