What's the point of clear paint?

[John]

Probably a stupid question but why do Tamiya do X-22 clear paint? when would you use it?, I can see the point of the clear coloured one's they do but not clear

[Guest]

is it not just a clear gloss varnish essentially John?

I don't see a varnish listed on my tamiya colour chart on the wall, (yes I am that anal, I have Tamiya, Humbrol and revells charts for cross referencing taped to the hobby room wall) , so i'd say it's just their clear varnish, I know I've used it as such in the past though tend to use xtracrylix now.

You can flat it with flat base as well

[Guest]

Or maybe it's like their version of the emperors new clothes, they have a weird sense of humour

[Ian M]

Have you ever heard a Japanese try to say Varnish? Hence clear paint.

Ian M

[Guest]

I just love the Plamo videos on youtube, makes me giggle everytime I hear, Mas-king-o tape. (ooh, i know that one, i'm learning Japanese)

I have massive respect for anyone who can speak even a smattering of more than one language BTW, it's one aspect us Brits are very ignorant and lazy with. I would love to know japanese even, enough to understand just to figure out whats being said on many of those build videos

[John]

I thought it was a varnish as I couldn't think it could be anything else, so I take it the other clear colours are also varnish, and why is it just gloss and not matt

[John]

I think they do, would it be X-21 Flat Base

[Ian M]

I just love the Plamo videos on youtube, makes me giggle everytime I hear, Mas-king-o tape. (ooh, i know that one, i'm learning Japanese)

I have massive respect for anyone who can speak even a smattering of more than one language BTW, it's one aspect us Brits are very ignorant and lazy with. I would love to know japanese even, enough to understand just to figure out whats being said on many of those build videos

I hope you don't include me in there!!! Ok I'm lazy I will give you that. :laughing:

To be Honest, If it is a thing you want to do, go for it. They say that Japanese is actually on of the easier languages to learn. none of that masculine/feminine stuff and other silly grammar traps. Lets face it if I can learn Danish I am pretty sure you can learn Japanese!

Ian M

[Guest]

John, it can also be used as a base to make up your own 'clear' coloured paints by adding spots of other colours, pigments or watering down the other clear coloured paints. You can use it to protect weathering, applying over or under transfers etc...etc....

It is basically a clear acrylic gloss varnish, just like Future but a bit thicker.

[Guest]

Nononono, X21 is not flat varnish, it's a flatting agent for the gloss varnish and other gloss paints in Tamiya's range. This one confused the pants off me when I intially looked for tamiya matt varnish.

Accurate info on the ue of flat base is hard to get from Tamiya, i took some from other peoples use i found online and had a fiddle about with mixes until i found one that worked.

N.B. You have to be VERY ACCURATE with these measurements, unlike the suck it and see approach of thinners.

Essentially

0% = Gloss

10% = Semi gloss

20% = Satin

30% = Flat

Any more than 30% and you'll get white blooms regardless of how well you mix the paint as you would trying to use it as paint on its own

I've mixed it with Klear too to create matt varnish.

The clear coloured paints are essentially just tinted clear varnishes like Humbrols, ideal for tinting clear parts to represent lights or tinted canopies, tail lights, indicators, headlights on vehicles, wingtip lights on aircraft and umpteen other uses, i've used blue to replicate coolant over white in an expansion tank, seen green used in clear tubing to replicate brake fluid lines and it can even be used as a 'candy' clear for painting over metallics.

[Guest]

I hope you don't include me in there!!! Ok I'm lazy I will give you that. :laughing:To be Honest, If it is a thing you want to do, go for it. They say that Japanese is actually on of the easier languages to learn. none of that masculine/feminine stuff and other silly grammar traps. Lets face it if I can learn Danish I am pretty sure you can learn Japanese!

Ian M

I include the vast majority of the british isles, me as well, though I have the barest smattering of German and French and I do try to pick up the basics everywhere i go overseas, (learning to say please and thankyou in Greek for example makes a huge difference in the way you are received as a tourist), i would in fact, not include you among them being in Denmark and speaking Danish unless of course you were of the shout slowly and loudly enough in english and they'll understand you, group.

I don't include anyone who is prepared to put in a bit of effort, but going back to Greece for just a moment, it's incredibly sobering and embarrassing to be sitting on a bus and have a group of local school teenagers conversing first in English with us, then in German and French with Germans and French tourists respectively, as well as speaking Greek, naturally, I firmly believe that English schools do not place anywhere near enough emphasis on languages.