flat not matte clear

[TLOC]

I seldom thin and can’t remember the last time I actually thinned a matte clear finish. I airbrush anywhere from 15psi to 30 when doing the finishes. I have found that when I do get a sheen using a matte finish I didn’t mix/shake the bottle enough. About 4 years ago I purchased a Vortex mixer. I no longer question if my paints or finishes are mixed enough. They are

I stopped using the Testor brand of DullCote before Covid hit for 2 reasons. The local price for a can was getting crazy. Then there was a shortage of product in our area. That’s when I found what I think is the best overall matte finish. The VMS brand from Poland. But it was a slow delivery cycle and I have moved all Arcylics finishes to Tamiya

While I mainly use Tamiya Arcylic paint thinned with Isopropyl Alcohol when I spray Vallejo Air paints I don’t thin them. When I spray Model Color or the Aces line of Vallejo paints I’ll thin usually with tap water but occasionally with the Vallejo thinner

 

[diesel]

I can't find Testors Dullcote anywhere and I live in a major city. I found an old bottle of enamel flat and gloss, I might try airbrushing with that. One of the last coats I put down was from a can of rather lengthy named, "Mr. Super Smooth Clear Matt" from Tamiya. It was actually pretty good as a final coat. The thing is, in the past I mainly used matt clear finishes to provide a sticky surface for weathering chalk powders. I've noticed that acrylic dries incredibly fast, so the powders might not stick as well. Another use for enamel matt is to waterproof acrylic layers if you plan to apply more watercolour layers and you don't want them to attack the base layer.

I took the cue from this thread and tried Tamiya XF-86 Flat Clear and a drop of XF-57 Buff, about 50/50 with Tamiya thinner, as the first coat. By itself, that was a huge improvement in the finish. It wasn't as aggressive as my historical "magic mix" of clear, mud and white Floquil. I'm easing myself into washes, I can see that they are a bonanza if done right. So the clear matt coats serve to help the washes spread and not bunch up. At least that is my theory at this point, I'm doing a lot of copycatting but I really only know what I have seen happen in front of me.

I have no experience with Vallejo, I can't find any locally and I now have a sufficient collection of Tamiya acrylics. I have a few enamels left over like a decent rust colour from Testor's, I used that last week to spray up some couplers. I have a few Badger RR specific colours for that purpose (edit - I mean for road name specific colours).

Weird thing, the Tamiya "Mr. Super Smooth" advises against spraying over water based or water slide decals, it was over acrylics and nothing went bad. Decals, I'm not sure because there weren't any...

 

[Jaz avalley]

I think I would have you all screaming
yes I have the likes of Railmatch (supposedly exact matches for specific loco colours) but
I use house paints, especially sample pots, especially white as I mix my paints by hand,
I have an expensive airbrush and hate cleaning it it gets used most often to clean computers and motherboards or fans, for weathering
I love citadel technical frankly it’s unbeatable
cheap umbrol is fine,

To answer the question…I use dulcote but a brand that is ancient,
To dull my work, I am more likely to use a powder, a weathering powder.

and have been known to use nail varnish in a pinch, but then I am after texture. I regularly layer anything that catches my eye.
Give me a red a yellow and a blue and I’ll just make the colour I want and no matter I cannot exactly match it.
But usually I am painting weathered items
For me the important factor is not the paint it is the reference picture I plan to copy, I could have added before but can only add 10 pictures

And despite not ‘protecting’ my paint jobs to date I have not had to repaint one

That said for a loco, with a new paint job I would probably use Railmatch