Recommendations for airbrush gloss and flat clear coats

OldRetiredEngineer

Recently, I have been using Liquitex "Matte Varnish" and "Satin Varnish" for flat and semi-gloss clear coats.

My base paint is Mission Model Paints acrylic. I use Mission Model thinner with the Liquitex, thinning it to about 20% Liquitex/80% MMP thinner. 

I find that two light coats of flat gives an eggshell finish. Four light coats a dead flat finish. The satin clear varnish, similarly thinned yeilds a nice semi-gloss finish. The trick seems to be thinning the Liquitex product and applying in multiple thin coats. 

 

I spray quite a bit of Liquitex varnishes as well. It's here in the house anyway to cover art work, I adapted that to models maybe 5-6 years ago . I use it in various ways and it's one of the 'other clears" I use mentioned in my previous post.

Hey tcoat those look great. What are you using to tint the Future? 

The Product Formerly Known as Future, aka Pledge, has been discontinued, but for anyone interested in using an acrylic floor coating product might want to try Quick Shine, which is said to work just about the same as Future did.

Modeler Jon Bius posted this video about Quick Shine to his YouTube channel 2 weeks ago, describing how it worked for him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVA_E1vd_Yo

I have not tried it yet, myself.  I still have half a bottle of Future, which will probably last me the rest of my life.

As far as applying TPFKF goes, I apply it by hand more often than airbrushing it, but when airbrushing, I use it straight out of the bottle, unthinned, at 18 to 20 psi, thin coats to avoid pooling.  If it does pool or form drips, I just use a little ammonia, or Windex (with ammonia, not the other formula) to dissovle the acrylic again, remove excess as necessary with a piece of paper towel, and let the acrylic level itself again and cure.

Recently, I have been using Liquitex "Matte Varnish" and "Satin Varnish" for flat and semi-gloss clear coats.

My base paint is Mission Model Paints acrylic. I use Mission Model thinner with the Liquitex, thinning it to about 20% Liquitex/80% MMP thinner. 

I find that two light coats of flat gives an eggshell finish. Four light coats a dead flat finish. The satin clear varnish, similarly thinned yeilds a nice semi-gloss finish. The trick seems to be thinning the Liquitex product and applying in multiple thin coats. 

Sure,everybody has different experiences with different products,even with kits.We find what works for us.

Tojo72

And like some modeling products,I never got good results with it.

Me neither.  Always had it develop little cracks in it with the newest formulation.  It does make a great adhesive for small, flat PE parts and small clear parts like HUD glass and sensor windows.  But, that's all I ever use it for anymore.

Tojo72

 

 And like some modeling products,I never got good results with it.

 

LOL and I have never yet succeeded withan Alcad product. Guess it is all down to personal methods.

I use tinted Future as a shading method on every single thing I build. Down to my last few drops though and I have no clue what I will do now it is gone. 

Tcoat

 

 

Tojo72

I like Alclad Matte,for me it's the most dead flat I have used,just a light mist dulls everything right down.

I also use their Aqua Gloss,I won't mess around with floor polish on my models.

 

 

 

 

The Future/Pledge use has been a modeling staple for about 20 years so there is no mystery nor "messing around" involved. It is literally just an acrylic coating like many model finishs. The point is sort of moot though since they don't make it anymore.

 

And like some modeling products,I never got good results with it.

Tojo72

I like Alclad Matte,for me it's the most dead flat I have used,just a light mist dulls everything right down.

I also use their Aqua Gloss,I won't mess around with floor polish on my models.

 

The Future/Pledge use has been a modeling staple for about 20 years so there is no mystery nor "messing around" involved. It is literally just an acrylic coating like many model finishs. The point is sort of moot though since they don't make it anymore.

I like Alclad Matte,for me it's the most dead flat I have used,just a light mist dulls everything right down.

I also use their Aqua Gloss,I won't mess around with floor polish on my models.

cbaltrin

If you want a non-toxic clear coat. I have had success in the past mixing Tamiya flat base with Future/Pledge floor polish. You can get a beautiful semi gloss or flat coat,depending on how  much flat base you use. Obviosuly, if you want gloss, don't add any flat base. Experiment first. Future can be tricky to airbrush.

