Testors Dullcote. Should I spray the car with the matte finish
before I add the powder and paint and then again afterward
to seal it?
– Roundhousecat
A.
Two questions here. We’ll talk about paint brands first.
A couple of experienced readers, Dave Branum and ‘Bing,’
aren’t satisfied with Krylon sprays for HO models, though they
say they’re OK for larger scales. They suggest using Testors
Dullcote, in either a spray can or with an airbrush. They say the
coarse spray from the large Krylon cans can block up details
and put too much paint on a model.
“In trying various spray paints in the rattle-cans, I have found
Krylon to be a heavier paint than Testors. In other words,
Krylon tends to go on thicker and tends to hide details such as
rivets and details that are not very high above the body sur-
face,” Bing said. “I have tried Krylon in the past, and now have
a few, very few thankfully, to strip and redo. I find that Testors
is a thin paint and is much better. Of course, an airbrush allows
you to control the paint density for much better coverage.”
Model Masters Flat Clear Acryl is also a good matte finish. But,
when handled carefully, Krylon can give good results. The cars
in the photo (4) were sprayed with indoor/outdoor Ruddy
Brown primer, a light coat of Crystal Clear gloss, and, after the
decals had set up, with Krylon 1311 matte finish. Work in a
warm environment, shake the can very vigorously before spray-
ing, pause between light fogged coats to check the effect, and
you’re good to go. Running the spray can under a hot water tap
also helps to spray a thin, even coat.
Before any clear-coating, the car sides were lightly wet-sanded
with 400-grit paper to get the desired level of “show-through”
