CLEAR COATING ?

[stu]

HI GUYS
Can anyone tell me can you clearcoat a foam model ??

[Lon]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

HI GUYS
Can anyone tell me can you clearcoat a foam model ??

Stu,

http://www.hobbysquawk.com/thread-437.html

Lots of good information at this thread here at Hobby Squawk.

Lon

[stu]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

Thanks for the info Lon

[ryramZ]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

Check out our Hobby Coat from Beacon Adhesives makers of Foam Tac. You'll find it in the Paint and Covering section under the Parts and Accessories Tab

[Grossman56]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

Has anyone tried Hobby Coat?  I've never heard any feedback on it.  I've used both Minwax and Varathane water based clear coats, I think the Varathane is a bit better of a product because it has a UV protectant in it and it seems to be lightly more glossy.
I get my best results with a foam brush, but have used it with an airbrush as well, good for the final coat. Neither sticks 100% to foam but its pretty good.  Once you painted foam, expect to be doing touch ups here and there.

Grossman56

[Wisconsin John]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

The polycrylic worked great for me on my FMS P-51 Red Tail (2 coats). But let me warn you, you better double check your CG. I had to add 4 oz to the nose to balance out. Always check your CG after painting or clear coating your planes. Hope this helps.
Wisconsin John

[Grossman56]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

Hey John, sounds like great advice!
Also, especially as I just changed the wing in my Mustang, doubly so.
Once I have everything I want on it (The nomenclature decals are on their way), I'll give it one more coat and re CG the plane.  It's something to note that it wasn't something that popped to mind while doing this so thanks for the reminder because I have changed the positioning of a couple of things so naturally the CG could be off.

Grossman56

[Wisconsin John]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

Glad I could Help.

Check out my Hangar 37 Quick Tips on my You Tube Channel (see attached link). If you like it, please subscribe. I will be doing a lot of these quick tip videos in the near future.
Thanks-John

Hangar 37
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdSHL9qqiUlwhDG0wIPOCew/feed?activity_view=3

[doctormike]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

I feel that Varathane w.b. clear coat is a much better product than Polycrylic. Polycrylic tends to bubble and doesn't go on as smoothly as I would like. I also found that if you apply more than 2 coats of Polycrylic the finish gets wierd. It is also brittle. I have had none of these problems with Varathane. A tip.. I have found that the lids in metal cans eventually rust and ruin the contents. I pour my clearcoat into a plastic container to avoid this problem. Doc

[seaviper]

I've been using Valspar gloss and satin clear on my jets. It dries fast and is very very tough.

[Topshot19]

Hobby coat makes your models squeak really loud when they rub on anything. The drive to the field is very annoying

[Grossman56]

Bought a can of Minwax Prof Spar Urethane gloss on the Avanti. I painted all the white on her and, since I bought this Minwax in Billings the last time we were up there, I thought I'd give it a try. Two coats and she has a great shine, even better, I think, than the Varathane and that's really saying something!!
What I want to try is spraying a third coat on her to smooth out the brush lines , not that there's many there, but just to see how far I can push this product. Also seems to work well on canopies as wel. I plane on spraying it on the weekend so I'll keep you informed and see if I can get some decent pics as well!
BTW Doc, this new Minwax has a plastic lid that goes on with a snap, really cool!

Grossman56

[doctormike]

Sounds good. If you don't use the product somewhat quickly the can edge rusts and will ruin it. Doc

[Corsair 167]

RE: CLEAR COATING ?

Has anyone tried Hobby Coat?* I've never heard any feedback on it.* I've used both Minwax and Varathane water based clear coats, I think the Varathane is a bit better of a product because it has a UV protectant in it and it seems to be lightly more glossy.
I get my best results with a foam brush, but have used it with an airbrush as well, good for the final coat.*Neither sticks 100% to foam but its pretty good.* Once you painted foam, expect to be doing touch ups here and there.

Grossman56

It's great stuff........I used foam brush

[Grossman56]

Speaking of clear coats, I'm usually looking for a glossy coat, the glossier the better! With the new Spitfire, I loved the original colors

But when I coated it with Minwax stain finish, it really darkened the colors and left it too shiny.
So I went hunting for Minwax matte finish. It's a rarity out here in Cody, so I had to resort to buying it on line. I recalled that when I used an airbrush to apply the glossy clear coat on one of the other planes, it was duller than applying it with a brush. So taking this bit of info, I applied the matte finish with the airbrush and it dulled it down considerably and lightened up the colors as well. I have one coat on it so far and am looking at giving it three in total, same as I do with the gloss coat. Hopefully that will help get it back to dull and authentic.

When I'm finished, I'll get some more pics so you can see the results. However, from this experience, I would recommend that if you have authentic looking paint samples, Minwax it with some kind of UV protectant in it before applying colors until someone gives us all the definitive answer on a clear coat that doesn't change the color.

Grossman56

[Prowler901]

Hey G-man, what ratio do you use to thin the Minwax for the airbrush?

[Grossman56]

From this mornings results, I don't think you have to go much more than 10 to 1, 10 parts of Minwax to 1 part water. Its pretty thin in the first place. One thing I found that was interesting, run some soapy water through your gun to see whether you have any air leaks on the connections. You can tighten up the leaking spots and run some water through it to flush it out, It helps when its sealed right up, obviously.
Got three coats on the Spitfire and am happy with the results.....



The one thing I'm not thrilled about is the stock nomenclature decals. Best to order them from Callie, see how the stock ones are foggy?

You can see the difference, hopefully, with the Matte finish. Its dulller, of course, but it also helped lighten the brown back up, here's a before shot. Unfortunately, it's beautifully sunny out, but the wind is up, typical Cody, and I don't want any unscheduled take offs, besides, it's colder than H___ as well



Grossman56

[crankestein]

Has that Estes plastic model look.

Don't know much about replica and how detail the airplane is, but seems very realistic to me.

[Prowler901]

Thanks for the info, G-man. Boy, she really looks fantastic. I love the weathering job you did as well. Good work! :Cool:

[Grossman56]

The weathering was airbrushed using a mix of nutmeg brown (Wally World or Ace Hardware craft paint), very thin for the exhaust and gun smoke. Using the same on the bottom an also trying Steve's method of using a rag dipped in the same paint, very watered down. The rest was with Testors Model Master chrome paint and a brush, then using an ordinary graphite pencil through the panel lines, especially the ones under the decals, made the door under the roundel stand out. Then the clear matte finish.

Grossman56