Andrew CJ56 Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Dear Modellers With the demise of Johnsons Klear I have bought the Johnsons Pledge, but I'm a bit suspicious of it. It does not seem to dry as evenly as Klear did and does not seem to behave with oil washes in a predictable way. Am I being paranoid? Maybe I should spray a gloss varnish instead? What do you guys do? Regards Andrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted January 25, 2020 Share Posted January 25, 2020 Havent you heard? Klear is back, Pledge Floor care. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BillS Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 I’m going to get on my Xtracolor rant again. I’m a fanatic about less being better. With the very fine engraved detail on the newer models, all of the coatings ultimately can obscure detail. This hinders the application of washes for one thing. Since Xtracolor is gloss, no gloss coating is necessary. Properly thinned, Xtracolor sprays perfectly with no airbrush clogging, with near perfect feathering between colors and glass smooth when dry. Once dry it is hard as a rock and stands up to masking. It can be wet sanded between coats if need be. The range of colors is expansive. In the US Kitlinx and Sprue Brothers have it though SB has a limited amount. Hannants UK is the distributor and this is their house brand. The drawbacks are availability, long drying time (6-12 hours) and smell.To me though, all this stuff smells be it acrylic, enamel or lacquer. Lately I’ve noticed inconsistency between batches of the same color. Hannants must address this. The bottomline is this: you can’t get a truly gloss finish by spraying layer after layer of gloss whatever on grainy matt paint, not without diminishing detail to some degree. Save yourself a step or two, preserve detail and go gloss! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
seawinder Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Lately I've been using Mr. Color Clear Gloss, thinned quite a bit with their Leveling Thinner. My final flat coats are invariably acrylic - Micro Flat or Vallejo. As far as Xtracolor is concerned, it's just too hard to obtain where I live. As Model Master gradually fades out of the scene, I'm more frequently using Mr. Color or MRP for my main paint coats; they're both semigloss and so need much less clear gloss for decals. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
airmechaja Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Alclad Aqua Gloss. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill Staudt Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Tamiya X-22 for me. I'm a former Future user. One day I asked myself why I was spraying coat, after coat, after coat of Future, only to have my decals silver anyway??? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew CJ56 Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Thanks for your heartfelt replies all! I'm curious to know Seawinder how much you thin the Mr Color clear gloss with levelling thinner? Is that 50:50? As part of my research I have also ordered some Alclad Aqua Gloss! Bill do you thin your Tamiya X-22 before applying and if so by how much? Thanks Andrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bill Staudt Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 I do a 50/50 mix of X-22 and Tamiya lacquer thinner. I also do the trick of spraying straight thinner after to reflow the finish. There's a good YouTube vid by Will Pattison on this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Hubbie Marsten Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 2 hours ago, airmechaja said: Alclad Aqua Gloss. Same here; I left my full bottle of Pledge in the cabinet for the maid to wipe tile floors. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 X-22 is the schznit! I'll never go back to Future again. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichardL Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 16 hours ago, Andrew CJ56 said: Maybe I should spray a gloss varnish instead? What do you guys do? There are many superior hobby specific alternatives, such as Tamiya X-22, Alclad Aqua Gloss, MIG Lucky Gloss, MM Acryl Gloss to name a few. My personal favorite is Gunze Aqueous H30, which is even more glossy than Tamiya X-22: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 I'm with @seawinder, use Mr Color Clear C46. I always thin Mr Color to the consistency of 1% milk, or a little thinner. I never thin by ratios. BTW, I haven't found it necessary to gloss coat Mr Color gloss colors (including FS 1XXXX) in advance of decals; the reason is quite simple, Mr Color paints always go on very smoothly. I will gloss coat over semi-gloss and flat colors, however, more out of an abundance of caution rather than their apparent surface texture. For flat and semi-gloss coats, MSI Micro Flat and Micro Satin work really well. Again, thinned to the consistency of 1% milk or thinner. I thin all paint to that consistency. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Charlie D. Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Probably a bit of an outlier here, but I like testors Metalizer sealer. Levels nicely, dries fast, is a nice semi gloss/satin finish that works fine for decals. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