 

I airbrush Pledge Floor Care ( Future) often. The only trick is layers, go a coat at a time flashing each coat. I just recently clear coated two 1/32 Ford Thunderbirds and an AMT 53 Ford 1/25 pickup with Pledge and they came out great. I had my wife with a hair dryer doing the flash dry as I went along. The last coat is the slowest wetest coat. Don't thin the stuff with anything, use a heavy enough needle. And that's about it.

Here is the bigger trick: what has replaced Future/Pledge ? Both no longer available, it's looking like Quick Shine floor finish may be the next magic bullet clear. But I don't know that for sure yet. Course I have other clears I use but Pledge is basically the no brainer in a bottle clear coat I often tend to reach for.

dazzjazz

 

 

Tcoat

For flat nothing I have ever used beat Testers Dullcoat. I use bottles of it a year 

 

 

 

if I get this, will I need lacquer thinner? What about to clean my airbrush?

 

You will need lacquer thinner. I use Tamiya thinner for thinning to paint since it does not attack the plastic but just regular hardware store thinner to clean the airbrush. 

I like the Dullcoat the best becuase it removes gloss without giving any real layer of buildup like some do.

Glossy coat of tinted Future

One thin coat of Dullcoat

If you want a non-toxic clear coat. I have had success in the past mixing Tamiya flat base with Future/Pledge floor polish. You can get a beautiful semi gloss or flat coat,depending on how  much flat base you use. Obviosuly, if you want gloss, don't add any flat base. Experiment first. Future can be tricky to airbrush.

Yes , Lacquer thinner to clean Testors enamel or lacquer paints.

dazzjazz

Tcoat

For flat nothing I have ever used beat Testers Dullcoat. I use bottles of it a year  

if I get this, will I need lacquer thinner? What about to clean my airbrush?

 

Tcoat

For flat nothing I have ever used beat Testers Dullcoat. I use bottles of it a year 

if I get this, will I need lacquer thinner? What about to clean my airbrush?

Thanks for the responses everyone. 
I think I will buy a bottle of Testors dull one if I can find it here in Australia. 

the latest drama is this: I let the Vallejo Acrylic clear coat dry for a couple of days.

I then used Flory wash on the upper surface of my Hellcat. Let it dry, then wiped away the excess to leave just the panel lines. Well, I've made a mess as there's tiny frangments (dots) of what can only be paper towel stuck to the model. I'm guessing that, given that the Vallejo and the Flory are water based, the Flory Wash has affect the clear cote. 
what a drag - so many pitfalls in this hobby. Drives me nuts. 

For flat nothing I have ever used beat Testers Dullcoat. I use bottles of it a year!

For gloss I always used Future but it has been discontinued so my limited supply will be reserved for tinted highlighting.

I have been expermenting with the Tamiya gloss and it seems to work very well if you get just the right amount of thinner. 

Try just dampening a spot on a cloth or tissue and gently wiping away the excess panel liner. You shouldn't need to flood it, just a slightly dampened cloth should work. Also with flooding you run the risk of washing even the panel line itself away. And if it's enamel based then odorless mineral spirits may work fine and is mild or not very hot at least.

Try heat setting your Vallejo products before handling, even just a few minutes with a hair dryer on medium helps. But 30 minutes to an hour in a dehydrator at around 110f really helps toughen Vallejo up.. I'd still wait 24 hours or more to panel line though.

Back on the Vallejo  primer ( thanks for clarifying), as I've mentioned I don't use their primer but I've been intrigued with the thought of getting a small bottle to experiment with, the first of which would be to heat set it and see then how it performs. It has a bad reputation for tape pulling and being non sandible. So a Tape test,scratch test and sanding test to follow the 1 hour heat set and 24 hour wait. Next time I'm in Hobby Lobby I may grab a little dropper bottle of the stuff to experiment with. One might ask why ? Because Hobby Lobby is local and I have to online order Stynylrez, course I really like Stynylrez and the bottled Mr primer surfacer products.. It's always nice though to have something local that can be just picked up. Anyway enough babbling and best of luck to you.

dazzjazz

Ah sorry that's a typo. I meant to say Vallejo acrylic clear coat. 

