Thining Gloss Paint

Putting down a good gloss finish is one of the more difficult arts in modeling. Much harder than a matt finish.  And doing it with a paint brush is considerably harder than with an airbrush or spray can,  I know a couple of my modeling friends who can do it, but only those few. I can't do it myself.  You need to save up for an airbrush setup, and in the meantime use spray cans.

Or, if you want to go for mastering brush painting of gloss paints, it takes a LOT of practice.  You need to get some scrap plastic and spend several hours of practice, trial and error, and experimenting.  Gloss paint does need to be thinned thinner than flats. You didn't say whether you are using enamels or acrylics.  Enamels are easier for a gloss paint since they dry slowly, allowing for self-leveling.  Acrylics are notable for the difficulty of getting a glossy finish.  Adding retarder to the paint may help.

The quick and dirty method is to use do the best you can to get a brushmark-free finish and then use a glosscoat from a spray can.  Be aware, however, that applying that clear glosscoat will strongly magnify brush marks :-(

Thanks Don, I have tried a can of Gloss Black from the local auto store and this worked very well so I will probably stay with this option. A can of the spray paint is less then $4.00 (Australian) compare to between $4 & $5 dollars for the Taniya gloss paint. Also the closes model shop to buy paint is about 200 kilometres (120 miles) away but the auto store is 3 kilometres (2 miles) away.

I build all genres, so know quite a few car modelers.  The use of spray cans of auto lacquer is quite common among the car guys.  There are so many colors available from vendors like Duplicolor and such, in US. I assume there must be vendors selling car touch up paint in Australia.

Les.61

Then tried to thin the paint down but the "Gloss" is now more a "Matt" finish. Has anyone else had the same problem?

Considering that you mentioned Tamiya paints in your follow-up post, are we assuming that you're using Tamiya acrylics (though Tamiya enamels are also available in Australia)?

If you're using the acrylics, what are you using to thin them? If you are using water, which does work to an extent but is not recommended, Tamiya gloss acrylics will often dry to an eggshell (ie. semi-gloss) finish.

If this is the case, use Tamiya X-20A thinner, and if you can, buy it in the 250ml jugs, which by volume, are much cheaper than the little jars. If you are not averse to using something a little stronger, you can try Tamiya lacquer thinner, which is only available in 250ml jugs.

If you are using Tamiya flat acrylics, you can use methylated spirits.  

Using the Tamiya Acrylic and have tried the Tamiya Acrylic thinner when using a brush and it still left brush marks. Tried the Tamiya Acrylic and Italeri Thinner and got the "matt finish". Most of the kits I have are either black, red or white so at this stage will go with the spray cans.

Many thanks for suggestions and comments.