Problem with Testors dull/gloss coat

Agreed, those do look like "fish eyes." It's localized, as there appears none are on the fuselage. The contaminants can be a number of things, cleaner, oils from fingers when handling, etc.

Before painting I use a clean kitchen towel, (paper towel in the States,) and some alcohol, for a thorough wipe down of all the surfaces to be painted. A second towel and more alcohol is good insurance.

Probably could save it with some 91% and some good scrubbing to remove the paint, then have another go.

Patrick

These didn’t show up in the paint, but in the gloss coat. The paint finish was nice and smooth.

Cwalker -

Understood, it's the clear that is the problem. But the contamination causing the fish eyes either settled on the previous paint coat, or is a contaminant within the clear finish. But since the fish eyes are localized, I would not suspect the clear bottle contents are affected.

The usual way for contamination of a surface, either bare or painted, is to have something airborne settle on it in the form of droplets or mist.

However it happened, it would seem that the color finish you applied somehow had something settle on it, prior to clear coat.  

Was there any moisture on the kit, or in the air?

I have seen high humidity do that. But this time of year, that's unlikely.

I have "wiped" down a kit with a damp paper towel, just after allowing the paint to dry, and just before applying the Gloss coat. And what you have there is "EXACTLY" what I got.

I agree with pat ..somthing like grease from cooking .I.e   did somthing burn while cooking in the kitchen .or some kind of airborn mist ..ive had this problem happen to me ..while cleaning my airbrush.  The back flushing to close to my model caused a fine mist that got on the paint job. When I started painting the next round I got what you got ....ugh!!!...FISHEYES.

When i painted the model, I noticed the paint on the wings didn't seem to be coating as well as it was on the body. It's hard to describe but it looked like the paint was seperating from the thinner. I thought maybe the paint was too thin so I added a little paint to the mix when I shot the second coat. I didn't see the problem after the second coat. But then I put on the clear and the wings come out like they did.

Maybe there was some mold release chemical on it? But I didn't see the effect on the fuselage. And the problem didn't show itself after the second coat of paint, but it did when I put on the clear. And I've seen the same problem in my last two models. 

I'm going to see if I have some plastic sheet and try and replicate the issue with the paint. If I can, I'll post a pic of that. Thanks everyone.

High humidity can be a problem with the lacquer clearcoats (or any lacquer finish).  What happens is that lacquer dries very fast, and dries by evaporation of the thinner.  This cools the surface and causes water to condense on surface.  But this usuallly causes a frosting of the surface, a white, somewhat rough surface.  The bumps and circles are almost microscopic, not the big blobs like in the picture of the original post.

Therefore I suspect the most likely cause is indeed contamination by an oily surface.  Still, when using lacquer clearcoats when it is very humid, be on guard for condensation.  This white, frosty disturbance of the painted surfaces is usually called blushing.