basic clear coating questions

[albireo13]

Being a newbie I plan to use hand brushing with enamel on my first several builds.  First build as an adult so, it will be like starting fresh.
I understand that folks use spray clear coats.   As a kid I never did that.
When do you apply the clear coats? ... over the finished paints? ... after the decals ae applied?
Is a clear coat needed with enamels?

Also, what type of clear coat? ... enamel, lacquer?


Thx.

[macsporran]

I suggest you get a bottle of Future/Pledge or similar (Lakeland Quick Shine etc) acrylic floor polish.

You can apply this by brush and it will self level and dry quickly. It seals anything underneath it - acrylic, enamel etc. I'd brush it on before you apply any decals, then again afterwards - thus sealing them in. It sets very thin and you can apply several coats. You can also apply thin washes of black, grey or brown enamel/thinners to pop out panel lines - again sealed over by the polish and you can apply neat thinners to clear up without damaging your main paint finish under the seal.

The overall finish is slightly glossy and at the final stage you can decide whether you want to apply a proprietory varnish. My favourite is Winsor & Newton Galeria (Matt, Gloss & Satin) but there are lots of alternatives.
HTH
Sandy

[albireo13]

Thanks.  I'll look for Future/Pledge.

BTW, why do you put it on before the decal?
Do folks apply a spray lacquer on top, for a matte finish?
Not sure if a semi-gloss would look good on a plane.

[macsporran]

Hey
You put it on before the decals to give a smooth even surface for the transfers to adhere to. Under the microscope a matt surface shows a very craggy landscape which the decal cannot snuggle down onto, resulting in silvering of clear areas - even if you apply lots of decal settling solution. The polish (or a gloss varnish) fills the valleys and offers a smooth flat surface.

Most people apply a top coat of matt, satin or gloss - mostly by airbrush or spray can - but a lot do apply these by brush instead. The W&N varnishes I mention work perfectly well by brush.
S

[WD]

Pledge/Future/Klear brushes beautifully, however good luck finding it now (if you're in the U.S.) as S. C. Johnson has discontinued it. If you do find a source for it, buy all you can.

Warren

[macsporran]

Johnsons discontinued it in the UK and replaced it with a new 'improved' version which was very smelly, yellowish and did not work well for modellers. However they re-released an 'original' version which works just like the old stuff. Not sure how long this is/was available but I bought a bottle during lockdown at normal rrp.
(In the interim I had been using the Lakeland product which worked fine, but the bottle yellowed a bit over time, although previously varnished models still look fine.)
FWIW
S

[Rob Hart]

For brush painting I recommend the Vallejo Polyurethane Gloss Varnish. It doesn't leave brush marks, dries fast, and can be thinned with water.

[albireo13]

I wonder if standard water based urethane would work.  I have some leftover from woodworking. 
I think I will try that on some scrap sprue to see how it works.

Rob

[KiwiZac]

Be sure to test some on painted parts too - sometimes paints and clear coats can have odd reactions.

[albireo13]

good point.   thx

[albireo13]

Well, I tried using Minwax water based urethane (acrylic) I had lying around and it worked ok.   I painted up some random sprue (enamel paint) and coated it.  It seemed to work fine, although a bit thick.  It could use a little thinning with water perhaps, to improve levelling, but I don't want to make it runny.

A few more questions, before I screw up my first build ...

 When clear coating with gloss, before decals, do you coat the whole model or just where the decals go?

Also, after the decals, do you coat again with gloss or go right to the final matte/satin clearcoat?

I plan to use a satin spray clearcoat at the end.  With WW I planes, spraying the rigging would be a mess, I would think.
Therefore ,I think doing the final spray coat before rigging makes sense.  Thus, the rigging is the final thing I do.
Is this what folks usually do?

Thx

[macsporran]

I'll probably coat the whole model at some stage to give a protective layer over which you can apply decals, weathering, panel lines etc. But after decals I won't necessarily re-do the whole plane, but certainly a whole wing, for example, so you don't get any demarcation lines- a rudder but maybe not the tailplane etc.

I tend to give it a final sealing (gloss) coat before applying top satin or matt coat. I tend to do this after rigging if I've rigged right through the wing and touched-up any tiny blemishes, but I'm spraying in very light, thinned coats, so no build-up on rigging.

There's no definitive, correct way of doing it - see what works best for you. We all evolve with each model we make.
HTH
Sandy

[albireo13]

Thanks.
  I got a nice Eduard Sopwith F.1 Camel weekend kit for down the road. 
Right now I have my MiG which is my re-entry first build.  I will take a crack at what I've learned.
I also picked up a Revell Fokker D.1 1/72 kit.   This will be next build, where I can start playing with a little rigging before I get on to the Camel.

[macsporran]

Go for it!

If you're painting your Mig aluminium, this is notoriously difficult to brush paint. Much better results with a cheap rattle can from one of the automotive shops. In UK, I use Halfords acrylic rattle cans - but you must spray lightly from a foot or more away, otherwise you'll just get a globby mess.

S

[albireo13]

I have a rattle can of the silver paint.  I also just picked up a bottle of Holloway Quick Shine at the grocery store... $6.  Not too bad.  I will try that for the gloss coating.