clear gloss coat

[KEB]

Building a 1/48 Mig-29SMT using MRP Lacquer/acrylic  paints....any suggestions on an alternate gloss coat besides the manufactures?

[Bob Beary]

Tamiya X-22 thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner, about 50/50 at about 15 psi.

 

Bob

[11bee]

Can't go wrong with the Tamiya stuff, I just use their thinner as well.  It's amazing.

[hawkwrench]

1 hour ago, Bob Beary said:

Tamiya X-22 thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner, about 50/50 at about 15 psi.

 

Bob

How many coats and how long does it take to completely dry???

 

Tim

[Bob Beary]

It depends somewhat on the sheen of the paint. the flatter the paint the more coats. Generally two. Also depends on how glossy you want it to be.

 

It dries pretty fast, but I'm never in that much of a hurry. Model building isn't a race. I'd give it 24 hours prior to masking, but I'm sure some do it much sooner.

 

You can spray it on fairly heavily without runs. Beats Future hands down.

 

Bob

[11bee]

48 minutes ago, Bob Beary said:

It depends somewhat on the sheen of the paint. the flatter the paint the more coats. Generally two. Also depends on how glossy you want it to be.

 

It dries pretty fast, but I'm never in that much of a hurry. Model building isn't a race. I'd give it 24 hours prior to masking, but I'm sure some do it much sooner.

 

You can spray it on fairly heavily without runs. Beats Future hands down.

 

Bob

One thing I found with this stuff (at least using Tamiya thinner) is that you need to apply it somewhat “wet”.  If you just dust it on, you won’t get a good finish.  Agreed that it’s much superior to Future.  

[Mstor]

15 hours ago, Bob Beary said:

Tamiya X-22 thinned with Mr Color Leveling Thinner, about 50/50 at about 15 psi.

 

Bob

 

+1 here. I start with a light coat. Let it dry a few minutes (it dries fast), then hit it with a wet coat. Don't over load, you don't want runs. Repeat if necessary to get even gloss coat. Let the wet coats dry for about ten minutes and hit it with a flash coat of Leveling thinner. It smooths any rough areas out by melting the top layer of clear coat briefly and letting it settle down smoothly. I let it all dry at least 24 hrs, though if in a hurry I sure 3 or 4 would suffice.