You would want to finish your Japanese Fighters in matte finish,most fighters would be matte except your bare metal finishes.A lacquer matte like Alclad,Testors,or Model Master would be fine over acrylics,just allow basecoat to fully cure,and mist on your clear with light coats.
Alclad Lacquer sprays straight from the bottle and is dead flat.
If you prefer acrylic,Vallejo Matte Varnish is okay,however it must be thinned with their thinner and sometimes their flow improver.
Some advice,to make best use of the forum, scroll down and see the diffrent sections,for example this one would be best posted in the Painting Section.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything that Tojo said above. I just have 1 small addition to the subject of Vallejo paints. When using their acrylic paints, I have found that thinning with “Distilled Water” causes NO problems. A 1 gallon bottle costs about $.94 and lasts a long long time. I’ve been using it for years.
Let’s not forget that WW2 Japanese aircrafts were not perfect in paint. A majority of them were pretty beat up due to lack of primers base coat. Look at the photos. Many were badly chipped during wartime in the Pacific Theatre of war.
Like Tojo said, flat for painted WW2 AC and yes, lacquer is fine over acrylics. I like Testers lacqyre but just about any would be fine. There are also enamel and acrylic top coats.
What do you mean durable,are you going to take them in the backyard and play with them,any of those clear finishes are sufficient for a finished model sitting on a shelf,unless you got other plans.
I honestly don’t understand what you’re getting at.
The models I make are going to be handled a lot so durability should be a concern…to me. I don’t know how much hits and nicks it can take before the finish begins to wear away.
Well the models that most of us build are for display,they are fragile,once they are complete they really are not handled except for an occasional dusting or transport to a show.So then I dont know how the finishes will hold up to any kind of abuse.The scale models that I build wont take any “hits” or abuse without damaging them,so what kind of models are you building then ?
To be honest, I’ve never considered the durability of a clear coat, but I suppose like any such ‘protective’ surface, it will wear away the more it is handled. Even if handling alot and are careful not to ‘ding’ the surface, skin oil from your hands will change things - at the very least, those areas touched the most will eventually show a sheen.
Main consideration for me would be accuracy of finish. Military is usually flat, but satin is possible too. I like something in between the two, as dead flat attracts way too much dust - but if you have enclosed shelving (or store your finished models in a box), a non-issue.
Why would you want to handle a finished model a lot? You’re risking a bigger issue like a landing gear strut / tail wheel breaking off, prop blade snapping off, wheel well doors falling off, antennas snapping off, and any delicate parts should be your main worry if handled often, not the durability of clearcoat finish. No matter how careful you are when handling your model kit, you’re bound to break something off or worse, dropping the kit to the floor. Think about that.
The durability of the finish. Not how strong the parts bind to the model.
I’m moving to a place with high humidity and a very warm climate, so I don’t know how the finishes would react. I come from a very…very cold place.
Gear struts, etc are bound to fall off during transportation, so it’s not much of a big deal to me, as I can just clean it up, glue it back on and touch it up if needed.
Unless your model is being handled daily you shouldn’t have a problem with the finish. And the fact that they are in a house so I wouldn’t think there is a huge temperature change from cold area to warm. To be safe you could buy a pair if cheap cotton gloves to handle the kits with
I trealize that this may not be what the OP had in mind, but there are several games out now which use scale models, and while you can buy some models pre-painted, you also have the option with many games to buy unpanted models and paint them yourself. And for some games (especially WWI era air combat games) vivid paint schemes are not uncommon, and as such unsring that the paint is protected and can stand up to some handling can be quite beneficial.