Offering colours in gloss or satin

[lesthegringo]

One of the reasons that I am a fan of Gunze Mr Color lacquers is that quite often (but not always) they offer the same colour in gloss or satin versions as well as the matt original. I've increasingly found that, on aircraft at least,  if I am doing a camo scheme, I paint the colours, then gloss it for the decals and then matt it down again. So when you have the camo colours in either gloss or satin, you avoid what is essentially a redundant step.

 

For AFV's there are definitely areas that you want to spray with a matt paint, such as all the undercarriage,  but the upper surfaces still often benefit from a less matt paint for decaling. 

 

I  think humbrol's paints are good, but a good example is 250, their version of desert pink. It is so matt that it almost looks like velvet. Even after mixing it 50/50 with 35 clear gloss, it is still matt and needs overspraying for decals.

 

So come on, paint manufacturers,  give us the option.

 

(Wifey has just taken the soapbox away)

 

Les

Edited October 20, 2016 by lesthegringo
To make some sense

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

You realise this involves duplicating or triplicating the number of discreet products, manufacturing costs and space required to store and distribute for very likely zero uplift in total sales?

[Rizzo]

17 hours ago, SovereignHobbies said:

You realise this involves duplicating or triplicating the number of discreet products, manufacturing costs and space required to store and distribute for very likely zero uplift in total sales?

 

Most people gloss over the matt finish, decal and then finish with a matt clear, so I have wondered why the camouflage colours aren't just provided in a gloss to start with (no need for triplicate finishes)? As for zero uplift in sales, wouldn't it offer a competitive advantage?

 

[spitfire]

Xtracolor paints are gloss and give a decal ready finish, Sovereign Hobby Colourcoats dry to a satin decal ready finish as well, both are enamel and they both have a great range of colours.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Beardie]

I have often wondered if enamels couldn't be offered in gloss only and a matting powder sold separately so that, if you wished you could add a specified amount of powder (Not in the trade so I have no idea exactly what is used. Is it possibly powdered glass?) to achieve the precise type of finish you wished. Perhaps you could have satin, matt and rough powder options although I am guessing that a rough finish would only be brushable as the particles would be too large to pass through an airbrush.

[Greenshirt]

ISTR that historically for a paint to be satin or gloss required additional clear carrier, so less pigment. This means you get less coverage. I see that modern enamels (I use acrylics) cover well and dry smooth, which may be preferential. I could be wrong as it's been decades since I used enamels. 

 

If the paint is water based, I mix 1:1 with a clear resin that both improves flow (self leveling) and creates a very smooth and hard finish when fully cured. Since I give my coats 24-48 hours to cure, impatience is not an issue. I use Future. 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

9 hours ago, Rizzo said:

 

Most people gloss over the matt finish, decal and then finish with a matt clear, so I have wondered why the camouflage colours aren't just provided in a gloss to start with (no need for triplicate finishes)? As for zero uplift in sales, wouldn't it offer a competitive advantage?

 

 

As I see it, the investment would never be repaid and it would (very) likely lead to confusion on the consumer's part as to what they even had.

 

From an enamels perspective, glosses are my nightmare from a user point of view due to poor coverage and excessive drying times, which exacerbates the coverage difficulty and promotes dust finding itself stuck to the paint. A matt colour pallete can see a 3 colour scheme completed within a day, whereas glosses can require a week to dry each.

 

Nobody is going to buy one of each sheen of a colour, and our customers buy for the quality, user friendliness and no-hassle coloyr choice.

 

I don't think asking customers to add flatting agent is a good idea from a brand reputation point of view. They'd never get the proportions right and would never get consistency from one job to the next and whether or not we got blamed for that, the customer would just go back to something that they know works predictably, which ours does now. We need sizable batches to accurately control proportions of ingredients. There's no way the average user could do that 2ml at a time in a manner that gave predictable results.

 

 

[glatisant]

On 23/10/2016 at 1:15 AM, SovereignHobbies said:

 

As I see it, the investment would never be repaid and it would (very) likely lead to confusion on the consumer's part as to what they even had.

 

From an enamels perspective, glosses are my nightmare from a user point of view due to poor coverage and excessive drying times, which exacerbates the coverage difficulty and promotes dust finding itself stuck to the paint. A matt colour pallete can see a 3 colour scheme completed within a day, whereas glosses can require a week to dry each.

 

Nobody is going to buy one of each sheen of a colour, and our customers buy for the quality, user friendliness and no-hassle coloyr choice.

 

I don't think asking customers to add flatting agent is a good idea from a brand reputation point of view. They'd never get the proportions right and would never get consistency from one job to the next and whether or not we got blamed for that, the customer would just go back to something that they know works predictably, which ours does now. We need sizable batches to accurately control proportions of ingredients. There's no way the average user could do that 2ml at a time in a manner that gave predictable results.

 

 

Couldn't agree more.I never found using gloss paint satisfactory.Drying time and it's attractiveness to dust no matter what steps you take make it only usable for small areas such as navigation lights and instrument panel detail for example.