Question about finishing enclosures.

[Devius]

My apologies if this has been posted before...
I'm using rustoleum spraypaint and primer. So far so good.
I picked up some lazertran inkjet waterslide decals, I can print em off no prob, application is gravy.
Now, when i use lacquer it totally penetrates the decal making it quite transparent. I picked up some water based varathane and did a test decal with that. works great, lose a small amount of brightness of the decal but thats ok.
My question is will the varathane bond with the spray paint? Is this a good combination?

[Kesh]

If you let the paint thoroughly dry (maybe for a week, at least, somewhere warm) and finely sand it, it should be fine. But there's only one way to find out really, and that's try it.

Sorry for not answering definitely, but I have another question.

I use decals when I want transparency against pale painted boxes, and paper when I want the design to cover the paintwork, so I was curious what effect you were trying to achieve with decals that weren't transparent.

[Devius]

I am using decals for graphics. Apparently water based lacquer will dry the decal with a white background so its opaque. oil base will make it transparent.

[Kesh]

Yes, so why use decals for opaque work, when you could use paper.

[GGBB]

I also used the Lazertran inkjet white paper and I top coated with Valspar premium enamel clear which also tuns the decal transparent.  I used Valspar because I was also using Valspar primer and paint.  I would think that you'd have the best result overall with RustOleum Crystal Clear Enamel - I expect that would turn the decals transparent just as well as the Valspar, and you shouldn't have any problems spraying that over RustOleum paint.