Using Clear Coat for the first time. Help?

[Bartlebear]

I am using clear coat for the first time. Specifically a spray can of Mr. Hobby Top Coat.

Can I sand it? If so, with what?

I have also read some posts saying you can polish clear coat. How?

I have experience painting plastic models but have never worked with clear coat before.

Thank you.

 

[Hobie1dog]

You can go back after a week or so and use any automotive polishing compound by hand with a soft rag, otherwise normally you use a small buffer with a 3" foam pad and different compounds like this:

 

[MidOH]

I've had best luck with Rustoleam clear. Worst was the VHT automotive stuff.

-Sand paint flat and scuffed uniformly with 1000grit. Wet
-Degrease with Simple Green. Rinse rocket off .
-When dry, spray Rusto clear in one medium coat.

-Wet sand 1000grit, then 2000grit. Until finish is uniformly scuffed and as smooth as you'd like. I don't bother getting a booster perfectly smooth, since it'll need repairs often. But I do make my nose cones perfect mirrors. There's a reason why paper rockets are generally finished in bright colors, and fiberglass are dark. lol.

-polish with Meguire's cutting compound. Gently with an orbital buffer and a foam cutting pad. Don't overdo this step, you'll burn through the clear.
-polish with Meguire's finishing compound and a foam finishing pad.
-wipe down with spray n wax.

 

[Nathan]

Yes you can sand and polish clear coat.

 

[Bartlebear]

Thank you everyone for your advice. A lot to take in but I appreciate it.

Nathan, your pictures are sick? How did you do it?

 

[Nathan]

Thank you everyone for your advice. A lot to take in but I appreciate it.

Nathan, your pictures are sick? How did you do it?

Thanks, the mirror finish comes from wet sanding and polishing the clear coat. I describe it pretty well in this thread:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/upscale-onyx.135941/
My rocket finishing procedure has continued to evolve and improve a little since I did that thread but it's still basically the same steps; spray 4 or 5 coats of clear, wet sand with 1000 grit, then with 2000 grit, then polish with heavy cut polish (rubbing compound) and then with light cut polish (swirl remover). Then wax with car wax. The reason that you need to start with so many coats of clear is that you are going to sand off a lot of it and if you sand all the way through the clear coat layer, you've ruined it. If the clear coat isn't fairly smooth to start with, wet sanding it is going to be a lot of work because sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper is a slow process. The trick is spraying the clear coat so that it goes down smooth without a lot of orange peel texture. You need to learn how to spray it so that you get an evenly wet layer. If the coat is too light you will get orange peel, of the coat is too heavy you will get runs and sags.

 

[Hobie1dog]

There are no substitutes for a very good quality spray gun that has exceptional atomization of the material, as the cheaper the gun, usually the bigger the dots that are being thrown onto the subject, and the more orange peel that you are going to experience. It's like everything else in life where contentment is destroyed by comparison and once you spray with a high dollar automotive gun with a 1.2 tip in the end, .Iwata, SATA...Then that's when you realize how smooth of a paint job you can lay down. That means you're going to spend a lot less time trying to wet sand all of that orange peel out. I personally want the smallest little dots and thousands and thousands of them in an inch that will blend together and have no trouble smoothing themselves out as the paint levels on the surface. It's hard to expect getting good results out of a cheap rattle can with a two-cent nozzle on top....Oh it could be done, all you have to do is look at some of Nathan's older paint jobs, but I believe he has now gone to an automotive type spray gun.

 

[Bartlebear]

Thank you very much.

Right now my budget and skill level doesn't allow for spray guns and buffing machines but wet sandpaper, auto polish and hand polishing is definitely a way to go.

"Evenly Wet Layer" is definitely what eludes me right now. Hopefully it is something that will come with practice.

 

[BABAR]

Only thing I can add is to make SURE your color coat is COMPLETELY dry before using a clear coat.
my SR-71 was looking good with flat black base and decals, went completely orange peel when I clear coated. I THOUGHT the undercoat was dry, but I think I should have waited a couple more days.

hope you have better results.