10-01-2016, 01:08 PM
Here's the procedure for applying clear finishes, to which Matt refers:
After the paint has cured for several days, it’s ready for lettering. I generally use dry transfers, so no clear coat is required on the flat Floquil paints. When using decals, I airbrush all of the area to be decaled with a fairly shiny semi-gloss finish - usually the cab sides, tender sides and rear, and air tanks and cylinders if they’re to receive lettering for test data. This finish, of course, is allowed to harden fully before applying the decals.
Once the loco has been lettered, all areas which previously received a gloss coat for decal work get another gloss coat - this gives a uniform finish to the area, as the gloss of a newly-applied decal isn’t necessarily the same gloss as the surface upon which it’s applied. When that has fully cured, I apply various clear finishes, again, applied without masking. The cab and tender sides and rear get a spray of fairly shiny semi-gloss, while the boiler, smoke box front, pilot, cylinders, and appliances receive a coat of “less-shiny” semi-gloss. An even flatter semi-gloss is applied to the running gear and frames of the loco and tender. The tender deck and interior of the coal bunker get an overspray of Dullcote, while the firebox and smoke box get no clear coat, as, to my eye, the dead flat finish of Floquil gives the effect that I want.
After those finishes have fully cured, add whatever weathering effects you want, but don't, when done, over-coat it with a clear matte finish: after all, prototype weathering was initially deposited on those glossy-painted surfaces, and while it did gradually dull the glossiness wherever it occurred, that shine would be somewhat visible through the dirt until the weathering got fairly heavy.
Wayne
After the paint has cured for several days, it’s ready for lettering. I generally use dry transfers, so no clear coat is required on the flat Floquil paints. When using decals, I airbrush all of the area to be decaled with a fairly shiny semi-gloss finish - usually the cab sides, tender sides and rear, and air tanks and cylinders if they’re to receive lettering for test data. This finish, of course, is allowed to harden fully before applying the decals.
Once the loco has been lettered, all areas which previously received a gloss coat for decal work get another gloss coat - this gives a uniform finish to the area, as the gloss of a newly-applied decal isn’t necessarily the same gloss as the surface upon which it’s applied. When that has fully cured, I apply various clear finishes, again, applied without masking. The cab and tender sides and rear get a spray of fairly shiny semi-gloss, while the boiler, smoke box front, pilot, cylinders, and appliances receive a coat of “less-shiny” semi-gloss. An even flatter semi-gloss is applied to the running gear and frames of the loco and tender. The tender deck and interior of the coal bunker get an overspray of Dullcote, while the firebox and smoke box get no clear coat, as, to my eye, the dead flat finish of Floquil gives the effect that I want.
After those finishes have fully cured, add whatever weathering effects you want, but don't, when done, over-coat it with a clear matte finish: after all, prototype weathering was initially deposited on those glossy-painted surfaces, and while it did gradually dull the glossiness wherever it occurred, that shine would be somewhat visible through the dirt until the weathering got fairly heavy.
Wayne