quick little question, not answered clear in FAQ

might need to add:

After Painting, how long to wait, until clearcoat?

depends on the type of paint and type of clearcoat

Follow the Laquer, Enamel, Acrylic rule as described in the FAQ. Now with that in mind, there are several ways of doing it.

If the clear is the same type as the paint, you can either shoot clear immediately after the final color coat or wait until the final color coat cures (up to 2 weeks) before shooting clear. If you shoot clear right away, the clear and color coat will gas out and cure together; fine. If you don't shoot it right away and put clear on before the color coat has cured, the clear will be ruined as the bottom layer tries to gas out.

For mismatched paints e.g. enamel color covered with acrylic clear, you must let the color coat fully cure.

For best results use the same type, preferably the same brand. Boyd's clear over Boyd's enamel, for example.

You can even slowly mix clear into your paint as you apply the final color coats. Let's say you plan on putting 10 coats of paint (who really counts these things?). On coat #8, add a bit of clear to it. On #9 even more clear. Coat #10 could use a lot of clear, say 75% clear to 25% paint. Then follow up with the pure clear coats. Only do this with same type/brand paints/clears and make sure they are indeed the same type!

As a side note, pearl colors are almost always duller than solid colors so a clear coat is usually a necessity. Don't buy a pearl color without picking up a bottle (or can) of clear to go on top of it. Otherwise you'll go nuts color sanding and polishing it and wondering why it isn't getting shiny.

r

whoops, sorry, i used Tamiya Black spray Laquer

and Tamiya Clear coat..

so i guess ill wait it out.. 2 wks

008:
when u say immediatley, do u mean, once u spray the last color coat, to go grab the clear and spray it? like when th paint is still wet?

Tamiya clears can be sprayed 30-60 minutes after the final color coat or 30 days after the final color coat. :)

Thanks guys, I wasn't 100% clear on that either..(no pun intended)

Originally posted by fullbloodchop01
008:
when u say immediatley, do u mean, once u spray the last color coat, to go grab the clear and spray it? like when th paint is still wet?

Well, not that fast but yes immediately after the color coat. Give it a few minutes to "flash", which is about the time it'll take you to quickly clean your airbrush, switch color bottles, or shake the rattle can. Basically you don't want the paint to start curing before you put on another wet coat or the drying times will be different. It depends on the solvent you used to thin the paint. Some solvents will flash faster than others. A paint has "flashed" when it won't stick to your finger, but don't test it that way. ;)

damn, if i only knew.... i could paint 5 mins after..



AHH now i have to wait like 3 wks?

IMO Who cares? Maybe it is a mistake what I do.

I just clear whenever I want to. :D Nothing bad has happened to me b4.

I say go right ahead. I think shorty cleared his JDM civic the day after and nothing happened to him.

The only thing I make sure when I clear is that the the company who makes the paint I used is the company I will be using for the clear.

Did that make sense?

Ive sprayed Tamiya clear on a few after painting with tamiya paint and nothing bad happened. I would listen to everyone else though, they're a lot more experienced than me.:)