Should I use compound before I clearcoat?

[Junhao]

Hi all.

I have a question here. The last time I used compound on my car body, I rubbed through the paint and I had to respray it. Then I thought about spraying a clear coat to prevent myself from rubbing through the paint. But since my car already has orange peel, should I clearcoat first and sand/rub later or vice versa?

Does clearcoating first then rubbing eliminates the orange peel?

[bigfrit]

Good question... BUMP

[hrmodeler]

You must to polish it first.
Clear coat will cover color and color will stay with orange peel under it.
To remove orange peel you must to polish it, clear coat can't help you with that.

[ShOrtyOC714]

The only thing that clear coat does is, give u that great shine, protects the paint. Am i correct?

[coa03]

Yes, polish the paint first give you a gloss look but don't polish Mica color or metallic color with compound.You must clear coat the mica or metallic color first.

[exhaust smoke]

Use compound to get rid of orange peel first (does not apply to metallic shades). Wash model with light detergent before clearcoating as the compound may react with the clearcoat/affect its adhesion on the paint surface

[freelunch]

You can just clearcoat over the orange peel and then rub it out like you would with regular paint. Still gives good shine.

[God|Zilla168]

question what about decals I caler coat it and it has orange peels what is the best way to do this. The celar coat is first layer, should I do a few more layers?

Oh this is for the tamiya clk gtr tele car so is not like a little decal section is basically the whole car.

Any advice?

I thought of lightly compound the car after the first layer but not sure just yet

[Junhao]

another question...
should I do the window rubber before clearcoating?

[UKSupraboy]

I would also like to know about decals.

Is it paint, polish, decal then clearcoat?

Richie