Top Coat Questions

[G-Slayer]

What kind of clear top coats do you use for white kits, colored kits, and weathered/beat-up kits? And are there any brands you prefer in particular?

[Arvis Taljik]

I've only top-coated one of my kits so far and I used Valspar Flat Clear Coat for all but the clear pieces (which was only one piece). It goes on pretty smooth for the most part, but it can have a tendency to "pool" on the edges of smaller pieces if you spray it too close to the model.

Also, Valspar flat clear coats leave a faint powder on the model but that is easily brushed off with a dry paint brush or small sponge.

[jabman025]

I just use Krylon clear glazes, they have one specifically for arts and crafts.

For weathered kits or battle damage, matte finish

For standard custom job, glossy finish

For mostly white kits, triple thick clear glaze (be careful not to over do it with this one)

[Wedge14]

Also i'm surprised noone said future. It's a floor wax, which is close to a lacquer. You can make it flat by adding tamiya's flat base. It's the 'standard' gunpla clear coat.

I build and paint guitars, so i know alot about finishing. If i do gunpla again. (i currently am not.) I'd use a waterbased acryllic lacquer. Target coatings has some good stuff. Might be a bit expensive. The touch up car lacquer (duplicolour) is great bang for the buck.Krylon has changed their formula far too many times. It should be fine for gunpla, but personally i would never touch that crap. You have no idea if it's even going to be compatible with itself.

If you can only find gloss coats, try roughing it up with 0000 steel wool. It should give the paint a flat/satiny appearance. It'll also add a bunch of tiny little scratches, so practise it on something to see if you like the look.

My advice is just make sure your topcoat is compatible with your bottom coat.

Someone buy me a kit, so i can try this out for myself haha.

[shishio74]

What kind of clear top coats do you use for white kits, colored kits, and weathered/beat-up kits? And are there any brands you prefer in particular?

My favorite top coat/clear coat of all time has to be Mr Top Coat by Gunze Sangyo (GSI Creos). It comes in flat, semi-gloss and gloss. Comes in spray cans.

http://www.hobbywave.com/modeling_supplies/sprays

It sprays on very fine and once coated it is self-leveling so you get a nice smooth appearance.

FFA(Future Floor Acrylic) is a favorite secret of most scale modelers as well. You can also mix with Tamiya Flat Base from what I understand for a matte finish.

Mr Top Coat is starting to make a come back domestically in 2011 in some dedicated online hobby shops. It was banned from shipping from Japan as most bottled paints and thinners in mid 2009 and remains so.

Oh, I'm new here! Hey everyone!