Gloss clear coat or Future/pledge over other paint, should undercoat be gloss?

Saw a question under techniques on fluorescent paint and brought this to mind:
If your want a gloss finish on your Final Product, and you will be using either clear coat gloss or future shine/pledge tile cover as your LAST coat ANYWAY, do ANY of your coats up to that point need to be Gloss. One poster suggested that overcoats stick to flat coats better than gloss coats (makes sense to me, but I am not a contrary paint particle)

Oops, should have done search, question already answered
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?39553-Gloss-or-flat-paint

Overcoats do adhere better to a flat/rough finish. That said, it takes a couple of coats no matter what you use, so don't expect to get a slick coat in one application. The Future/pledge does not flake or scuff off as easily and is easily retouched if marred. It also works well over metallic paint.-H

I've put future over flat, matte, satin, and gloss, more times than I can count. Only the gloss of the top layer is of any concern from a final appearance standpoint. I generally build my scale models with non-gloss paints due to the improved adhesion, plus it's easier to see fine detail in matte as opposed to glossy.

So if you are using future as a final sealant, and gloss layer, then there's no need to worry about the gloss level of previous coats. Won't matter anyway, the future will be your final gloss level.

Huh. I put gloss clearcoat over flat black on one of my rockets, and there is a distinct difference in appearance relative to clearcoat over gloss black. The flat black rocket is just not as glossy with the clearcoat.

BABAR said:

Saw a question under techniques on fluorescent paint and brought this to mind:
If your want a gloss finish on your Final Product, and you will be using either clear coat gloss or future shine/pledge tile cover as your LAST coat ANYWAY, do ANY of your coats up to that point need to be Gloss. One poster suggested that overcoats stick to flat coats better than gloss coats (makes sense to me, but I am not a contrary paint particle)

Oops, should have done search, question already answered
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?39553-Gloss-or-flat-paint

Click to expand...

By there Nature Fluorescent paints MUST be flat to fluores properly. That said; If you want the final result to be a gloss coat, it will end up as a semi-gloss if several gloss clear coats or Pledge with future are applied.
The better 2/3rds and I did a multi-color fluorescent project recently with printed sticker decal overlay that we wanted to seal with UV resistant clear (Krylon #1305). As can be seen in the photo below the end result after 8 heavy wet clear coats was at best a Semi-Gloss finish which was fine for our purposes. Because Flat and Satin paints contain a flattening agent (similar to talc) it ALWAY as a bit of grain that causes light rays to refract rather then reflect giving the finish a semi-gloss appearance.

If you are Painting a model, or model rocket that will have water slide decals it is much better to paint the model with a high Gloss finish color first, apply your decals then use a UV resistant matte clear like Krylon #1309 to get the dead flat, matte or semi-gloss finish desired for the finished model, this is how most museum quality models are finished with a matte finish.

Solomoriah said:

Huh. I put gloss clearcoat over flat black on one of my rockets, and there is a distinct difference in appearance relative to clearcoat over gloss black. The flat black rocket is just not as glossy with the clearcoat.

Click to expand...

Gloss clear over flat black will tend to push the color a little to the grey side, just not that jet black your looking for! You'll really only notice the difference if you hold them up side by side and then you'll say WOW!