Trick to airbrushing Future?

See if these two images will give you an idea of how the gloss coat is covering for me.

Thanks.

Alclad lacquers need to be shot at 1-2 inches from the model surface and as straight on as possible, little to no angle.  Alclad goes on very thin and almost dries as soon as it hits the surface.  

If you are too far away from the surface while shooting it will dry mid air.  Also 25 psi is to high for Alclad.  10-15 max.  25 psi will also make Alclad dry mid air.

With Alclad, several coats are needed and you have to slow down your passes then what you may be used to.  Since Alclad goes on so thin, slowing down the passes will allow the Alclad to build up better.

Future is more forgiving.  Again a lower psi, 12-15.  Since future self levels and takes much longer to dry you can shoot from farther away and your passes do not have to be super slow.

With either clear coat, even if your paint is smooth to the touch, a gloss clear coat out of an airbrush may not gloss up as much as you would think since  airbrushing puts micron thin layers.  If you are applying a gloss coat for decals and washes, a semi gloss finish is all you need.  It does not have to be glass smooth.

If you want glass smooth clear coats, you typically have to wet sand the paint prior to clear or wetsand the clear coat.  Don't go off pictures and videos you see online as your only reference of the finish you are trying to achieve.  The camera hides a lot of flaws and gloss finish look much shiner to a camera then to the eye.

Take a picture of one of your completed models and compare how it looks in the picture as opposed to your eye and you will see the camera sees a different finish then what you see.

I use Future for my gloss coats.  I apply it either straight or thinned to about 50/50 with water or isopropyl, and at 20 psi.  I haven't had any problems with it yet, apart from the occasional run that dries before I notice it.  But a cotton swab dipped in a weak ammonia solution, like Windex, is good enough to dissolve that and even out the spot.

You have some good advice from the good folk above.

Edit:Re-reading your second post above, item #4 about just pulling the trigger back far enough to get flow going, I'd suspect that is your problem. Paint is drying before it hits your model, hence a satin or matte finish. My guess anyway.

I'm in the Don Stauffer camp when it comes to airbrushing clear coats. The several light coats has never worked for me, and I lay it on heavy, just short of the point of running.

BTW, you do know that Alclad II and Future are two very different products, right? Alclad being Lacquer-based and Future being acrylic. And they are certainly not interchangable in any way. I think you already know that, just me being anal.

Clear coats can be real hair-pullers, I hope you get this sorted soon, Dave.

Hello!

I usually add some water, not too much, and just a dab of dish washing liquid (really tiny amount) to the solution. This seems to spray OK. Hope it helps, have a nice day

Paweł

1. Badger Patriot 105 Extreme @ 25psi.

2. Compressor has a water trap.

3. neither Future nor Alclad II was thinned.

4. 3"-4" spray distance, using the lightest spray pressure, i.e. enough trigger so the medium just starts to come out of the tip.

5. Room temp ~ 70, humidty 40%

Hope this helps more.

If you can provide a few more details:

Type of airbrush

PSI when shooting each clear coat

Do you have a water trap?

Temp of room and humidity level you airbrush in

Did you thin either clear coat and with what

How close or far did you shoot from the model surface

Future needs no thinning. Just put it in the jar/cup and airbrush. The only thing you need to adjust is air pressure and flow amount.

Proper thinning and low pressure.  I use the vallejo gloss and I thin it 50/50 with their thinner and shoot it at about 10-15 psi with thin even coats