seawinder Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 2 hours ago, Andrew CJ56 said: Thanks for your heartfelt replies all! I'm curious to know Seawinder how much you thin the Mr Color clear gloss with levelling thinner? Is that 50:50? As part of my research I have also ordered some Alclad Aqua Gloss! Bill do you thin your Tamiya X-22 before applying and if so by how much? Thanks Andrew Hi Andrew. I'm with dnl47: I generally thin by eye rather than measuring. For paint, I go for a consistency that flows like milk down the jar when I touch the stirring rod to the side. When I'm thinning Mr. Color clear gloss for a wet coat, I'll thin more - like skim milk - more watery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shion Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 1 hour ago, dnl42 said: I'm with @seawinder, use Mr Color Clear C46. I always thin Mr Color to the consistency of 1% milk, or a little thinner. I never thin by ratios. BTW, I haven't found it necessary to gloss coat Mr Color gloss colors (including FS 1XXXX) in advance of decals; the reason is quite simple, Mr Color paints always go on very smoothly. I will gloss coat over semi-gloss and flat colors, however, more out of an abundance of caution rather than their apparent surface texture. For flat and semi-gloss coats, MSI Micro Flat and Micro Satin work really well. Again, thinned to the consistency of 1% milk or thinner. I thin all paint to that consistency. If you use Mr Surfacer previously then Mr Color paints (whatever color), all thinned witt Mr Leveling Thinner, you don't need to put a varnish at all before decaling. And If you got silvering (very unlikely), you've just got to delicately puncture the problematic decals with a design knife and paint some Mr Mark Setter on. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
airmechaja Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 8 hours ago, 11bee said: X-22 is the schznit! I'll never go back to Future again. What's a schznit? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mig21gato Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 Micro Gloss, it can be brushed with an soft "artist brush". Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I think the most interesting part of this is you all seem to be saying you go with the same gloss coat no matter what paints you use. I cant imagine you all find just one manufacturer supplies all the colours you need. I certainly dont and I use quite a few gloss coats depending on what paint I used. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sheppsea Posted January 29, 2020 Share Posted January 29, 2020 I try to use Mr Color Aqueous paint thinned with Mr Color Levelling Thinner for all my painting and have never needed to put on further gloss coat on with them The other paint I use is Tamyia Acylics and even when thinned with Mr Color Levelling Thinner I don't find it as smooth so use X-22 thinner with Levelling Thinner to clear coat (I also mist a final layer of pure levelling thinner at the end for an extra smooth surface). Something I want to try next time I used Tamiya is to add a little X-22 to the paint and levelling thinner and see if that means I can decal straight onto it 🙂 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew CJ56 Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 Thank you Team! This has been very informative on your recipes. I shall try different combinations and see what wins. Interesting to hear that the Mr Color aqueous and Mr color levelling thinner would obviate the need for a varnish pre-decals Regards Andrew Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dnl42 Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 17 minutes ago, Andrew CJ56 said: Mr Color aqueous and Mr color levelling thinner Just to be clear, Gunze has an Aqueous Hobby Color line and a Mr Color line. I believe the former are water-soluble paints while the latter are lacquers. I only use Mr Color. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted January 30, 2020 Share Posted January 30, 2020 So none of you use Klear any more for decal coating? Everybody switched over and never went back? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spejic Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 I still use it for most kits. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 None. Use a quality semi-gloss paint and do a proper surface prep and you'll safely skip this layer on your model. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
solher1 Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 2 hours ago, Sebastijan said: None. Use a quality semi-gloss paint and do a proper surface prep and you'll safely skip this layer on your model. I’m interested, what do you do to prepare the surface for decals? Juan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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