The Little World

The top coat on a model is intended to seal the decals in place and give the surface whatever sort of reflectivity you feel is appropriate. Night bombers might have a matt or semi-matt surface while civilian planes get a satin or gloss finish. I am partial to the latter myself for some of the museum airplanes as it shows the colour so brilliantly.

The materials chosen were the same as the first clear coat, with the addition of one that I know to be successful – sort of a control for the test.

a. The Cabot polish. This sprayed as easily as before, with no spotting or fighting back from the orange Mr. Color this time – I guess the surface did not contain any oils to bead it up. But the second coat did nothing to improve the appearance of the little cracks in the first coat – only the orange Mr. Color lacquer example is blemish-free. In all a mixed success – not good enough to trust for small or fine models and certainly not an improvement over the control standard.

b. The Supercheap Auto lacquer coat. This was an interesting effect – in two instances it went on with difficulty as before but eventually gave a glossy surface…but in one case – where it was applied over the floor polish – it reacted down through it and raised up the surface in a sort of crackeleur effect. Most artistic for jewel boxes but disastrous as a model finish.

c. The Mr. Hobby Super Clear UV cut. This worked well, but tended to wrinkle and displace the decal. To be fair to the company, they state this on the side of the can, but that doesn’t stop it from being awkward as you always have a decal somewhere that will be susceptible. If there were no decals, it would be perfect.

d. The control standard used was Mr. Hobby Aqueous Clear Acrylic No. 30. This is sold in the little jars and is frequently out of stock – it is also sometimes available as a small rattle can but these can be very few and far in between with the local hobby shops. I don’t know if the supply problem is the fault of the retailers or the wholesaler.

It sprayed flawlessly over decals and the rest of the chip and gave me the deep gloss I am looking for. No hot chemicals to react with the coatings underneath.

The final conclusion is that El Dorado  – at least a cheaper El Dorado – has not been discovered yet. The aqueous clear is the best bet for most of the coating tasks and I guess I just need to bite the bullet and stock up with it whenever I see it in the shops. I wish it were available in a larger jar.