clearcoats darkening paint

I've found clearcoats 'brightening' the colors, making them more vivid, but never really 'darkening'.  What brand was it?  I normally spray Model Master acryl clear, and find it just makes everything 'pop' a little more.

This is the nature of a gloss clear coat. I've found each brand to be different as far as the amount of "darkening", Future being the worst. But I've found after weathering and a flat coat or two the base colors change again and everything still looks perfectly acceptable. I just makes touch-ups a pain in the azz after the gloss has been applied.

Try lightening up the base color to start with.

The cleacoats were klear. Valejo flat and valejo gloss and it was the klear that was worse of the three. Cant really lighten the green now as i have already done the camo over it. I will know bettef next time but i stll need to decal the tank so need something to stick them to. Just glossing the decalled areas is a no go as the paint will be affected so its all or nothing. If all clearcoats darken it then maybe ill give it a miss and hope for the bestvwith the decals.

Yeah Future (klear) is the worst at that. But it'll lighten back up after the flat coat. Here's one of my models all gloss-coated with Polyscale clear gloss:

then flat coated with Gunze H20:

Both pics are taken during the daytime with sun shining through a nearby window.

Well seeing as I will be flat coating it later maybe I'll give it a try with the Vallejo gloss or perhaps Tamiya gloss. I suppose its better to have it a bit dark than have the decals lift off. i just hope it doesnt ruin the effectof the filter too.

If its a tank your working on maybe some help over in the Armor forum can get you on track too, So you can get a feel for the way they do it.

Nathan T

This is the nature of a gloss clear coat. I've found each brand to be different as far as the amount of "darkening", Future being the worst. But I've found after weathering and a flat coat or two the base colors change again and everything still looks perfectly acceptable. I just makes touch-ups a pain in the azz after the gloss has been applied.

Try lightening up the base color to start with.

I use Future all the time, and yes, especially over Tamiya flat colours.

thanks, looks like the quest for a gloss clearcoat that doesn't darken tamiya flat paint is lost. all the trouble i went to to get a reasonably accurate colour was a waste  matbe ill rub some lighter pigment into the paint to try and lighten it a bit.

Sometimes its a toss up as to which forum to post questions like these paint/armour/tips etc but i dont want to fill up the place with double posts and i have the answers i needed. thanks all.

That's just the way it works. I don't know why Klear/Future seemingly darkens paints more than some other gloss clears but it does. To me, Tamiya gloss clear doesn't have nearly as much darkening effect. Don't know if you'd want to use it but I think clear fingernail polish has the least effect of anything I've tried. But I thin it at least 1 to 1 with lacquer thinner so don't use it over enamels and maybe you don't want to deal with the fumes.

My solution would be to find a gloss clear that you like, stick with it and learn how much to lighten the colors you'll be using to compensate for the effect the clear has. Takes a little experimenting but after a short while you get a feel for it. Don't know what camo you're doing but another solution is to apply mist coats of the lightest color in your pattern to reduce contrast and tie all the colors together until you get the shade you want.

Tony

cheers Tony sound like good advice. i am not impressed with klear as it is. goes on very thin and changes the look too much. going to give alclad clears a try. they worked well over a NMF plane anyway so think ill take your advice and settle with that brand  (for this type of work anyway). its standard british black and green camo so the green is already quite dark and the klear made it look almost black. ive use an ak enamel wash on it so it will have to be an acrylic/ water based clearcoat.