Valspar Clear Flat Finish vs. Dullcoat

[Trucklover]

Here is my rant for Dullcoat vs. another product Called Valspar Bartop Touch Up Lacquer Clear Flat Finish i discovered, that really will save me alot of money, and works a heck of a lot better then Testors Dullcoat! (at least this is my take on it)

I dont recommend dullcoat for anything, it always takes off alot of my weathering, no matter what i use, if its a wash, or chalks.... It always takes alot of it off and makes it disappear like its eating it. Dullcoat is a Lacquer, and i discovered bo matter how far i stood back with the tiny little can, it always "ate" my weathering powders and made them disappear for the most part.

I brought this up with my uncle, who by the way has been a custom painter/carpenter (he also does some AMAZING art work paintings!) and he was telling me that i should get some Valspar Bartop Touch Up Lacquer Clear Flat Finish (yes thats the entire name of the product lol). Since there was a Vista Paint near my grandmas house, she took me over there and i got a can, $7.50 total for a 12.oz can! How much is that Dullcoat crap? Almost $4.00 for a 3.oz can? give me a break! lol

I used this new Valspar stuff on all 3 of the structures i just built and weathered, and NO eating of the chalks occurred, granted i still stood 10-12" back from the model and applied a light mist to the model, which is the key to getting a good flat and even coat/finish. I would highly reccomend the stuff to anyone who is using Dullcoat still, first of all, your way overpaying for the tiny little can, you get 4 times as much for maybe a little more then double the cost of the tiny little 3.oz can of Dullcoat!

Of coarse, this is just my opinion on Dullcoat, if the stuff works for you, then by all means, keep on using the stuff. If you would like to try this Valspar stuff, if you have a paint retail store near you, they should carry it....

Okay, my rant about Dullcoat is over lol

[Sumpter250]

Valspar Bartop Touch Up Lacquer Clear Flat Finish

I have to ask, is it available other than as a spray can?
I use Dullcoat, but from the bottle, not a rattle can, as I use an airbrush to apply it. I would be interested in trying to airbrush the "Valspar".
Hey, you never know what's out there until you look, and try.

[nachoman]

I have used krylon matte finish during times when money was tight and did not have a local source of dullcote. I never had a problem with it attacking any finishes or plastics. But, I found it to be not quite as flat as the dullcote (it is more satin than flat), and after a year or so of storage, the spray would still go on even, but little white blotches would appear on the finish. At first, I thought the blotches were dust that blew into the model, but later determined it was the finish itself. My synopsis of this product: An adequate substitute, but the cans do not have infinite shelf life.

I also prefer to spray dullcote from an airbrush rather than a spray bomb. But- sometimes I just have a quick small job and it is a hassle to mix up a little dullcote and clean up the airbrush. I will definitely give this valspar product a try. Do you have any comparison photos to share?

[doctorwayne]

I think that most Valspar products also come in cans, so, if you can determine the proper thinner to use, you should be able to airbrush it, too. The use of the word "lacquer" suggests that lacquer thinner may work, but it would be best to test - a friend who does ornamental iron work uses a paint that is mixed with its own brand of thinner, then sprayed onto the work. One day, needing to do a small touch-up, he used a spray can of the same paint, only to discover that the spray cans used a lacquer-based thinner, which promptly removed or damaged the previously applied paint upon which it landed.

Wayne

[nachoman]

One day, needing to do a small touch-up, he used a spray can of the same paint, only to discover that the spray cans used a lacquer-based thinner, which promptly removed or damaged the previously applied paint upon which it landed.

Good point, Wayne. Some paints even react with themselves. Rustoleum enamels can be recoated within about an hour, or after a about two days. I learned the hard way what happens if you try to spray a second coat a few hours after the first one. The second coat will actually react with the partially dry first coat and cause the paint to blister and craze.

I have always been a strong advocate of petroleum based paints for airbushing. But more and more I am considering acrylic alternatives and have been having more recent success with acrylic. Perhaps the acrylic paints have gotten better, or it has to do with my technique. I have been wondering about the possibility of spraying acrylic matte medium as a dullcote alternative. Has anyone tried this?

