Are more clear coats better?

[Captain Mark]

Howdy all,

I've had good experiences using a single wet coat of clear on a model, and polishing out to a nice shine.

I was wondering though, if I were to put say 4 to 5 reasonably wet coats of clear on, would the shine look deeper than just a single coat?
Would the deep shine effect be more pronounced if each of the 4 to 5 wet coats were polished out in between?

Cheers for any advice!
M

[RallyRaider]

In my experience no. So long as you have a final glass smooth and shiny final coat that is fine. Too many coats and you can start to get fitment issues. With racecars that have lots of decals I use multiple clear coats to level out the surface. If the decals are thick that means the paint has to be too, five or six coats. Doesn't seem to make much difference to the depth or shine as far as I can see. Although that may be different if you were to use tricky candy and pearls mixed in with the clears.

[p9o1r1sche]

My opinion on this is if you can polish out the single clear coat as it is, you dont need more clear coat. More clear will potentially cover paint and surface defects, but can also cover small surface detail.

Asthetically, I think a thick clear coat makes a model look like a model and not a real vehicle. In scale, the paint should not have a 'depth' to it. I strive for realistic rendering, so I shy away from heavy clearcoat or even metallic paints because the metallic particles are too big to look real in scale. This is only my personal preference, however. I know many people prefer the shinyest and deepest paint possible.

[mickbench]

I totally agree with clear coats are not really needed. I only use clear on pearl or metallic's.

On gloss colours, I polish out the final coat, and it looks just like the real thing.. Clear can make it look like a toy at times. You are better of applying a few extra coats of top gloss coat and polish this out.

I'm not too sure about this clearing of decals. I've never done that either - yet... I understand it can be used to seal them, but at times it sounds like a lot of risk to me, as they could wrinkle up.

[Fkouch]

Originally Posted by p9o1r1sche

I strive for realistic rendering, so I shy away from heavy clearcoat or even metallic paints because the metallic particles are too big to look real in scale.

Amen to that. I'm always saddened when a beautifully built car is spoilt(IMHO) by a big sparkly out of scale metallic paintjob.
However some of the newer metallizers can be used with a candy layer and clear coat and look perfect.

Cheers

Farrokh

[Hawk312]

I think it depends on what you are building. A junk yard klunker shouldn`t have much clear coat. Most race cars don`t have a super deep or glossy finish, so I agree with everyone above on that. If you are just buildling a factory stocker, or just a simple display model that you just want to build quickly, probably just a few clear coats, just enough to ensure you dont rub through the finish, is fine. Especially if you are using enamels which are heavier, thicker, and take forever to cure.

That being said...

This is where I disagree with alot of builders, and will probably get flamed. If I really want a project to be stellar, especially if it is destined for contests (I`ve been building for competitions for 10 years now), I usually use atleast 5 coats of laquer clear, and more than a few times over 12 coats. Does it make a difference? I asked a well respected 1:1 car builder what his secret was to the deep finishes he gets, and he said lots of clear coat, followed by wetsanding, followed by lots of clear coat, followed by wetsanding...etc. Also, if you ask a Zaino enthusiast if applying more coats of Zaino, which is similar to applying more clear coat, to a wetsanded finish gives their car a deeper look, 9 time out of 10 they will say yes.
This could probably be argued forever though. Here are some examples of how the finishes on mine, which I feel are pretty decent, end up:

[Sticky Fingers]

Hawk, man that's some seriously good finishes there - you obviously know what you're talking about. Don't think you'll get flamed!

[sjelic]

I also like nice fat clear coat. Of course it has some down sides like filling every single line and makeing trouble if you add some parts on the body after clear, but you just have to prepare everything before doing fat coats.

[hrmodeler]

That's great finishes Hawk!

I usually do 2 clear coats on my cars. I use auto clear for that.
I usually make one coat than lignt wet sand it and than make another one.

[GerardDM]

Hawk, maybe the best or near-best finishes I have ever seen. I'll follow YOUR advice. :-)

[RallyRaider]

Great finishes Hawk. But people shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that all they need to do is add more clear and their finishes will be as good as Hawk's. It is more down to the technique, time taken to sand, smooth and polish. I still believe that shine is not a function of the number of clear coats, you can get a brilliant shine with just a few. There is no right answer, different things will work for different people