 

Sometimes some enamel thinners are just so hot that they eat thru anything,you need to make sure everything is cured,not just dry.Don't flood it on too much,and don't work it too hard with whatever your using to remove the liner.

Ah sorry that's a typo. I meant to say Vallejo acrylic clear coat. 

dazzjazz

I tried Vallejo acrylic primer on the weekend. Looks good. However it seems that when cleaning up Tamiya panel liner with Tamiya enamel thinner, the thinner is eating through the clear coat. Would this be the case?

 

Depends what clear coat you used. You said you used Vallejo primer but you didn't name the clear coat. Course in my case I don't use any of these products, for washes and such I use water clean up oils. Or thinned out acrylic paint as the case may need. IE I make my own.

That has been my experience as well.  It seemed that no matter what I used as a clearcoat, using any wash or panel liner that required any kind of solvent would always get through and start attacking the paint underneath.  Started using water-based Flory washes and that problem is a thing of the past.  I can safely use that on any paint, clearcoat or no clearcoat.

I tried Vallejo acrylic primer on the weekend. Looks good. However it seems that when cleaning up Tamiya panel liner with Tamiya enamel thinner, the thinner is eating through the clear coat. Would this be the case?

Since you use Tamiya acrylics I'd think that the Tamiya X-22 , to name one clear, would be a natural for you. I use several different clears but use X-22 as well. I have a few models clear coated in it. And it's gone over several types of paint as well from craft paints to model acrylics and lacquer color coats. Just my 1.2 cent contribution this morning from the peanut gallery.

Heh...they are actually called Mr. Paint, which led to people thinking it was Gunze/Mr. Hobby, so they shortened it to MRP.  These guys are based in Slovakia, but you can find their products at Sprue Brothers.  Here is the manufacturer's web-site link though, so you can look around and see what they have.  They also make the best scribing tool I have found so far...and I have tried a lot of them.

https://www.mrpaint.sk/

Eaglecash867

After trying all kinds of different clear coats, the ones I personally like the best are MRP lacquers.

are these Mr Hobby products please?

if not could I have a link please?

thanks

darren

There all numerous options for airbrushing clear glosses and flats.

Among my favorites is Testors bottled gloss or flat.   Mix up with some hardware store lacquer thinner and dust on with your airbrush.

Future floor polish (or whatever it is called now a days) is a good clear gloss.   Mix in some Tamiya Flt Base to achieve your desired level of flat -- satin to dead flat.

Vallejo Model Color makes some clear gloss and clear flat.   Thin as necessary with your preferred Vallejo thinner/flow improver to airbrush consistency

Scale Colors makes some clear gloss, satin, and flat coverings.   They are pretty much an out of the bottle solution,

There are others.  Ask 6 modelers and you will get a dozen different and possibly correct answers as to their favorites

If you don't want lacquers,then Vallejo is an option,their matte and gloss are effective,but you need their thinner and flow improver to maximize.

Alclad Aqua Gloss is another great acrylic gloss,that one sprays straight from the bottle.

Alclad flat is also very good,right out of the bottle,

but is a lacquer.I would say that when I gloss a 1/35 tank or a 1/48 aircraft with the right amount of pressure and application,there are no clouds of fumes in fact very little overspray,but of course everyone has their own tolerances.

After trying all kinds of different clear coats, the ones I personally like the best are MRP lacquers.  I know you're not wanting the fumes, but these cure so quickly that fumes aren't really a factor.  I have found them to be the most durable and the most effective.  They can achieve their maximum effect with a VERY thin layer.  I don't use a spray booth either.  I use low pressure and low paint volume and work close-in to the parts I'm painting, so I don't have clouds of paint coming out of the airbrush...almost all of it is going on the model (just a tiny bit of overspray around it sometimes).