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Hi there, I'm hoping someone can advise regarding the options available to me for an acrylic, water-based gloss clear coat. I have watched countless YouTube videos of people using various clear gloss coats including Future (I'm UK based so no idea what the equivalent is). Is there a water-based (and cleaned with water) gloss clear coat available? I tried the Humbrol Clear Gloss over Revell Aqua Matt Black as a test. The Black was dry at least 24 hours before I applied the Clear. The result was disappointing - satin at best and patchy dull in others. Definitely not gloss as I wanted it. I applied 3 more coats, leaving 30 mins between layers, yet nothing changed. Still satin, and mainly dull. I do not want to go down the path of using any lacquer or solvent based products. I spray and brush only water based acrylics. I have read that Alclad is excellent, but don't know much about it. Is it a lacquer? And will it need to be cleaned with a solvent (and stink out my house!)? I did look through the Paint topic in the forums, however most of the replies are quite old so I wanted to make sure I had up to date replies. Any advice greatly received!

I started this Porsche 911 GT-1 10 years ago; had a few problems with the build so it got shelved. Along came lockdown and I blew off the dust a decided to use the model for some experiments I typically build 1/48 Aircraft and 1/12 motorcycles so not really a car buff. I spray all my models with Tamiya TS paints and use the Tamiya TS- 13 clear with very few problems its my favourite clear coat. I do have the Zero 2K clear but I don't use it as the risk to family health and my airbrush is too great. Though I always use a spray booth I find that the Zero clears are just too much of a hazard. I tired it once and the fumes were just really bad and the spry booth did not seem to cope with the fumes (it’s a graphic Air booth so a decent booth. I have never use the Zero clears since then. (family members rebelled as well) Furthermore and this is just my very personal view I am not exactly convinced that the super shiny “wet look”is actually realistic for car models. Tamiya TS-13 does produce a very nice glossy finish and in my mind is a very nice scale gloss finish - but this is only my opinion. I feel that the super "wet look" is not realistic and dare I say a bit of a modelling fad. Anyway for me it just not worth the health risks. I have also noticed that Tamiya TS-13 gets very bad press and is considered a "hot" clear. Since I have only used TS-13 on aircraft and motorcycle kits and not really had any problems with it I decided that this car presented a good opportunity to really test Tamiya TS-13 as it sure has a load of decals. I also wondered if the clear smooth shiny undercoats could explain why the TS-13 seemed to attack decals. Tamiya do on many of their earlier kits (from the late 1980’s era warn that caution is required when over coating with clear as it could “damage the decals” Anyway I compete the Porsche though its far from perfect, I had lost the seat (so I had to sue a spare Ferrari seat, I had lost the clear indicators so my car doesn’t have indicators and I forgot to add the blue Porsche decal to the windscreen – ooops The Porsche is sprayed with the following paints: One coat of Tamiya white Primer Two light coats of Tamiya TS-26 Pure White One slightly heaver coat of Tamiya TS-26 Pure White to create a gloss base for the decals The decals were added as per the instructions and went on very well, a couple were fragile and cracked but nothing too serious. The decals had yellowed a little so I had to cut away the white background where the numbers are. This idi make the decals very fragile in some places. The car also has a number of smaller decals so a good opportunity to test and see if the TS-13 would eat into any of the decals. After the decals were on I added the following Tamiya TS-13 Clear Coats: Two light cots of TS -13 One heavy coat of TS-13 to ensure the gloss layer over the decals. This was a fairly heavy coat but not enough to cause any runs There was no adverse reaction to any of the decals and the clear cost went on very well without any problems but you be the judge of the outcome

So I have a question about mr color paints. Specifically Super clear iii, semi gloss and Matt varnishes. Are they acrylic paints, enamel paints or other like lacquer based (because they sure do stink!) - Can I paint them over say tamiya acrylic or a metallic enamel, or just the tamiya (which I have done). Secondly what can I paint over them once dry - would I need enamel or acrylic washes, because I have seen washes with x-20 enamel thinners used on top of the mr color varnish, as well as AK washes. Cheers