Help! Tell me what you know about Tamiya TS13 Clear!

[DSM-Mark]

I've applied this clear over a pearl light blue (TS58) paint job before, and came up with a disastrous result! After an initial hour, I looked over the body, and everything looked great. Smooth and consistent color. But, when I looked at it again the next day, there was trouble. Hairline cracks covered the body. I think this is called crazing. I was pretty upset, and put the whole thing away for a while.

Anyway, now I'm back to wanting to finish that model, and I also want to spray a clear coat over a metallic black (TS40) body. I really don't want to make the same mistake over again, so I'm wondering what the proper technique for spraying TS13 is, in order to avoid these hairline cracks from reappearing. From what I understand, TS13 can be very finicky, but I don't remember how so. I've tried a search, but came up with nothing.

Thanks in advance!
Mark

[RallyRaider]

Bad luck man TS13 is very tricky stuff, especially with decals. I've heard that Tamiya recommend either coating within 15 minutes or waiting a month between coats. Your problem sounds like it is due to shrinkage as the two paints dried at different rates. Exactly what time between did you leave between coats and how thick did you lay them? Perhaps you need to apply several very thin coast with 10-15 minutes between them. Then wait a week to allow it to dry before the next coat.

[Macdaddy4738]

actually before clear coating with most clear coat paints you should wait a month or more...more with lacquers and enamels. What happens is the problem you describe...where the paints dry at different rates (this happens more with enamel i belive as lacquers have a little faster drying time) OR crazing happens because the lacquer/enamel paint does not fully gas out. Wait AT LEAST a month before clear coating anything. To be absolutly sure wait a bit longer.

[StephenDeli]

Well I have cleared over pearl light blue on my S2K with no problem. Actually I cleared about a week after the paint coats and my paintjob turned out flawless. Maybe I got lucky...

[ImolaEK]

TS13 is turning out to be a headache for me with Decals. All my Carbon Fiber become horrible when i apply it on hoods, but today when i clear coated a spoiler which has Carbon Fiber on it with TS13 it came out perfect and then i went on to clear a hood and it gave me these horrible stains. Im thinking about changing clear coats. Those hairline cracks also came up on one of my models which i painted with tamiya paint, but over a long period of time, i think since i didn't look at the model everyday.

[Okiemodelbuilder]

Here's everything I know about Tamiya TS-13. First, spray it within 15 minutes of your last color coat or wait 30 days for the color coats to completely dry or you risk the spiderweb cracks that you experienced. Tamiya TS-13 dries at a different rate than the color sprays. That's what causes the cracking.

Second, TS-13 and any other lacquer or enamel clears should be tested before applying over ANY decals. The solvents will attack the decals if you are not careful. When spraying TS-13 over any decals, apply several light mist coats first before you lay down any heavy gloss coats and let the paint gas out 15-20 minutes between coats. This helps to set up a barrier of sorts between the decals and the solvents in the paint.

Third, did I mention TEST on some spare parts when applying clear over decals? It's better to screw up a scrap part than the real thing.

Finally, I use a food dehydrator to force dry all of my paints. That way, if you can't shoot TS-13 right after the last color coat, 12 hours in the food dehydrator at 105-110 degrees and I'm ready to shoot the clear.

Hope this helps,
Marc

[StephenDeli]

All else fails airbrush X-22 or use Testors Clear cote laquers which are really not that bad.

[DSM-Mark]

Thanks everyone! I think my problem was related to clearing too quickly after I applied the color coat. Probably about an hour or 2 after the color coat.

Thanks again!

[Martbee]

Originally Posted by StephenDeli

All else fails airbrush X-22 or use Testors Clear cote laquers which are really not that bad.

In my opinion, the X-22 from Tamiya isn't a great thing for body and other big surface that need manipulation because it's not hard enough (but work great on CF decals though). Which is a pretty big issue... how many time I screwed a model body just by fitting it on the chassis. Fingerprints leaving their marks into the errorfree finish. I hate that.