Using Clear Paints

[Whiterook]

This is totally new ground for me! I’ve had an itch for civie automotive building of late and am in the stages of learning, as I’m a complete newb in the genre… I built several civie cars as a kid, but never painted them, just built, descaled, and done. So where I am startling my learning curve is as I’d always done it in the past, which is look at forums; a little harder these days as forums have gone the way of the dodobird, but Modelers Social Club (MSC) is a great one, especially where they have a Lot of automotive genre builders!

I noted a build from a fella by the handle of “kwt”, on a ‘64 GTO, and the first post of his thread blew me away! In it, he showed the faint work he’d done, which involved…

Paint is Tamiya Metallic Gray covered in clear blue and cleared.

Mind blowing! 

I remember buying some Tamiya Clear Blue, which as I remember it, was for an aircraft build where I needed it for lens. Honestly, I looked at the stuff and thought, “Man, that’s a lot of paint to own for such a small application!”. However, after seeing kwt’s build thread, it was an “AH HAAAAA!!!” Moment.

I of course, have no clue on use and application yet, but I will… and when I do (along with others’ knowledge here), let’s explore it together!

[Whiterook]

…Oh, and I forgot to mention that last year (or so), I picked up a Tamiya Spray Work Painting Stand and had no idea what the clamps-thingie was used for

[mikeh]

Wow! I can feel my frustration and ocd kicking in just thinking of painting like this.

[Whiterook]

Oct 14, 2024 11:23:00 GMT -5 mikeh said:

Wow! I can feel my frustration and ocd kicking in just thinking of painting like this.

I feel ‘ya!!! I guess at this stage, I am kinda thinking of it in the same way I think of clear coats on military models…maybe a bit of the same concept in it. When I think of high gloss paint jobs on cars, especially when they have those sparkly chips and flecks in them, this is about the best way to achieve that look. I would imagine that a strategic use of opaque paint, followed by a clear colored paint can achieve intersting hues that just an opaque paint couldn’t. And of course, we’re talking about color… in military modeling, it’s pretty subdued, like olive drab and such… not to mention the paint is not typically glossy on that genre subject.