Is it better to spray a coat of clear gloss under an oil wash or filter? I'm going for a really really smooth color modulation along with some color in recessed areas, so i dunno if that's the right approach to accomplish that.

Does anyone have any recommendations for spraycan glosses? I'm without airbrush currently. Also all of the brands of clear gloss I've looked at say that they can be removed with turpentine or thinner. And yet this is the main component of the wash. Will this still work?


Any help is appreciated
Neu

Hi

For a pin wash (wash in the panel lines) a gloss finish is best as it will spread out if you trye it on a matte finish.

A filter (all over wash) works best on a Matte finish

As for clear coat you will need to find an acrylic one so its not affected by the spirit used in your wash. If you can have a look in your local auto store as a lot of car paints are now acrylic. I know in the UK Halfords do a good Clear for Plastic.

Hope this has been of help

Paul

Sorry to disagree with Paul, but an overall wash spreads out better over a gloss finish. Flat finishes tend to hold the wash because of their rough surface and are better for pin washes and dot staining.
You can find a great acrylic clear gloss at any Wal-Mart. Krylon makes acrylic clear gloss and matte in the big cans. Just go easy with them - they push out a lot of paint! They're excellent products though if you don't own an airbrush.

Neulingkerl,
Another thing you can try to help a pin wash flow into a panel line is to first let a very small amount of your thinning agent flow down the same panel line. This will help the capilary action. However, you must be aware that even a small abount of this thinner will further dillute your wash.
This DOESNT work so well around surface details like bolt heads & mounting brakets because the thinner will just flow out onto the surrounding surface and cause tide marks. It works well in resessed panel lines in very small amounts because the thinner has no were to go and will aid the flow of your wash.

This helps a lot, thanks very much. One thing that worries me is that it seems like no matter what I try I get tide marks. I've been using some acrylic washes in past, so would switching to oils help to clear up this issue at all? I figure especially if I don't thin it out too much and really just work it in to the finish...but then again should it be gloss or flat for that?

Na, 'kerl...

If you take your time and work in relatively small areas, you can go back and brush out the tide marks around oil washes as the wash is "setting" (in that in-between stage between wet and dry).

This is a major advantage to using oils over acrylics - the increased working time. However, you will need to slow down and take a patient approach to the work. If you work in an area too large, the tide marks can form and dry before you get to them. How big an area to work in depends on your own speed and style. I tend to apply washes and CM to fairly small and distinctive areas, but I work pretty slowly.

Something that will help is Iain's advice to pre-wet the working area with clean thinners before applying the wash. However, you still need to look out for hte tide marks as they start to form. Pre-wetting won't completely prevent tide marks from forming since they form because of capillary action.

A clean, slightly dampened brush worked around the edges of the tides as they form will eliminate them if you're using oils.

Be sure to clean the brush off as you work out the tide marks. It will pick up extra pigment and binders from the tide areas, and if you don't clean it every now and again, it will transfer those to other areas.

I work pretty much exclusively over flat-finished areas and only gloss clear coat for decals, so in regards to your question about whether it's best to apply your washes over gloss or flat, I'd say you can do so over either.

As Mathew says, the flat finish tends to "grab" the pigment and hold it in the area where it's been applied (the major exception are the tide marks). This is an advantage to flat finishes, though. You can get the colors to stay where you want them. This is where pre-wetting can really help by increasing the flow and spread of the wash over a flat finish. My guess is that over gloss finishes, the tide marks wipe off easier since the pigments are not down into the finish like with flat coats.

Also, pre-wetting helps to prevent oil-dot color modulation from "sticking" too quiclky to a flat finish and makes it easier to blend out.

Much of this is individually technique and style dependent. Different modelers can can use different techniques, materials and finishing styles to achieve essentially the same final results, so in the end, you have to find those techniques that work best for you and develope your own finishing style.

try not to use full gloss,go for semi or satin it holds better and dosent stain the surrounding area as much as matt, i use tamiya spray can for all my clear finishing,and remember if you are using filter washes you have to use them over matt not gloss.

For any staining of acrylic washes, I use a dampened Q-tip with water and gently rub in a circular motion the dried tide stain. It comes right off. I much prefer to use oils as they offer a much longer working time and clean up of any excess.