Issues with acrylic flat coats

Aliens are a plausible cause

Same here…glossy after application

I think it must be some sort of chemical change in the finish as it ages - something to do with out gassing perhaps ?
I took this shot just now to illustrate. When built the aircraft was as dead flat as the starter truck - now look at it. Starter truck done in dullcoat - Hayabusa in AK Ultra Matte . The truck actually predates the aircraft by a year or more .
Another phenomenon I notice on occasion when shooting in bright light with my iPad is the finish appears to have orange peel when it really doesn’t-
Strange - May be aliens after all.

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That’s two votes for Testers Dull coat.

Do you add a retarder ? What thinner do you use?
Some say that you should use the same thinner as the paint but in this case you are mixing two different manufacturers products, Future and Tamiya.
Have you tried Tamiya clear and add the Tamiya flat base to it to create the flat sheen you are trying to achieve?

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Worth noting all varnishes are gloss and matt simply had a matting medium added. It could be that there is some issue with the mixing as a consequence of the humidity. You could try adding matt medium to your (already) matt varnish, though its going to be a somewhat long term trial.

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FWIW - Regarding Testors Dullcoat sometimes it doesn’t yield a flat finish in my experience. TD often results in a stain finish.

The only way I’ve seen to ensure a true dead flat with Testors Dullcoat is to cut it with Metalizer Thinner. That works OK for armor but airplanes sometimes end up look dusty rather than flat.

I have never had a Matt varnish go gloss, however I have never got on with acrylic Matt varnishes. Then I stumbled upon Windsor and Newton Galeria Matt varnish. This stuff is dead flat and extremely forgiving to spray. I thin it 50/50 with tamiya x20a thinner, about 15psi. Even if you spray too much it just dries super matt. No blooming or white residue. Only ever used it as a final finish so don’t know about resistance to further weathering, etc, but will be experimenting with that in the future.

Oh, and I am in Scotland, which is extremely humid but in another rather rainy way!

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I use Tamiya flat base with Tamiya gloss, primarily because I like to thin with lacquer thinner. Works well. I use approx. 20% flat base to gloss coat.

Damon.

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