Microscale Flat Clear

It was a total disaster for me. It may have been the 'user' but to minimize the psychological impact, I've chosen to blame the product....

Murray

Snowy, just a suggestion: why not go for the Gunze Sangyo Hobby Color Acrylic Flat? Many modellers in this forum vouch for it as its finish is perfectly flat. I haven't used it yet since I still have my Tamiya Flat Base, but I'm going to try it when I run out. Should be worthwhile to consider.

Cheers,
onyan

onyan, thanks mate, good idea but I checked out the Gunze paint rack at the LHS and the flat clear slot has been empty for months. Seems they can't be bothered to order in more but I will see if I can get hold of some by mail order somewhere else. Thanks again. Seems like a good clear Matt acrylic is hard to get hold of around here for some reason.

Cheers...Snowy

Snowy......for what it's worth........& it's just my but, i've used some of MicroScale's other products.....the decal Set / Sol, the cystel clear white glue and their blue liquid masking liquid and everything's worked for me as advertised.......
i've not used their clear flat but, if it's anything like any of their other products.....why not ?
do you have a practice (maybe even paintied) scrap model to run a test or two on ?
sorry i couldn't be of more help.....

cirikili, your'e right the other products they have all work very well, the decal stuff is the best there is, I should at least try the Flat Clear. Murray thanks for the heads up mate, could you tell me what happened when you used it, that way I'll have a head start on what to watch for in the way of problems. Do you thin the stuff with Tamiya X20A acrylic thinners/Alcohol or what?

Cheers...Snowy.

Snowy,

The problem for me was that it turned an aweful powdery/milky texture after it sat on the model. It was thoroughly mixed an applied with an airbrush. It seemed to go on fine, but after sitting on the model for about 15-20 seconds, it just started to get opaque and turned into an awful white chalky texture. Perhaps it reacted with something underneith? Perhaps it was just old? Who knows? The pain was too much to bear....

Unfortunately, I have friends in my local club who've had the same thing happen to them when using this product. My recommendation: I hear Polly S clear flat is good (possibly the best), and I also hear Gunze flat is good too. I'd go with one of them first...

Murray

I swear by Humbrol flat coat.. and I can show it to you....


Thats Humbrol over future over Vallejo od and med grey

And to show you how flat Vallejo colors are, the spinner props engine exhaust and wing stripes were painted after the flat coat. thats the paints natural flatness. Good stuff.
-Jeff

Murray, I feel your pain. There's nothing worse than to work painstakingly through building, paint-job and decaling (sometimes over months), only to have your latest masterpiece screwed up on the final step. Especially when you feel you've followed directions to the letter. Jeff, I use the Humbrol Matte-cote now, the stuff in the little 28ml jar. It works well, I just feel tempted to try some acrylic flat. As a matter of interest do you thin your Humbrol? I use thier thinner at about 1 part thinner to 2 parts varnish at about 20 PSI. The results are always good unless I lay it on too heavy and cause the dreaded frosty look, but thats my own fault.

Cheers....Snowy.

I, too, had a model ruined by the latest incarnation of Micro Flat, which, like the ones mentioned by everybody else, turned milky opaque. I have been using Microscale products for twenty years now, and never had a problem with any of them, except the clear coats. I remember back before acrylic paints became popular with hobbyists, Micro would change their clear-coat formulas, it seemed, about every six months, and none of the new formuli were compatible with the previous ones. So you had a big mess trying to figure out which was which. I seems when it comes to clear coats, this fine company is snakebit. I also remember a beautiful Monogram F-105G Georgia ANG bird I built (adding Microscale decals) being totally ruined because thier dullcoat was so sensitive to humidity it clouded, beaded up, and did every bad thing a clear coat can do. It seems these varnishes could not be used in Houston's sub-tropical climate.
So, since I have no access to Gunze-Sangyo (dammit), I use Testors for all my clear-coating duties. It may be a bit thick, but at least it's tried and true.
Tom

Thanks for the heads-up Sharkskin.......i'd never given any MicroScale product a 2nd thought as to its integrity.......will steer clear (pardon the pun) of their clear coats.......

duh...just bought myself a bottle of micro satin...before reading any of this.... I use Tamiya acrylics and usually tops it off with tamiya gloss mix with flat base acrylic for the satin finish. Iam finishing off a 1/72 Hun and wanted something different to finish....

I was hoping that the micro satin stuff would do me some good (cutting out the tedious mixing step). I once used testor dull coat enamel but went destroying my kit.

dmahendra

I recommend Pollyscale flat clear (actually any of the Pollyscale clears are great)

Dead flat and easy to apply. Never, ever had a problem with this brand since I started using it when it was also marketed under the Aeromaster label.



cheers

Mike

Sorry I forgot this thread. Yes I thin em down, and a correction too... the exhaust is tamiya smoke before the flat coat, not after. Since I use Vallejo Acrylics to paint I always future straight after 24 hours drying time... then give the future 24 hours then hit it with the Humbrol. I will be giving the Pollyscale flat a go as I am outta the hunbrol and I think Madmikes build is absultely beautiful... so it shows a good flat finish.