Looking for a new clear flat finish

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I used to use Floquil clear flat, but it didn’t dry to a flat finish, in my opinion. Then I switched to Model Master clear flat lacquer, but had some problems with it. I’m thinking of trying Model Master Acryl clear flat, and I’m looking for suggestions. If anybody uses this, I was wondering if,

  1. Does it dry dead flat?
  2. Have you had any troubles applying it over a sludge wash?
  3. What kind of thinning ratios, type of thinner, and pressures do
    you spray it at?
2

I prefer Polly Scale clear flat acrylic. It’s superior to the MM acryl IMHO. I spray it unthinned. Gives a very nice, even, dead flat finish.

Regards, Rick

3

I’ll second Rick’s suggestion of Polyscale, I would also suggest you strain it before spraying as the couple of bottles I have seem to have bits of grit or something in them. I just use a little screen I got from the tap and plumbing department of my local hardware store, I was amazed at how much crud stayed behind in the mesh the first time I did it.

Cheers…Snowy

4

Ironically, the first clear flat that I ever tried was Floquil, and my experience mirrored your own; it wasn’t truly flat. I then went to Dull Coat, but got irritated with inconsistent results. SOmetimes it was flat other times not, so I too decided to go the acrylic route. I first tried with MM Acryl Clear Flat and was not impressed. It seemed to dry somehwhere from satin to semi-gloss, certainly not dead flat.

Since the highy recommended Polyscale was not available locally, I tried Future flattened with Tamiya’s X-21 Flat Base at about a 4:1 ratio of Future to Flat Base and am pleased with it.

  1. It does dry dead flat, and you can adjust the flatness by varying the ratio of flat base to Future.
  2. I’ve not had any issues with applying over washes.
  3. As with normal Future, you can thin or not as you see fit. I thin mine a bit with Tamiya’s acrylic thinner
5

I have a bottle of Polly s flat thats wait for a project, but up til now I have used humbrol flat thinned 30% with laq. thinner with good effect and never had a problem ever

6

I vote for the PollyS also, I 've used the MM and Testors Dull cote and prefer the PollyS handsdown. As for the Tamiya Flat base + Future, I’ve tried too and would mention you have to get the proportion right, that is enough ‘clear’ - in this case Future vs the flat base, otherwise it will leave a ‘white’ film look on your finish if you have too much flat base in the mix. Lesson learned the hard way!