Help with Gloss Aluminium Paint please

Hi everyone, I've never been entirely lucky when it comes to silver paints. I've use many other colors and have been able to get a consistant finish and a good shine. One color that seems to annoy me the most these days is the Tamiya Gloss Aluminium. I just finished painting a KPGC10 in Gloss Alu, the paint originally went on quite consistant but without the shine like a lot of the other colors would have. I wasn't too fussed coz I know with a nice thick coat of clear it'll brighten up nicely. So after everything was nice and ready, I decided to finish it off with the clear coat. When I sprayed the clear, some part of the silver went darker and others went weren''t affected. So the end result is that there wis a faint patchy look to it which really annoyed me.

The last time I used silver leaf I ahd the same problem, but I got around that by not touching the paint at all and go straight to clear. But this one, I kept everything clear, and it's still coming up with that problem. I'm planning on making the GTR Z tune soon and I don't really want to be bitching about this problem again. Anyone know of any solution to this? is this happening because the force of the spray of the clear coat is inconsistant? would it help if I spray further away allowing a finer mist to "settle"? I find that spraying close usually give a much better finish and easier job of polishing later on.


thanks

Full info please. ALWAYS give as much info as you can- otherwise nobody can do anything but guess about what's going on and how to help.

What clearcoat are you using, and how are you applying it?

From what you've said, I'm guessing that you're clearing with TS-13, spraying from the can? And that you're applying your nice thick coat of clear rather quickly (all at once, or at least all in one afternoon)?

It sounds like the clear is being applied too wet and heavily, and that it is dissolving the paint under it. When this happens, the paint softens/reliquifies and the metallic bits that had gone down nice and even move about in random ways- changing the appearance of the paint in random patches. You cannot spray lacquer clear in heavy, wet coats- especially not over metallics or decals. It must be applied in many light coats, with an our or two between coats. Otherwise it will dissolve whatever it is being sprayed over.

sorry....yeah it's the TS13 clear coat from Tamiya. Normally, with other models thats NOT silver, I usually use one coat of clear and spray it nice and close to give that shiny thick and smooth looks rather than spray 2-3 coats. Usually I find that doing a few coats furthe away, some times you get that rough finish which takes a while sand down and to clear up. But I guess in this case I don't have much of a choice but to use multiple light coats of clear.

I did a 350Z in red and had a one thick coat of clear and that came out amazingly shiny and was hoping for the same result with the silver but that didn't work out too well.

thanks for the info, I'll do a quick test on the discarded model to see if it works.

The idea is to build up light coats first so that the paint layer becomes protected with the clear. Then you're free to start doing wet coats as the clear only risks attacking the clear layer that's already beneath it.

The TS-13 is 'burning' through the silver because it's too 'hot' It attacks the paint layers and the metallic particles pool up and create shadows and darker spots. Forget light coats, mist coats, drying between coats. Throw the TS-13 in the bin, get a more gentle clear and your problems will be gone.....