Dupli-color clear coat

[The Hitman 2007]

I am new to using duplicolor paints and clear, though I think I have already perfected doing the paint part, I am having big problems laying down the clear. It seems that no matter how "light" I go, the clear almost ALWAYS turns out bad, never really clear and takes forever to dry. When I lay down duplicolor paint, I have learned to do 2 light coats and 1 medimum just like the can says and it always turns out great. I do the same with the clear and it doesn't. I'm almost thinking about doing many mist coats with the clear, would that turn out better?

I figured that the clear would be about the same as the paint with laying down coats, I was wrong, its always too thick and runs. Would appreciate any advice on this matter.

Thanks and thanks for reading my frustrations

[klutz_100]

Sadly there are no magic answers to the clear question. But here are some thoughts for you:

1. Many light coats is always better than fewer, heavier coats;

2. If you are getting runs, you are putting too much down in one go;

3. Warming the can in warm water for 5-10 minutes should help you a little;

4. You need to either:

a) Experiment with one medium until you learn to get it to work for you; or
b) Experiment with different mediums until you find one that works for your style of painting.

5) It is possible to get good results with anything (with practice) but personally I think Duplicolor clear sucks big time I myself prefer Gunze Mr. Top coat and Mr. Super Gloss.;

6. Read this thread (15 down the list from your post) and search the forum for other posts bout clears to get ideas;

7. EVERYONE has their own favorite clear coat and method of polishing and, of course, EVERYONE'S is the best

HTH

[Hawk312]

Originally Posted by The Hitman 2007

I am new to using duplicolor paints and clear, though I think I have already perfected doing the paint part, I am having big problems laying down the clear. It seems that no matter how "light" I go, the clear almost ALWAYS turns out bad, never really clear and takes forever to dry. When I lay down duplicolor paint, I have learned to do 2 light coats and 1 medimum just like the can says and it always turns out great. I do the same with the clear and it doesn't. I'm almost thinking about doing many mist coats with the clear, would that turn out better?

I figured that the clear would be about the same as the paint with laying down coats, I was wrong, its always too thick and runs. Would appreciate any advice on this matter.

Thanks and thanks for reading my frustrations

I use duplicolor clear on my models almost exclusively. Both the Camaro and the Corvette in my sig have about 10-12 coats of duplicolor clear. I usually start with light mist coats as well, with about 10 minutes between each coat. After about 4 coats, I usually go pretty heavy.
I noticed you said "never really clear". Is it possible you are painting in a humid area? Duplicolor clear is very susceptible to humidity, and it needs to be really dry weather when you are spraying.
As for drying times, I usually wait a month to sand and rub out, but it is dry to the touch in a few days.

[The Hitman 2007]

Well, I finally found out how to get it to work right, atleast for me. The spray can always seems to spray out a ton of this stuff, even holding the model an arms length away from the can. So after alot of reading, I thought about decanting it into my airbrush jar and doing it by airbrush, great results. Nice thin spray, like it should be. The can I was using is one of those big tall 11 ounce cans, and it spray it out in what seems like a straight line, i think that was the problem.

[Hawk312]

Originally Posted by The Hitman 2007

Well, I finally found out how to get it to work right, atleast for me. The spray can always seems to spray out a ton of this stuff, even holding the model an arms length away from the can. So after alot of reading, I thought about decanting it into my airbrush jar and doing it by airbrush, great results. Nice thin spray, like it should be. The can I was using is one of those big tall 11 ounce cans, and it spray it out in what seems like a straight line, i think that was the problem.

Wow. That is definitely not right. Sounds like it might have been a defective can, or the nozzle was loose. Normally, it is very, very hard for me to get the clear coat to run. I have had a can or two that sprays out very rapidly, but I found that pushing the nozzle down further onto the can normally fixes that.

[MidMazar]

Klutz explained it great. I tend to use dupli clear on a lot of builds. I always try to only clear over other laquers, but i had good results with going over tamiya cans. As far as spraying, like klutz stated more mists coats are always better than heavier coats. In the end the paint and clear don't have to look great, polishing the paint is what matters to me.

[rsxse240]

Well Hitman, the further away from your model you spray, the worse the paint will look due to the fact that (especially lacquers) the paint actually dried while in the air, and when it hits your model, it is in a tiny little sticky ball causing it to leave a very rough surface. if you spray to close, you get runs, and drips.

It sounds to me like you need to figure out a technique that works for you on the clear coat. I too am plagued by this dilemma as I have not used spray cans in about 10 years, and have come across some great colors that are only available in spray form, so I must re-learn! I have found that rubbing alcohol takes duplicolor and tamiya paints off in just minutes (I use 91% isopropyl). anyway, just keep practicing.

oh, one more thing. If you warm your cans, make sure they are cooled back down to the ambient temp you will be spraying in so you don't have to worry about the can temp changing while you are painting thus causing undesired effects in your paint. Usually if you just set the can of paint in your paint booth the night before, you will be fine. One reason I warn you...and everyone else... about this is that can pressure is elevated when you heat it up, causing the propellant to become agitated thus building even MORE pressure, and more paint will spray out as a result, but when you are about done with your paint job, the can will be cooler, and less paint will be coming out. Also different temps can actually effect the color outcome of the paint job.

These are all things I recently learned when I was in contact with Valspar paint company about my problems using their Kustom Kolor paints, and as of yet, I have no great paint jobs with their paints, but the advice I got from them has helped emmensely with the other paints I'm using.