How Do These 4 Types Of Clear Coats Hold Up Over Time On Your Model Cars? Ep.290 

I build just for my own satisfaction and have good luck with Pledge. Now that Pledge is out of production I'll switch to Quick Shine (not as good but close). At 78 I don't think I have to worry about the clear yellowing. Thanks for this comparison.

Such a Gentleman

All of the clear coats look good and have held up over time. Considering you didn’t paint it, the Bobby Allison Buick looks great. Nice lessons about clear. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for this. Great advice. The floor stuff always wore off floors back in the day. Appreciate the Krylon update. Thought so.

Way back in the late 1960's and 1970's I used automotive touch up sprays (most where lacquers) for my models. It was very hot stuff and if applied too heavily, would cause tops, hoods and trunks to sag. A couple dust coats to seal the model and then a couple light wet coats and you had great looking paint with good gloss like the full size car. Nobody was color sanding or polishing back then.

My opinion on 2k is this. I think most people that don’t use it is due to fear of a product that requires mixing. When I got back in to it I was very nervous about using an airbrush. I was afraid of mixing paints incorrectly. The whole experience can be daunting, especially when people throw vastly different psi setting and thinner ratio at you. Everybody has a different way of doing it, you just have to overcome the fear of screwing up.

Tamiya is nice. I also love the Vallejo Gloss clear. Not sure how it will hold up in tens years, but after two it still looks awesome. sprays rather well too.

I prefer the Tamiya brand but there's certain colors they dont have. This was a great demonstration.

Saw a video here on RU-vid about a month ago about a replacement product for the future floor polish because it has been discontinued by Pledge, just in case viewers don't already know about it.

Hi Luka, I had left you a comment regarding this video and my opinions on clear coats. I should have added this. The term in the Art world for a clear that doesn't yellow is ARCHIVAL. Createx claims that their UVLS series are ARCHIVAL. I am currently experimenting with their products and use their UVLS 4050 Gloss Clear, mainly as an extender for use with their Wicked Colors line, referred to as Candy 2.0. I haven't used the product long enough to determine for myself if it is truly non-yellowing and I don't know about its durability. They usually use a 2k clear on full size cars or projects that will be in the elements. Must be a good reason for that.

On my channel I show how to build a decent looking model on the cheap. I mostly use craft paints but recently I have had issues with clear coats. Some are to hot for the paint/plastic, others dry cloudy. This is through an airbrush and from the rattle can. I have used all of the clears you have in this video except the 2k. I'm not opposed to using 2k other than justifying the expense. My builds usually turn out pretty nice given what I am working with. Thanks for the comparison video. It has opened up my thinking a bit...

Great video! Thank you!

YEAH WHAT YOU SAID LC👍👍 GBA 🤗 Gary.

I sold Global back in the day, great product. Fun fact: Ed Roth’s Beatnik Bandit II was painted with Global.

Great video. Been experimenting with different paints and clears. Like the Duplicolor 1k clear. Just done a box stock Duster for an online competition with 3 coats of brushed “quick shine” and like the look, so will see what the admins/judges think. Agree with you on the Krylon and Rustoleum clears….there different now and Testers is different. Will have to try the 2k some day. Great video. Thanks, many Blessings and model on my brother!!!!👍🏼👍🏼

Agree, do a Jason and show off some of your "Shelf Queens" as he puts it.... Love the Camaro, she's a beaut and Nova is a stunner as too, the other two looks great as well! 😎👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻 I'll be seeing YOU in the next video.... Why do we build cars, because they're fricking FUN! Keep cutting that styrene.... Keep gluing those fingers.... Here's the PRODUCERS!

Awesome info and builds! Thanks for the videos my friend.

Another good one. Highest strength (not it's protective strength) in hobby use with Future for me is when applying decals, so a race car would be even more reason to choose it. Apply it onto car after paint, let dry more than a day. Apply decal as usual, overcoat with Future just after locating decal. It will smooth out decal and hide the carrier film. If a thick decal (like some Tamiya - Hasegawa) you can micro grit sand the Future layer where decal is to level it out, then re apply it again. 1/12 Corvette's I did in 1994 still look great to me.

