The Little World

I tend to gloss over many things; my qualifications, my time spent in the chorus line of Le Crazy Horse*, the mysterious mounds in the back yard… And I now religiously gloss over my models in preparation for decaling. I have been caught by silvering too many times to take it lightly.

The problem of which glossing agent to use was what bothered me for a long time. I tried out a number of options, and some of them were pretty bad. Don’t let anyone tell you that the paint cage at Bunnings is a fit place for a scale modeller to shop – they sell good products but the coatings they have in spray cans are better suited to 1:1 than 1:72.

The hobby shop clear coatings have also been a trap, but not because they were the wrong things – because I applied them wrong. I have gone through a series of blunders and mis-judgements in regard to varnishes and clear coats over time. I daresay I will do more, but the aim is always to do them only once.

A bad day is the first error. You need not and should not spray on a wet, humid, or cold day. It will affect the clear coat.

Too much spray is the second error. What may be fine in three thin coats is terrible in one thick one and will negate all the modelling skills that you put on the job.

Too much hurry is the next booboo. If the coat looks good, go off and drink beer. Come back in two hours and look again. If it needs 24 hours to harden, give it that day and don’t keep prodding it to see.

Too much slow thinner is the final trap. If you spray thinned clear, that is fine, but you are hitting whatever is under it with thinner, and this may sink in and dissolve the colour coat. Go thin, go light, then go away.

I now use a lacquer gloss for preference as it sets faster than the acrylic version. More expensive, but surer hardness.

Note: the vaunted clear floor polish method seems to peel up on me if I try to use it for intermediate varnishing. I do occasionally brush it on an area that has been decaled if I want to maintain gloss overall. Some full-size museum planes are polished like silverware.

* Though I do treasure the jewellery given to me by admirers…