Hi Ya'll;
I am referring to one many use-Johnson's Revive or Pledge or whatever they call it now. I have used it in the past. I personally will NEVER use it again. It took the beautiful Light Gunmetal paint I had on a TR-7 model and turned it a grungy mud overwash color.
So i do NOT use any clearcoat Not used for models. I do use Craft brands and this is because of the dependability I have come to learn from them. This is not for specificialy models-No-but a large range of materials and the crafters are way more concerned about purity of color coats than you think.
I personally went some years ago to Boyds Clear( A modelmaster color) and their own label clear. Now these are both enamels. The M.M. has started to change even in unopened bottles. I built a lot of large models for clients so I needed it by the six pack!
The Boyd's is still fairly water clear. Now in an Airbrush I do like I used to with Auto Paints. On a model this can be tricky though. I use a mix of 75% thinner with 25% clear. and mist it twice before I wet coat it.
The idea is to get a great clearcoat without making it look like it's molded of paint. Let's face it Folks even the show cars aren't that shiny, Unless they are trailer Queens. ,Closed trailers at that! Now with Craft Clear( Craftint Brand) I have had incredible luck and only have to thin with distilled water and run "Dawn-Platinum" through my airbrush afterwards to get it clean.
By the way, that airbrush just turned forty! It's an old De-Vilbiss touch up brush for Autos. It has a canister that held a pint of paint. But I had a shop modify it so it will only hold 6 ounces max. Great for tiny touch-ups by Dashboards and stuff. in the real world. For models Only my Wren has lasted as long. But it's called caring for your tools, Right?
Now back to the purpose of this post. Clearcoat. It's nice that there so many products out there for us to use. But why do some of us go to far? A friend has a 1/16 Chevy. ( The old A.M.T. kit) he had a beautiful paint job on it. He wanted it shinier. he sprayed it with a Thinned hobby resin for making water on Model RailRoad layouts. It's been a month and it's not completely set up yet! Bu,t it does have sags and runs in it now too.
I have yet to figure out how to tell him how to remove this stuff without destroying the paint underneath.Oh, it doesn't seem to be affected by this except bleaching in spots. Please think before you use a product to clearcoat anything, Okay? If it's not made for Crafts or Models please don't use it.
Yes, it's always nice to have your model cars or trucks or planes be the shiniest out there. But here's something to think about. An acquaintance had a model stored on a shelf he built in the laundry store room. A bottle of Ammonia got spilled in there. In the three days it took it to clear out, the Pledge on the model was ruined in spots. The original stuff could be removed off floors with a tablespoon of Ammonia in the soapy water.