Gloss Clear Coat vs. Matte Clear Coat

Hey, is it possible to put matte clear coat OVER a gloss clear coat? I know it's an odd question, but I'm trying to "ghost" a letter on the hood of a model car that I'm building for a friend's birthday. Her name is Jamie, and I want to put a ghost J on the hood of the car I will build, but I'm going to be using a Cobra Colors 3 part system. As such, I think it would be best to spray the whole car in the color, then clear the whole car in gloss clear with two light coats. After that, I was planning on masking off almost all of the car, except for the J on the hood, and spraying the car in a matte clear coat. Then, after two coats of the matte coat for the J, I was going to finish off the car in a few more coats of Cobra Colors gloss clear. Do you think that would work? And also, do you know of any fairly cheap matte clear coat? My dad can use whatever I don't on his model tanks, so I don't think quantity is an issue. Or is there an easier way to get the effect I'm going for?

Yes, it's possible. AFV guys do it all the time: they spray their model gloss, put the decals on the smooth surface to prevent silvering, and then spray it matte. The only problem could be your clear possibly eating your decals. Though I don't really know how a ghost effect will turn out if you do it like you mentioned.

There is no problem layering matte over gloss or vice-versa, but I doubt this will give you the ghost image you desire. It's better to slightly alter the lightness/darkness of the color coat.

I think it will work fine, and it should give a subtle but definately visable effect. However, do not coat the matte with gloss, as the effect will be hidden. Give the color coat the full treatment of clear gloss, polish, etc- but don't wax. Then, for the last step, mask and apply the matte. Wax it then if you want. Should look a bit like frosted glass.

Try Polly Scale (PollyS) acrylic clear flat- it can usually be found in the model railroad section of hobby shops. If you can't find it, Tamiya clear with a bit of Tamiya flat base will do the same thing. But also, as these are acrylics, don't overcoat them with laquer.

Maybe spraying the J with some pearl powder mixed with clear will give a more noticeable effect?

Maybe spraying the J with some pearl powder mixed with clear will give a more noticeable effect?

The car is pearly...

Well, if you cover flat clear with gloss clear, you'll get just a gloss body.

What's the colour going to be? I'd either very slightly alter the colour, like Bob suggested, or use a different undercoat for the letter, e.g. spray the whole car with white primer and the letter area in grey or even black, depending on the colour.

gloss the car then masked out the letters for the name ... and then maybe spray out the name wif a light layer of smoke? then gloss over again?