searching for clear acrylics

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 12:36 pm

Hey guys,
I just received a couple decals from jbot and he told me not to use an enamel clear coat to seal them. IÂ´ve had disastrous results with enamels combined with my SMT Y-Wing decals.
So IÂ´m searching for a clear acrylic paint that is easy to get (Tamiya, Testor or Revell). It should be matt not glossy. And please donÂ´t tell me to use future. Can anyone give me an advice?
Thanks in advance for your input!

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:51 pm

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm pretty much in the same situation. I'd like to get opinions about Hannants Xtracrylix varnishes too. Because I happen to have bottles of satin and matt, I just sprayed a little test with them. Are they definitely water proof once dried? I will test it myself though, when it's dry...
Suggestions on glossy coats would be appreciated too. Other than Future...

krako · Post by **krako** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:01 pm

Hobby Lobby carries clear acryllic coatings in spray paint cans. They've got gloss, satin and matte finishes. I've never used them, so I can't vouch for their quality.

Kylwell · Post by **Kylwell** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 2:25 pm

I'm quite fond of Testor's clear matte acrylic. Model Master acryl 4636/Flat Clear Acrylic. They also make a semi-gloss that's perfect for aircraft.

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:30 pm

I tested the Hannants Xtracrylix matt & satin varnishes. They seem to be pretty good stuff. I'm not yet totally sure about the toughness of the surface. But it's very likely I'll be buying bigger bottles of all those varnishes.

tetsujin · Post by **tetsujin** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:46 pm

You don't want to use future. I don't have a problem with that... but why?

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 3:52 pm

tetsujin wrote:You don't want to use future. I don't have a problem with that... but why?

As for me, I was told today it's so problematic stuff. Until that I was thinking to use it with Tamiya flat base as matt coat. I must say I don't understand why some people keep praising it and others don't. It gives me really hard times to know what should I do. I have tested Future, and it's hard to get an even coat. But I thought it's just a matter of practice and ab settings. Now I'm not sure about anything. Except the Hannants stuff seems to be quite good.

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 6:16 pm

I donÂ´t use future cause IÂ´m living in Austria so itÂ´s quite unlikely IÂ´ll find it here and if it should be available it would likely have another name.
BTW, I used enamels till now, and when I played around with some models too much there was some strange dirt accumulating on edges that seemed to be stuck on the clear coat cause it got a little warm I guess. Is there any clear coat that will be 100% touch-proof?

Edit: I found this:Link
Is this stuff good? It looks like white, is it really clear? Anyone know this stuff? And can it be thinned with water?

Post by **TER-OR** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:38 pm

Yo, Darth.

Future is marketed in Europe as Johnson's Kleer.
Thin a little with some water and isopropyl alcohol, apply thin coats at fairly high pressure and you'll be OK.

But if you don't want to try that, the Acryl and Gunze and Tamiya clear gloss coats are all good. They're diluted acrylic - essentially the same as Future/Kleer.

Apply those decals over a good gloss coat, and seal them with more gloss. I'd avoid the lacquer-based gloss coats over the decals - I think it's too hot.

There's another product you should be familiar with when you're using the aftermarket decals. Microscale makes Liquid Decal Film. Brush this over the decals before cutting them off the backing. It will provide a bit more substance for the decals.

Tamiya or Gunze Flat Clear can be added to any of their paints to flatten them. It can be added to Future to flatten it.

I find the Acryl Flat a bit more of a Satin, same with Microscale. To be fair, I haven't used them in a long time and may have improved my technique since. I do like the PolyScale flat a LOT, but find you have to apply thin coats - it should never look shiny or pooled while applying. Less is more - and a second coat is easy enough to apply. Gunze is OK too, but sometimes I have found problems with white specks. So, I'll stick with the PolyScale. Testors and PolyScale should be the same thing, though....

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:05 am

TER-OR wrote: Future is marketed in Europe as Johnson's Kleer.

Actually, it's under different name in every country. Over here it's just Johnson's plastic gloss varnish. In Finnish of course.
Darth, here you can very likely find out what is it in Austria. http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:51 am

Is Microscale Flat coat good? I found it here and it sounds quite promising. They also have other Microscale products which IÂ´d like to have...I think IÂ´ll go for them.

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:23 am

Actually, I was recommended to get Microscale flat clear, by a professional model maker... They sound really promising indeed. I'm very interested to hear about them too. I will order them if people say it's great. Though, I believe the recommendation I got already. Yeah, and the gloss & satin also are good???

Umm, how much is 1 oz. in millilitres? Oh well, I have some kind of idea of that.

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:06 pm

1 oz = 29,573 Milliliters (in America)
1 oz = 28,413 Milliliters (in Britain)
I guess they mean the american amount. IÂ´ll get at least two bottles of the clear coat cause I need it so often anyway. They should sell it in bottles of 1 liter!

BTW, on the page I linked to above, they also have micro sol and set which I also intend to order. WhatÂ´s the difference between them?

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:09 pm

Are you going to order it from Bare-metal? I just tried, but it seems to be so that international orders must be emailed. I guess I'll do that then. I take 2 bottles of every clear coat, and micro weld, kristal klear & decal set too.

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:17 pm

Yeah I found no other easy source they seem to be perfect. IÂ´ll send them an email a little later. The promising aspect with these clear coats is that theyÂ´re said to be very durable. The clear enamels I used till now always got a bit sticky after some time....you know the zoom-around-the-room factor is very important for me!

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 12:24 pm

Yes, that's what matters to me too a lot. That they can take handling properly. It's pretty hard to find the "right" supplies sometimes. I'm really looking forward to getting these. I mail them today too. 8)

Post by **TER-OR** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:49 pm

http://www.spacemodelmania.com/models/w ... chlist.doc

That's my decal watchlist from a few years back. I do need to update it, but I keep saying that....

I explain the two types of decal setting solutions there.

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:50 am

I need advice where to buy Microscale products online. International order friendly shop. Bare-metal is not so easy place to get the stuff. I mailed them but didn't get answer, yet at least. But I'd like to know about alternatives. I prefer pay pal payment.

I would appreciate help.

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:48 am

WouldnÂ´t it be great if the SSM store would carry this stuff?

(hint hint

)

BTW, howÂ´s that? On the right side of the page click on "Microscale". They seem to accept paypal and money order which is important for me.

Sdf-1 · Post by **Sdf-1** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:34 pm

That might work. Thanks Darth!

I was going to order some bare metal tools also, but they're not sold on that place. I need to think about it. I'm not sure about those shipping costs either. I'm quite n00b to online buying...

Post by **TER-OR** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:14 am

www.squadron.com carries microscale products.