Gloss Clear. A/B OR Can?

[Rockin' Rob]

I love the Tamia clears in spray cans. But they are getting harder to find. Basically you got to be right there when the shipment comes in. So then I started buying the x-22. The only reason being that's what they had. Now, This Thread is about gloss clear so you can do decals and panel line. Man I hate having to break out the airbrush for clear. Is anyone else feel the same way? You got to put so many coats on. I sprayed my plane with my airbrush and I swear I had to do three coats before I even felt good about it. And I'm still like that isn't right it's just not going on thick enough and then you spray and spray and spray and you think that's enough. So you let it dry and put on a panel line and it bleeds through the paint or spreads through the paint like there's no gloss clear there at all. Never happens with a spray can. Missed on a light coat let it glaze and then give it a couple good heavy and you're done. See what I mean in this picture? How the panel line kind of soaked in.? This is what ruins a good model. I guess I'm going to be like every other a****** out there. When they get a shipment of gloss clear spray cans maybe I should buy them all? Just saying.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Here's the picture

 

[wjbrandel]

I use both ab clear and can clear usually rustoleum brand.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

I use both ab clear and can clear usually rustoleum brand.

I'm getting ready to try a can of clear from the hardware store. But is it really okay for modeling? Cuz you don't want it thick enough to fill in the lines. That's my main cause for concern. It's going to hide all the details and I would want one that doesn't yellow. Rust-Oleum. Hmm

 

[wjbrandel]

Your first coat should be a light mist and after that I go about twice as heavy. Just don't let the can linger in one area to long

 

[Edbert]

I struggled with airbrushing clearcoats for quite a while. The biggest problem I was having was spraying too thin. I'd never say I am an expert, but I have been getting better results by applying MUCH thicker coats that I was ever comfortable with before. I do not mean multiple thin coats to build it up, I mean spraying a really thick (by my standards) coat almost enough to puddle it.

I thin the X-22 with Mr. Leveling Thinner which I think helps smooth it out and ******* the drying a little, and so far (knock on wood) have not filled in panel lines with it.

That said, I'm starting to lean towards skipping the clear coat and using lacquers for the base/color coat since they dry a lot more glossy (not fully "gloss" of course) that Tamiya XF which is super-flat. One exception is large decals and or decals with a lot of clear film, those will be prone to silvering without a clear in my limited experience.