i am so into modeling now
Question, how do you shoot clear over paint so it doesnt melt the paint? Everytime I try and clearcoat something, it just ruins the paint under it? Not dry enough?
that depends on what kind of clear and what kind of paint underneath....sound like you might be mixing Lacquer with Enamel which is not going to work, most of the time. thats why when painting an old chevy that had laquer, it required a complete skinning before you can put on new non-lacquer finish with a good stable surface.
One of the things that concerns me is that the solvents that are used in current day automotive paints might craze the plastic. Back in the day, we tried lacquer with bad results. .
the old lacquers actually have more solvents than the new urethanes.
the old lacquers had enough solvents to remain wet under the clear ....the clear kinda skinned over to trap the solvents in and appear wet.....thats why cars from the 50s had old paint that was cracked and chalky....the skinned over clear eventually got old and cracked ...letting the solvents escape leaving it dried out and chalky.
the new urethanes work on chemical reaction so no solvents remain....the hardner, hardens the surface by chemical reaction making it a thermoset. thats why once its set, lacquer thinner wont penatrate and lift a urethane finish.
bcoz of the chemical reaction i had a thought that the reaction can warp the plastic model ...and turns out it is thick enough to handle it...i did seal the surface with epoxy sealer before spraying the base and finish coats....the epoxy sealer will act as a barrier itself. the epoxy is catalized so it also works on chemical reation but not as intense as the top coats. Given proper dry or flash times it was made for a very stable surface the whole way through spraying it.
and the mil thickness was never really an issue, the base pretty much covered in two dust coats and the clear took an initial dust coat and only one wet coat......after it shrunk back it didnt drown out any detail......another coat prolly would have. :p
this has given new life to the multitude of nail polish jars i have that i will never wear again. LOL
