clear cote layer - how to - please help????

Don't be afraid of asking questions that's how you get to be an Expert modeler, and this is a very good question,
Okay here's how I build my kits, I leave off all Landing gears & clear parts, the I'd mask the interior accesses, paint the scheme required for the kit, then wait a day or 2, then apply a coat of Future thinned with disstilled water(this is your clear coat) let this dry for a Day or 2, then apply decals, but here's the kicker, just do the topside, then come back the following day to apply the bottom decals, wait for the next for the left side the another for the right side, what this does is allow the decals to set,I use Solviset on all my decals(all my decals are aftermarket too) and you really don't want to handle the model with this stuff or you'll destroy the decals you just applied, the wait is to allow the decals to dry for handling, next I apply a fine coat of Testors Dullcoat, then wait a day or 2 then apply another coat of Dullcoat and wait if the coverage is good then I start to weather the following day, but if it needs another shot of Dullcoat then I'd do it before I weather, I'd wait about 2 days to weahter the model, this allows all the Dullcoat to cure, and then weather if you want to for the scheme you intended to do, I know it's a lot of info but their are books & this mag will give you all the info you need to produce a show winning model
and for God's sake ask anytime if you need help, there are no secerts in this hobby, if it works for you then it might work for the next modeler in need

For the most part I agree with 72cuda but let me add a little. For aircraft, an airbrush is a neccessity so glad you have one. The main reason for clear top-coats is to provide a gloss base over flat (matt) paints for decal application. Decals applied over a flat paint will likely get air trapped underneath and result in a fogged appearance usually referred to as "silvering". The gloss top-coat will mimimize the chance of silvering. Then the flat clear-coat is applied after decaling to restore the flat or satin finish desired. Future is a good choice for a gloss clear-coat but other clear gloss paints will also work well. I never thin Future for airbrushing and it works fine for me but always experiment on a scrap piece to see what works for you. Testors Dullcoat is also my choice for a flat clear-coat except over white which it tends to yellow tint. Testors clear flat acrylic is also excellent. Again, take some time to experiment and find which works best for you.

Rick