Tamiya clear coat "burning" through Tamiya base color?

[01svtcobra]

I just painted a tamiya Ferrari Enzo with 2 coats of Tamiya Italian red and I plan to finish it with a few coats of Tamiya TS-13 gloss spray clear coat. I have a fair bit of experience with Tamiya paints and occasionally the clear coat will "burn" the edges of Tamiya color around door seams as well as sharp corners where the base coat is thinnest. I've experimented with waiting several days and then spraying the clear but have had the same results occasionally. Sometimes the clear goes over just great and sometimes it will burn edges just a little showing the color of the plastic. Has anyone else experienced this and are there any solutions??

[RallyRaider]

First up welcome to AF!

Sounds like a variation of the 'TS-13 ate my decals' problem. TS-13 is tricky stuff, I recall reading that Tamiya recommend recoating within 15 minutes or waiting a month!

The standard answer it to use very thin mist coats so the solvents in a more 'wet' coat don't attack the paint/decals underneath. One tactic I've started to use recently is paint the first few coats of clear with an airbrush, building up a barrier before going to town with several thicker, wet coats straight from the rattle can. The airbrush allows much finer control on the delicate bits where it counts.

[nis.k.a.]

Lay down 2-3 mist coats before hitting it with the wet coats. I usually wait at least 7 minutes between coats.

I've tried hitting base with clear 15 minutes after and didn't like the effect. I also don't have the patience for a months time to lay down the clear and then wait longer to start polishing. I have had no problems waiting 5-7 days between base coat and clear. Then another 5-7 days to start polishing.

To each their own.....once you find a method that works.

[01svtcobra]

Originally Posted by RallyRaider

First up welcome to AF!

Sounds like a variation of the 'TS-13 ate my decals' problem. TS-13 is tricky stuff, I recall reading that Tamiya recommend recoating within 15 minutes or waiting a month!

The standard answer it to use very thin mist coats so the solvents in a more 'wet' coat don't attack the paint/decals underneath. One tactic I've started to use recently is paint the first few coats of clear with an airbrush, building up a barrier before going to town with several thicker, wet coats straight from the rattle can. The airbrush allows much finer control on the delicate bits where it counts.

Ahhh! Excellent! It all makes sense now. I've been laying on the initial clear coat to heavily "model master clear coat" style. I think I will wait a week and then go with a few very light layers and finish with a nice solid layer or two. Thanks for the advice! I'll post pics when I'm done. I just finished up the headers with a blend of X-26 Tamiya clear orange and xf-1 flat black. The results look very true to a used burnished exhaust over plated parts.

[DoubleFourValve]

Also be aware of this: I sprayed TS13 clear aprox. 1/2 weeks after the final color coat (also TS) and, sometime later , I´ve got a magnificent cracked finish! It seams that the clear and the base color cure at different rates, hence the "do it in 15 min or wait a month", so the base coat will fully cured when you shot the clear.

[ShOrtyOC714]

This same thing happend to me long ago when i started modeling, i didnt wait long enough for the base coat to dry so it started melting the base coat it i was thinking i sprayed to heavy, but it was also that i did not let it dry long enough. If you are scared of using it again try using Testors or Model Masters High Gloss Clear, it works very well, but has a long period of time to dry, but it has a great shine.