I've sprayed automotive a little bit and years ago used a Devilbiss production gun-worked ok. Got a Harbor Freight HVLP gravity feed gun (the purple one) for about $50 and got used to sprying it over the weekend and clearcoated a pattern/practice plane. Man, for a cheap gun it sure worked great! Exceeded my expectations Just keep moving with the clear-like spraying water. The new technology HVLP guns are definately the way to go. The only problem is having enough compressor to push them.

As far as cost options on the product-I tried a new (for me)product called "Advantage" brand automotive Urethane Enamel clear. It came out with that beatiful, wet look-no orange peel. Don't know if it will buff out any, but I don't need to, especially on a practice bird. A quart of this stuff with activator costs $25 and with a good HVLP gun can easily do two or three birds. I just used this stuff because I was doing some low-cost experimenting. If you use a basecoat/clear coat you're usually best off to stick with the manufacturer's system. Mine was over a yellow PPG Deltron acrylic enamel with Createx Auto Air (water-based acrylic enamel) airbrushed graphics (by the way Createx is heresy to "real" auto graphics guys 'cause it's like spraying elmers glue, but it's cheap and safe). All came out compatible and nice and slick.

By the way, I use a dual cartridge organic vapor respirator with HEPA pre-filters. New cartridge each day for sure. Also spraying outside. The problem with these clears is the Isocyanates -they can cause a chemically induced asthma, "occupational asthma" and they can not be smelled at levels that might be harmful. This is the reason supplied air is recommended instead of cartridge respirators, not because they don't work, you just can't tell when the cartridges stop working (kind of bad). I went to a safety conference in Fla. that had a whole session on Isocyanate safety and 3M presented testing evidence that showed respirators with HEPA pre-filters will work at less than 8-hours useage (this is why I change to new cartridges each time/day), but interestingly without a HEPA pre-filter they don't work as well.

Another use of clear coat- Takes out whole squadrons of mosquitos in one brief shot!! They drop like rocks! Down side of living on the Texas Gulf Coast.