I clear coat my cars with rattle can Varnish, and it looks the same as 2K. After a first light coat It can be sprayed on as heavy as you want in several coats to give that 'Glass' look. I have no idea how it will age after about 20+ years but they guarantee that it doesn't yellow.

This is very useful content. Thank you

Excellent vid. So, I've built hundreds of airplane and tank models through the years and just recently started classic NASCAR rides. I've never really messed with gloss clear coats (Messerschmitt's and Tiger tanks obviously don't require a high shine) so I really found this interesting. Anyways, I started just using what is probably the "standard" go to: Tamiya. After watching HPI Guy vid's and his use of floor polish I decided I wanted to try that. But....I really can't afford (or am just too cheap) to plunk down $70 bucks(!) for a jug of floor polish so I thought I'd try Mop-n-Glo (about $6 bucks) and just brush it on. I was really surprised at how well it worked out! I was worried about it messing up decals/windshield, but so far no issues. Thanks for the great vids, they have been extremely helpful to this newbie.

I love the tamiya clears. I have gotten show winning results with the tamiya. I will never use future again for a clear, both cars I have done the finish cracked on both cars. I’ve also used testors and it looks great but does not spray well. I haven’t tried 2k yet but the tamiya is so easy to use and dries fast and can be polished super smooth and glossy it’s my go to.

Good video Luka. I've built models since 1960. Never showed my models. Just build for me. I've been thinking of clear coating some models recently. Back in the late 60s I tried Testors clear on a model. It was terrible. Went on very thick. Needed to be thinned. The yellowed badly. That model was destroyed in the big Sylmar earthquake of 1971 (I grew up in Sylmar). A friend used automotive lacquer. But it was way too hot and attacked the plastic. So I just always steered clear (pun intended) of clear coating. I was skeptical about durability of Future. I see yours did pretty well. But now the original is gone and there seems a lot of fuss over replacements. Seeing your video, I think I'll be going with the Tamiya lacquer for upcoming builds.

Thanks for the comparison. Great video brother.

The clear coats I use are automotive varies between spies hecker 2:1, ppg deltron and hbbody 496 2:1

Best reason to do anything..."Just because I could." lol I love the Nova. That body style doesn't get a lot of love. 30 years ago when I was really building models, I used rattle can clear (I think it was Testors) and most of those have yellowed really bad. Some haven't and I don't remember what I used on those, as it was way before I knew about Tamiya paints.

Agreed. I love tamiya sprays, however I like using the mr hobby clear sprays more than the tamiya clear. I have started to use mr hobby surfacer 1500 as a primer. But for armor I like to use mr hobby surfacer 1500, then whatever paint and then either Vallejo or tamiya for the clear. Personally I don’t think I have a dead straight must use type or brand of paint. But I just can’t use rust oleum or krylon anymore. It’s not the same as a few years ago.

I have never tried 2K clear. However, for years I was painting with automotive paints thru spray cans. I never used Future/Pledge until a few years ago, but I like it to “encapsulate and seal” decals on my NASCAR models. I use different processes/products for different model subjects, and have yet to get “burned”, when I use them correctly. I did learn years ago that I can only use automotive touch-up spray can clear very lightly over decals, or it can wad them up. I do not own an airbrush, but someday I will have to buy one.

Good comparison video Luka! The one thing I noticed was how much more yellow the Miller car was than your Grumpy’s Toy Camaro. I initially thought you had cleared it with Testors “clear”! My Miller Buick is about the same color because I did clear it with Testors. I have switched to poly urethane for cars that have lots of decals because of a stock car I was finishing and the 3rd coat of TS-13 wrinkled every decal on the car. It was all Tamiya paint. So I mixed the PU and saved the paint and decals. I also found the PU was easy to mix and spray if you pay attention to what you’re doing . Oh I loved the engine in the Nova!!

I made a two tone willy's car years ago. 2 of them. Love the look of them. They are fun to put together..

