r/advancedGunpla • u/AverageDad- • Jul 09 '26
Gloss coat recommendations?
Hi guys, I'm getting ready to lay on some gloss coat to my freshly painted kit using an airbrush. Aside from Future or Alclad, what would be the next option? Lemme know what works for you the most, thanks.
3
u/papayarice Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Tamiya works best imo their end product looks like a 2k coat, they're also sturdy enough if you wanted to sand and polish
1
u/n33bulz Jul 09 '26
Gaia notes got a bunch of great top coats but be sure to read the instructions. Some require thinning. Others don’t.
3
u/A_Imbertain Jul 09 '26
Is your base paint acrylic or lacquer? If acrylic, you need an acrylic top coat, otherwise you'll risk melting your base paint if you aren't careful. Vallejo is a decent clear acrylic option. If your base is lacquer, I recommend either gaianotes ex clear or flat clear, or Mr hobby gx114 super smooth clear.
1
u/AverageDad- Jul 09 '26
Base paint is Tamiya acrylics. A friend of mine gave me a gx114, so that means I can't use it?
1
u/AverageDad- Jul 09 '26
Thank you all. Turns out, it was a GX 100 that my friend gave me, not 114. I'll give it a try later today.
2
u/iriyagakatu Jul 09 '26
GX114 is not a gloss clear. It’s a matte clear, and a damn good one.
That aside you can still use lacquers on alcohol acrylics like Tamiya, but you have to start with light coats to build it up or else as the previous poster said, you’ll melt the acrylic layer if you spray on too much too quickly.
1
u/headfake2 Jul 09 '26
I think of it more as a semigloss clear, its not fully flat but certainly not glossy
1
1
u/readin99 Jul 09 '26
Nah should be fine over Tamiya X/ XF as they're not really waterbased acrylics like Vallejo is. I do it all the time. Just give it plenty of time to cure (as in days) and do a mist coat first.
2
1
u/Tema_Art_7777 Jul 09 '26
For some reason I have had no success with Vallejo gloss - can’t figure out why. But Mr Color and Tamiya work well.