Greetings,
I’m curious what clear flat finish people are happy with these days. I’ve used Microscale and Floquil products in the past. The Microscale I have in my paint box doesn’t seem to flow as well out of my new airbrush. Old airbrush was an external mix and this one is internal. Thoughts?
Thank you
Dave
I like mixing Future Acrylic Floor Finish with Tamiya X21 Flat Base at a ratio of four parts Future to one part flat base. It paints well, although I should mention that I shoot all my acrylics through my external mix Paasche H, and gives a nice consistent flat finish. I prefer it to Testor’s Dull Coat and to Model Master Acryl Clear Flat which are the only other clear flats that I have used.
Andy
I only use Future with Tamiya’s flat base, although I don’t mix it at 4:1, but instead more like 10:1 (I’ve found that with any more flat base and it can turn into a whitish coat instead). I have a bottle of Testor’s flat lacquer coat but I haven’t used it yet, so no help there sorry.
Jon
K.I.S.S. The old standby…Testor’s Dullcoat. Add a little hardware store thinner and dead flat finish everytime.
Ditto KISS and using Dullcoat, also, I use a craft-store spray varnish, a brand called “Tree House”… 11 oz rattle can for about 6 bucks, vs Dullcoat for 3 ozs at about that same price… I also use a flat for airbrushes called “Createx”… Dries dead-flat, great for my figures… I get 'em all at Hobby Lobby… I’m too lazy to mix flat-base into anything, Future or otherwise… I don’t like the way Future looks either, so…
Thanks for the feedback guys. Great ideas! I posted this in my other message but I’m going to make up a storyboard with the various techniques. I’m especially interested in the Future technique. This link is to an article about decals but speak a great deal about finishes. It was interesting so I thought I would put it here too in case you didn’t see it.
http://www.californiamodelworkshop.org/tutorials/decals/decals.htm
I’m not sold on the Testors Dullcoat. I used it years ago and it would “model” on the surface. I really hated that look. Has the product changed or do you have any special way of dealing with that problem? I’m not sure if it was a high altitude thing or something I was doing wrong? Anyway, ideas are appreciated.
Thank you
Dave
multiple light, misting coats, done from about 10-12 inches away.
What Hans said.
Model Master Acryl. Been using it for years and love it.
Gunze TopCoat or Tamiya X-22 + flat base. Gunze is great and does give even flat surface
MM dullcoat laquer thinned with laquer thinner.
Funny you ask… my hobby store stopped carrying my old favorite, “Polyscale Brand” flat.
I’m not sure if it was acrylic, but it behaves like it. They’ve replaced it with “MicroSol Brand”.
I bought Micro Sol Brand “Flat Overcoat” and Micro Sol Brand “Gloss Overcoat”. I recently used these on my airplane models and they worked teriffic. I mixed each 50/50 and added the same amount of water. I sprayed the mixture with my double action airbrush. The finish came out extremely smooth and dried rock-hard.
Greetings, I posted this on the other thread I started.
Greetings all,
I went down to the LHS and picked up a variety of finishes and ran some experiments. Here’s what I came up with. I bought the following material…
Mr. Hobby Flat Base, Tamiya Flat Base X-21, MM Acrylic Flat Base, Microscale Flat.
I could not find Polyscale at my two favorite shops so I wasn’t able to try that. I also did not use any lacquer based finishes because I’m not real fond of Dulcoat.
I painted a sheet of plastic with White Ensign Models dark gray which is an oil based paint. I thought this might show up any hints of fogging the best. I then masked off 2/3 of the sheet and shot a good coat of future since it’s my gloss finish of choice.
Test 1 was based on MM Acrylic Flat. First I thinned it 50/50 with Windex thinking it might be similar to the Polyscale. It sprayed fine but when dry lightened up the base color. It was very flat but gave the impression of a slight fogging. I then tried shooting it with Testors thinner instead of Windex and this produced a better result.
Test 2 was based on Mr. Hobby & Future. This was a disaster. Mr. Hobby does not mix with future. It’s a “solvent based acrylic” and when mixed with future made a gloppy mess.
Test 3 was based on Tamiya Flat Base X-21 mixed with Future. This base is so think I didn’t have very good success deciding what the ratio was. I would guess I started at about 6 parts future to 1 part flat base. The Tamiya base mixes beautifully with the future. I then thinned it with about 20% rubbing alcohol and it shot very nicely from my airbrush. It was slightly on the foggy side (not as bad as the MM Acrylic Flat) but looked pretty good. I then cut it by adding some additional future to the mix and as expected I achieved a semi-gloss finish. I then cut it again which I think proved to be too much future. At this final point it was probably greater than 10:1.
Test 4 was based on Microscale. Clearly my problem from before was that I had not thinned this for my airbrush. So this time I thinned it about 30% with distilled water and proceeded to shoot it over the paint covered with Future. It came out slightly less foggy than the Tamiya/Future mix above but very very close. It’s hard to tell the difference. I then shot it over the paint not covered by Future.
Conclusion - I like the Tamiya flat base mixed with the Future. This should give a more durable finish than the Microscale product. I strongly suggest testing your mix on a sample before shooting it on your finished model to make sure you have the right mix of base to future. What’s exciting about this is the ability to control your sheen. The Microscale achieved similar results and frankly is much easier to use since you don’t have to worry about getting the mixture right. Also you don’t have to worry about getting subsequent coats mixed correctly. So for me I think the right choice is to protect the finished model with Future and then flat coat it with Microscale flat.
I really appreciate the input I received from you guys. It was very helpful and a good learning experience.
Dave
A little food for thought, Luftwaffe fighters were commonly painted in a semigloss finish, some pilots kept them well waxed to wring out the last few kph. Although the paint must have oxidized fast, as most pics look like flat finishes.
Wow weebles,
Thanks for taking the time for all that. I’m new with my airbrush and I’ve experimented too.
In an earlier post I mentioned that I’ve recently used “MicroSol Flat” but that is incorrect. It was “Microscale”. My hobby shop proprietor reccommended it when I complained about not being able to get “Poly Scale” products.
I haven’t had any issues with fogging or haze. I bought Microscale Gloss and Microscale Flat, and they mix without problems to each other or with acrylic paint. I intentionally wanted the top of my model to be a bit sun faded, so I mixed in some acrylic white paint (just a drop or two) and airbrushed it on.
weebles, as a further test I’d suggest storing a few samples in different locations for a few years and taking a look at them. You might store some samples in hostile environments, such as your attic or in a sunny window.
I recently pulled a model out of storage that I had completed in 1990. I used MM enamel gloss white, top coated with MM flat from a spray can. It is now a definite yellow. I didn’t keep the model in an attic, but a cool basement.
For years now I have been using Krylon Clear Matte Spray in the rattle can for flat finishes on my models. I just apply a few light misting coats and get a dead flat finish. What I really like about it is that it is water proof after drying. It will not attack a Future coat and really hides the edges of decals very good to give them that painted on look. Also, it is was what artists spray over canvas to prep or coat a finished painting. It’s served me very well and no need to mix it or airbrush it. I wont use anything else.
Polyscale flat finish. The best.
Can Krylon Clear Matte Spray be sprayed over acrylic paints and clear coats?
I spray it directly from the can over acrylic paint and Future coats with no problems. I use light misting coats and let it dry between coats. I spray it from 6 to 8 inches away. I have never seen it attack acrylic paint or Future.