Has anyone rubed out the paint for shine on nelsons clearcoat?I was trying to get a semigloss by mixing 50%gloss and 50%flat clear but I guess it does not work that way,when all was dry it was flat in shine.So is there a way to get some shine on the plane by polishing or something?it is covered in fabric and I didn't want it to look like shiny ultracoat,thats why it was trying for a semigloss.Here are some pic's of what I got and a pic of a paint gun I got at the auto store for only $25.00 works great.

Hey cowboyfk, I don't have an answer for you, but I do have a few questions... I want to do a 4* and a hogbipe in fabric (4* for practice) and use a spray gun like the one you have. What fabric did you use, and do you know of a "how too" thread for covering this way? I'll be interested to see how your project turns out, fabric covered planes look much better IMHO. I wouldn't want mine to look like ultracoat either. Below is my inspiration for doing fabric on my (and my stepson's) next few projects;

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_25...22/key_/tm.htm

you could always shoot another coat of clear on it with a higher ratio of gloss to flat your 50% mixture had too much flatting agent obviously, you might start with a 10% flat to gloss ratio, and just do a brush out on a smooth surface adding small amounts of the flat clear untill you have the shine level your looking for, many paint stores will give out brush out cards for just this porpose there handy to have around if your doing some painting.

unfortunately flat sheen is achieved by having a surface texture, it may seem smooth but there is a micro texture there for the dull finish to difuse the light, no matter how much rubbing you do your going to have a hard time getting s/gloss from it without some major elbow grease, even then it will be tough.

it shouldn't take a thick coat to gloss it up just a light spray over the entire surface should do the trick once you have mixed the materials to your prefered sheen, gloss level is achieved by the ratio of "medium" to flatting agents, the medium is the resins that make up the paint for the most part.

when I am doing any model paint work I use a graduated syringe to draw the paint from the can and thin for spraying, when I am using water based materials, which is most of the time now so I can get accurate ratios for spraying.

when I am spraying models I use a higher end airbrush which takes a little less material to get it working, and it has a little more product control,but those guns work great as well its a learning curve.

I use the same principal for when I am shooting paint for work,BTW the plane looks great

Kargo,I don't know of a thread.What I used is coverite fabric but I don't like it a whole lot,it doesn't go around curves to well.My next fabric airplane I will try to use Sig koverall,I think thats what it's called or you could go to a fabric store and get lightweight fabric for making dresses,it can be ironed down using a coat of special paint on the airframe or using dope.Good luck,I'm sure someone with more experience will be more helpfull then me.As far as giving it another coat of clear I gotta see how much more clear I have,you only use a small amout of thinner for it so you the paint don't go to far,I only got 1/2 pint of each.If worse comes to worse I can live with it the way it is.

Jerry says rubbing with MEK will bring back the gloss of a sanded surface, but I only found it to be semi-tru with the color and not the glossy stuff. I tried to polish and wax a cowl that was sprayed with high gloss, but the finish didn't change. I'm guessing you'll either have to spray another coat of a slightly glossier mix or leave it as is.
I like the flatness of how it looks now. You did a great job.

The Nelsons's can test the paitence of a Zen Monk...

Thanks for the nice commentone question,what is MEC?would it be worth sanding and using MEC?I'm working on spraying the wing right now so back to the basement.

MEK-"methel ethyl ketone" is a volitile thinner that evaporites quickly, similar to laquer thinner just not as strong, it will cut the surface of most paints out of the can and should be handled with a modest ammount of caution.

MSDS-" material safety data sheet" for MEK http://www.prism.princeton.edu/PRISM...l%20ketone.pdf

it works for scratches by melting the surface of the paint, and evaporating quickly so the paint surface can "heal" removing the scratches from the surface.

your better off just giving it another light coat of the gloss if thats what your doing now, the light coat wont add that much weight to the plane and a little extra clear coat won't hurt.

Ya,I don't got enough gloss to do anymore so I gotta roll with it flat.Can't lay this paint on heavy I found out,it orangepeels and looks ugly,thin light coats is the trick for this stuff.