Global Scale Modeller

Finished painting a car body with Tamiya Acrylic paint (X-1 Black). Looking for advice on Gloss Coat to use. Do I need to stick with an acrylic gloss or can lacquer based gloss be used?

yes you can use either of those clears.
Acrylic or lacquer based with Tamiya are fine…just careful with decals as they can wrinkle with too much lacquer thinner

You can dilute and spray Tamiya jar paints with a good lacquer thinner (like Mr hobby levelling thinner) and it sprays so well you won’t go back to Tamiya diluents.
You can decant Tamiya TS spray paints out of their can into a jar and spray those colours through your airbrush
I could go on, but it isn’t what you asked so I will shut up

Twokidsnosleep wrote: Sun Sep 03, 2023 6:53 am yes you can use either of those clears.
Acrylic or lacquer based with Tamiya are fine…just careful with decals as they can wrinkle with too much lacquer thinner

You can dilute and spray Tamiya jar paints with a good lacquer thinner (like Mr hobby levelling thinner) and it sprays so well you won’t go back to Tamiya diluents.
You can decant Tamiya TS spray paints out of their can into a jar and spray those colours through your airbrush
I could go on, but it isn’t what you asked so I will shut up

Agree on the above, just don go for anything more exotic than a lacquer gloss. Avoid anything hotter like a 2K clear as you will then run the risk of it eating into the acrylic paint.

2k clear isn’t hot at all and is safe over acrylics and most other paints.

Paul wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 11:00 pm 2k clear isn’t hot at all and is safe over acrylics and most other paints.

I always thought it was, thanks Paul. Its not something I use on aircraft and tanks. 2K is the stuff you use on your cars, yes? I don't go any further then Aqua gloss and that's only really as a base for washes.

Stokesy44 wrote: Tue Sep 05, 2023 7:35 am

Paul wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 11:00 pm 2k clear isn’t hot at all and is safe over acrylics and most other paints.

I always thought it was, thanks Paul. Its not something I use on aircraft and tanks. 2K is the stuff you use on your cars, yes? I don't go any further then Aqua gloss and that's only really as a base for washes.

Surprisingly the 2k is far safer over decals on a vehicle than the Tamiya or Mr colour clears
I have not ever wrinkled decals with 2k, but certainly have with the other two company's stuff as you have to get the thinner levels higher to thin them enough to let them spray properly.

I have been asked to do some 2k clear by my son….I am helping him re-paint two mountain bikes he bought at a cop auction.
He purchased this from Amazon:


So I had to sandblast some parts to get them clear of crappy paint



Some Alclad filler primer


For the knob, it was silver and then Tamiya clear red+ this 2k from the spray can


The air valve part was spray can black and then the 2k clear


Also did the forks


So that is a good option as a relatively inexpensive and surprisingly good spraying 2k clear right from a spray can
I prefer using this stuff and my airbrush for model projects mind you

That 2K clearcoat in a can has worked really well. Wonder if it would be as good on a mode car body?

(Probably a dumb question but - why does a mountain bike have an air valve control?)

RangerNeil wrote: Fri Sep 15, 2023 10:01 am That 2K clearcoat in a can has worked really well. Wonder if it would be as good on a mode car body?

(Probably a dumb question but - why does a mountain bike have an air valve control?)

I believe it is a shock travel adjust or something like that
Spray cans are still pretty wasteful but when you don't have another option...
This particular clear sprayed extremely well, smooth with no sputtering
I might try it on a car body just to see; large spray volume is a problem though and so easy to get runs and best done outside