I tried to give a coat of gloss clear, but it came out really rough. I thinned it 1:1 with Tamiya Lacquer thinner, like I do with regular Tamiya paints. Is clear supposed to be thinned like the regular paints.. or less.. or more?

I also noticed it made the paints darker.. so do you guys always go lighter than the shade you want to account for the clear making the colors darker?

Before anyone suggests it, we don't have Future of Klear or whatever it's called.. nor anything equivalent

Hisham

I thin it the same as you do. Perhaps your airbrushing was too far away from the model. When using lacquer thinner ad a thinner, you need to have your airbrush very close to the surface, as it dries very quickly. I'm sure your climate did not help much!

I would do another test usino the same thinning ratiobut a little closer to the model. You can smooth out rough areas by spraying straight lacquer thinner over the rough paint, getting it wet, but not soaking.

As for the paint looking darker, that is just what gloss colors do. Gloss yellow will look darker than flat yellow, despite being the same color. If you apply a flat or satin coat, it will lighten up

I thin it 1:1 with Tamiya lacquer thinner. Never had a problem.

The roughness is caused by the paint atomizing and drying just as it hits the surface. This can happen for several reasons, you are too far away from the surface and it is taking too long for the paint to reach the model and as a result is not wet enough on contact. Another reason may be that you are not using enough pressure, which again is not propelling the paint to the surface fast enough to be wet upon contact. I have had this problem with Tamiya clear and have found that 9/10 it is one of the two reasons stated above. While the paint should dry fairly quickly, if it does not appear wet(shiny)on contact you will have this problem.

Another note, while Tamiya paints are generally dry in a brief time I have found that for some reason the clear gloss takes much longer to fully cure and I generally wait at least 24-48 hours before handling and proceeding with the next step. Like so many other aspects of airbrushing experimentation(trial and error) will help you get a better feel and results. Good luck.

If you want now Humbrol produce the Gloss Clear,is Acrylic and is really like the Future/Klear/Plage ecc...i use this in stead the future and works really well.

http://www.humbrol.com/us-en/humbrol-gloss-clear-125ml-bottle.html

I use Gunze Mr Leveling thinner, which contains retarder as well.
60% thinner 40% Tamiya Clear

i thin tamiya clears using X-20A at a 1:1 ratio. The color being darker is a normal effect of gloss coats and satin coats. The only problem I get with the tamiya clear is that it isn't really a strong top coat unless you let it fully dry which takes a LONG LONG time.