Great comparison. The floor polish seems to behave like wax finishes on furniture over time in terms of becoming dull/"dead" and wearing thin over time. I'm guessing that the floor polish does not like heat, sunshine or sweaty fingers either. Out of the finishes you go over in this video the two I won't use myself are the floor polish and 2K. The latter because I don't need the shine for the crap I build and I deal with more than enough extremely hazardous finishing media, their thinners and dust in my day job. I've used the equivalents of that Krylon until now, but moving mostly over to an airbrush, I'm going to test a bunch of stuff and for most things probably end up with Tamiya and maybe the Revell enamels I still have as well IF I get results I like the look of with them.

i use tamiya clear and tamiya paint on all my nascar and street car builds, some of my pro stock builds i have to use the newer testors 1261 gloss lacquer over older crappy slixx decals because tamiya is to hot and will crinkle the hell out of their older decals that crack or want stick to the paint even when using tamiya mark fit strong decal bonder on them. the newer 1261 is a little thicker than tamiya but dries quickly and has a decent gloss to it, and can be polished out easily and it doesn't yellow over white like old testors enamel and future floor polish. i use testors 1261 over all of my decal sheets before they go on to the models, it helps from keeping the decals from bubbling or wrinkling or cracking if your going to spray the hotter tamiya clear over the decals. with the exception of older slixx decals 1261 helps keep them from shattering and its tghe best clear to put over those old crappy slixx decals without destroying them.

Very cool content comparing the different clear coats. I have a Richard Petty 92 Pontiac Grand Prix that I built in 1999 or 2000 and it still looks nice today, always kept it in a display case and was the first model I ever clear coated over the decals. I had to paint the car and I don't remember the manufacturer name but I used rattle cans, I've never air brushed a model but I may have to learn to do that. I restored a model for a friend of mine and used actual duplicolor to paint the car then clear coated with Rustoleum if I recall correctly. After everything cured for about a week, I used some floor gloss on the car and then used some marine polish and then buffed the car with a small piece of a t-shirt, it was so slick that I nearly dropped the thing. Anyway, if I have to pick favorite paints these days, I really like Tamiya products. They have a really nice light gray primer that is very smooth. Very cool models by the way. 👍👍👍

I was wondering about the Future Floor Shine - looks like what you want for a quick shine. Thankyou for the info I was working at a Datsun dealer 1975 in the detail department. When a customer was coming in to pick up a new car we would rub it down with a rag damp with cleaning solvent. That paint would really pop shine - but - first touch of moisture X but for the first impression of the customer it was great. now back to the floor wax - what happens to the decals if you wash your model with dish soap to clean it - or even car wash soap

Another great video and comparison! Thank you for taking the time to go over all this. Ive tried a few floor polishes but prefer to paint it on. Just getting into tamiya etc and so far there products have been outstanding.

Great video, Luka! It’s little things like this that really help out.

Cool 👍🏿

I like the enamel clear to match the undercoat color, floor wax is not a thought finish, can't wet polish it. Don't cheap out at the very end of the build

Thanks for a very informative video and a look at some really nice cars. I have just started doing model cars after years of planes and am struggling with the smooth finish needed to make them look nice, making my work area dust free is a real challenge. I will certainly give Tamiya clear a try, I bought some 2k and am leery or using it because of the mixing and pressure for different temperatures and humidity levels learning curve. I do have 2 questions, have you ever shot the Tamiya clear taken out of the spray can through an airbrush? And, does the Tamiya clear in the bottle work as well?

The last model I did I put 5 coats of TS-13 on, and I got a super smooth finish with an amazing gloss. I plan on using the tamiya thru an airbrush to see if it turns out as good as the rattle can and that I can save money on them.

I seen how decals look if not cleared with anything on bare plastic, the outside edges of the decals yellow or worse flake off lol.

👍👍👍

Can u use krylon over acrylic paints.

What polyurethane do you recommend?

Hi Luka I just want to know is there any way to take out the yellowing out a car that the clear turn yellow on me I had this nascar from over 20 years....please let me know.

I'm getting back into a building models after about 20 years. So what is 2K

🤓👍

Good comparisons, but I do cringe a little when I see a 70's funny car in a glossy top coat. Same with any other race cars. Even on photo press release days, the real cars were not as if out of a shimmering dream. Actually, the old formula Krylon with or without clear was very near the real thing. If you get right up on modern cars, you can see a definite texture in the wraps that cannot be replicated with clears. How much of this is just to impress contest judges?

Really enjoyed thanks for the look plus some really cool builds too