[doctorwayne]

I have always been a strong advocate of petroleum based paints for airbushing. But more and more I am considering acrylic alternatives and have been having more recent success with acrylic. Perhaps the acrylic paints have gotten better, or it has to do with my technique. I have been wondering about the possibility of spraying acrylic matte medium as a dullcote alternative. Has anyone tried this?

I'm of the same opinion as you, Kevin, and have always used lacquer-based pints for airbrushing. My occasional attempts to use acrylics were somewhat frustrating, and clean-up was much more time-consuming than with lacquer-based paints. Recently, I've been working on rolling stock, and decided to give acrylics another try. You may be correct in assuming that these paints have been improved, although this time I also decided to more closely follow the manufacturer's suggestions. I used PollyScale paints and am extremely pleased with the results - almost no clogging in painting 45 various freight cars, and the finish is very even and durable. The low odour is also nice, even with a vented spray booth, and it also brushes very nicely. Clean-up, however, is still a pain. The other annoying characteristic of this paint is seen when trying to mix it to achieve a particular colour: even when using colours similar to their Floquil equivalents, the resultant mixes were nothing like that achieved with Floquil. I often mix the paints as I'm painting, doing several cars in a colour, then adding other colour or colours to alter the original mix, for the next few cars. This way, those 45 boxcar-red cars are in varying shades and versions of the original, making them both more road-specific in colour and also showing the different effects of age and weathering in the basic paint - all cars, of course, will be weathered to varying degrees after lettering, too.
Some of these cars were lettered with dry transfers, some with decals, and some with a combination of both, so I needed both gloss and flat overcoats of clear finish. Since I couldn't find PollyScale in clear at my LHS, I used Dullcote and Glosscote, thinned with lacquer thinner and was able to do this airbrushing in the garage, as the weather was finally warm enough.
I'm told that the PollyScale clear coats aren't as "good" as Dullcote, etc., but I'm going to try some other water-based ones which I've seen at the hobby shop, and perhaps have them order-in some PollyScale, too.

I guess you could try spraying the matte medium - after all, it is used as a protective coating over artwork, although I'd be sure to clean the airbrush thoroughly, and immediately after spraying.

Wayne

[Wayne R]

I use water based acrylics for just about all my painting now. My brass Van Hobbies CNR 2-8-0 I rebuilt is painted with PollyScale steam power black. I also had a hard time with the acrylics the first dozen times I used them but found once you get used to them they are just as easy to use as solvent based paints. I like them because of the lack of smell and because clean up can be done with water and windex. The final cleaning of my airbrushes is still done with lacquer thinner just to make sure it is good and clean.

When thinning the acrylics ( PollyScale, Badger Moelflex ) I have used regular blue summer windsheild washer fluid, 50-70% Isopropyl alcohol and distilled water. I have found the distilled water works fine. When spraying PollyScale I have also used Testors Model Master #50496 acrylic thinner with great results. With badger Modelflex paints I also add a drop or two of the Modelflex retarder. It slows the drying time a bit. I usually set my my compressor for 25-35 psi for acrylics.

The only acrylic paints I have not had much luck with are the clears. Both Badger Modelflex clears and the PollyScale clears. I find it is real easy to get runs and because they go on with a milky white look it is hard to judge just how thick the coat is. So far after a couple of dozen attempts I have not gotten very good results. But I will admitt the few times I have been able to spray the clears well the results were good.

One thing I have found with the acrylic clears is the flat is more like a satin than a flat. Dullcoat is more flat than the acrylic flat clears.

One thing I did find was if you thin PollyScale acrylic flat about 40% and brush it on with a 1/4" to 1/2" brush in thin coats in one or two brush strokes it dries just about dead flat with no brush strokes. It also works well with the PollyScale statin.

As for the acrylic gloss clears I do not like them. They are thick and even after being thinned they spray on too thick and are had to get consistant results.

Maybe I just need to try a little harder with the acrylic clears to get good results but for now I will stick to using Testor Dullcoat & Glosscoat. I buy the small bottles and thin them 50% using lacquer thinner. It sprays real nice this way and thin coats are very easy to do. I have set my compressor as low as 15 psi with no problems. If I need a satin finish I mix 40% Glosscoat to 60% Dullcoat and thin that with 50% lacquer thinner. I never use the little rattle cans as I find the spray comes out to thick and it is easy to ruin a model because of it. I also find I get more bang for my dollar using the 1oz bottles.


Wayne Reid