Tamiya clear gloss over Testor's enamel?

If it's Testor's Clear Gloss laquer I wouldn't trust it personally.  I had that stuff eat some decals once many years ago and that was the last time I ever used it.  Never again, especially when there are acrylic clear coats around that won't hurt anything.  Just my personal opinion though, based on one lousy experience with it.

I had the same nasty experience with it a few times and since have turned to the acrylic overcoats as Scott mentioned... not only do they provide a much flatter patina, they are totally safe over decals.

If all you have available in your area is Testors I would definitely Future over the model and let it sit a few days before using the Testors...  my two cents..

Polly Scale and Vallejo both make excellent dull coats.  As does the US "Color of Eagles, Aircraft colors" Vallejo made paints..  You can get either the polly scale or the "Color of Eagles" Aircraft colors flats online at www.greatmodels.com. And very much worth the peace of mind in my opinion...

  Don't quite get where the other two guys are coming from, but for your question, Tamiya clear gloss is just fine over testors enamel. In fact its prefered, as acrylic clear coats do not yellow over time like enamel and laquer clear coats do. Acrylic clear also has other advantages like providing a great protective barrier for oil based washes (highly reccomended) and such. Tamiya also has a great flat base additve for its clear glos giving you unparrallelled control over how your flat final coat looks. good luck -J

Dr. Cemento (I get it now!  LOL!)

 

Thank you for the great advice.  That's great news to hear about not having the tendency to yellow over time.  It will be the first time I've every used Tamiya's gloss coat.  I usually use the Testor's offering but for whatever reason my hand was guided to the Tamiya offering.  I, too, thought it would be a great base to apply the oil based washes.  I was so interested and excited to apply the Tamiya gloss last night that I completely forgot that I had to mask off the windows on my B-1!  When I realized it, I figured it was too late in the evening to sit down with the masking tape, scissors and masking fluid so I just sort of shelved everything until tonight or this weekend.  I want to finish this model so badly but not badly enough to make hasty decisions.

 

Thank you again!  I can't wait to try the stuff!

 

Eric

Is the Testors enamel a flat or gloss coat?

Ok, call me stupid, it's probably flat. 

Why else would you want to clear coat it before decaling... duh... never mind.

"Mama... I did it again! My meds and my brain farts are at it again." 

Hello Jhande!

 

I've got the B-1 painted flat gunship grey.  I'm amazed at how smooth the finish turned out from a couple of Testors enamel rattle cans.  I thought (mistakenly, it turns out) that I would be able to apply the decals on this flat enamel without it silvering.  I know decals won't go on well over a flat coat but man you should have seen how nicely the paint covered!  I thougth (hoped) I could get away with it!  Will it turned out that I couldn't.  The small decals I placed on the bottom of the plane silvered just a little bit; enough to make me stop and realize that I would, in fact, need the whole plane to be glossy.  So I ran out and bought a rattle can of Tamiya clear gloss acrylic.  I figured there shouldn't be any problem applying the Tamiya clear gloss over the Testors gunship grey enamel but I just wanted to make absolutely sure before I made the commitment.  Like I said, the Testors enamel went on absolutely flawlessly!  I would hate to ruin that.

 

Thanks again for everyone's help!

 

Eric

Be warned...

If you picked up a spray can of Tamiya Clear, it's a lacquer based product, not an acrylic like their bottled paints. Spray a light sealing coat (and I do mean light) and let it dry before applying more light coats.

If you said you were airbrushing Tamiya X-22 clear, I'd say go for it - absolutely no problems at all, BUT the Tamiya Clear in the rattle can is an entirely different animal.

Good luck.

Phil!  You just saved me!  Thank you!  I will be sure to build up the light mist coats so as not to ruin the paint job underneath.  With the spray can of the Tamiya clear, will there be any problems using setting solutions (MicroSol)?

 

Eric

You might want to let the clear coat cure for a day or so before you apply your decals, but you shouldn't have any issues with MicroSol.  Then lay a coat of Future over your decals before you give it the final flat coat.

Eric, as a pre-cautionary measure... I would suggest you test the painting technique on some scrap first. Why? Lacquer is sometimes a terrible beast when sprayed on top of enamel and can blister it up on you. So unless you're going for the krinkle look...

Others may have done it with no problems. But with the way my luck goes, I never get a  chance to break the rules. 

Better safe than sorry. 

I'm from the oldddd school.
I start with enamel, I finish through with enamel.
I start with lacquer, I finish through with lacquer.
I haven't tried those water colors yet, oop's sorry, acrylics hehe.

You guys just all saved my hide!  Due to my lack of free time I've been working on this B-1 for my brother-in-law for the past year or so.  I'm in the home stretch and I can't afford to ruin the thing right now.  I will gingerly apply the Tamiya clear gloss from the spray can, wait a day (two weeks will probably be more like it based on my schedule), apply the decals, let those set for another week or more, then here comes my next question.

 

I'll probably want to apply a flat or satin coat over it when all is said and done.  Can I use the Testors flat coat out of the spray can OVER the Tamiya clear gloss from the can?  I would apply the clear coats using my airbrush but my compressor is out of commission for a moment.  I'm limitted to using only what's available in aerosol cans for my clear coats.

 

Again, I can't tell you enough how you all have been life savers.  You folks are wonderful!

 

Eric

 

PS.  I'll really try to post a few pics when this behemoth is done!

     All will be compatable- if- you understand the following: what will ruin one coat or the other when combining coats of enamel/acrylic/laquer is the fact that whatever is underneath what your currently spraying has not "Fumed off" - in other words the paints carrier is not done drying, and is releasing fumes that may affect any coat on top of it. oil based -enamel- (testors) will take the longest of the three.
 laquer or solvent based paint is extremely fast drying as are acrylics. another rule of thumb is gloss is slower than flat- across the board.


   all this means is allow plenty of time for everything to dry if you going to mix and match types  of paint. smell your model after letting it dry - at least overnight. if you catch a hint of paint it's probably not totally done drying I try to wait a week- just to be safe. compatible paints have much less likelyhood of doing this - the layers can "Absorb" the fumes let us know. Cheers -J

Using Tamiya clear gloss over enamels should be tottally safe, so long as you let the enamels dry thouroughly, especially gloss enamels.  However, the alcohol in Tamiya can disolve Testors Laquer clear coats, such as Dullcote and Glosscote.  Testors mentions in their Tech. Manual to strip it's laquer coatings, use 70% rubbing alcohol, an ingredient in Tamiya's acrylics and thinner.  

For applying over regular enamels-once the underlying enamel is cured, spray your Tamiya, you shouldn't have a problem.  I've done this on more than once occasion, and I have had no problems or dissaster stories to speak of.  I'm preparing to airbrush Tamiya clear gloss over a enamel- painted model today!  Go for it!

I can't thank you guys enough.  Perhaps my current lifestyle is saving my hide from ruining a good model.  By that I mean with my loads of mandatory overtime at work plus the demands of the family life, I now do a step or two on a model and then it ends up sitting for weeks on end by the time I can get to the next step.  The model has been sitting now, painted, for probably a good three to four weeks so it's probably safe to assume it's ready for the spray can of Tamiya clear gloss.  That doesn't mean I still won't sniff it though.  SSSNNOOORT!  AHHH!!!  I love the smell of a model anytime of the day.  It smells like......victory.

 

Eric