Gloss Clear or Clear Coat

LAST EDITED ON Nov-19-04 AT 09:33 AM (CST)
 
The hobby shop does not have clear coat. They have Aero Gloss, "Gloss Clear" made by Midwest. I bought some and it is not the same. This stuff is as thick as Honey. If I mix in a solvent, something like acetone will it work the same as clear coat?

>The hobby shop does not have clear coat. They have Gloss
>Clear. I bought some and it is not the same. This stuff is
>as thick as Honey. If I mix in a solvent, something like
>acetone will it work the same as clear coat?
>
>Gary Weaver

Gary,
What is the product and who is it made by?
Is it gloss clear dope? acrylic? Epoxy?
The can should have directions for thinning.
What product is the "clear coat" you are referring to?
Have to know what the product is to help.
Bill <><

What product are you asking about? Is it SIG, Brodak or something else? If it is Brodak dope, use only Brodak thinner. SIG works well with Dupont 3608S. Start out with 50/50 thinned clear and with the later clear coats go to 60/40 thinner to dope. Best thing to do is get a video from Windy Urtnowski at Prostunt on how to use dope.

>The hobby shop does not have clear coat. They have Gloss
>Clear. I bought some and it is not the same. This stuff is
>as thick as Honey. If I mix in a solvent, something like
>acetone will it work the same as clear coat?
>
>Gary Weaver

Gary,
Be careful with Aero Gloss, it is NOT butyrate.. I understand that Midwest makes a chart that shows what it is compatable with.

ive just recently gotten intrested in models again after a 43 year absence...mannn things have changed !!! dope has changed i did know what it all was before now i dont...aero-gloss?...not butyrate anymore?...looks like ill hafta learn all over again...but...in answer to ur question..i wouldn't use acetone if it were mine...the reason being th chalky residue left over after it dries....butyrate thinner may not do this....and like acetone will cut anything....u might get away with mek(methyl ethyl keytone)it at least dries clean and also will cut anything it will even remove cyno...its usually available at most hardware stores....jim

Aerogloss dope is acrylic lacquer and has been for many years. Aerogloss Gloss Clear is just a clear dope. It will not go well over nitrate (or it may, could be they have changed the formulation again.) I have found it to be compatible over and under Sig Supercoat and Litecoat dopes and Sig thinner and retarder seem to work OK with it. There is an Aerogloss Fuel Proofer which is probably a urethane of some kind. Aerogloss dope is fairly fuel proof. I'd suggest you do a little test panel for compatability. I tried to clean a spraygun used with Aerogloss clear with a lacquer thinner and got a mess of white jello. I have found that unplasticized Aerogloss will crack and craze in a few months. Dave Brown makes a plasticizer. The Aerogloss Curtis Blue is the finest colored dope available.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-19-04 AT 05:15 PM (CST)
 
this new stuff is all greek to me....and i dont mean "spartan" brand aircraft finish....jim

Jim,

Brodak dope is a special formula of Randolph dope that was especially created for model airplane use. It has more solids and is generally faster drying than most dopes. Brodak also has support items such as rejuvenator that adds flexibility and retarder to make it gas off slower.

SIG is still a good brand. It gasses off slower than Brodak's.

Testors went out of business long ago.

Aerogloss is still good. I would suggest using all Aerogloss products if you use it to avoid incompatibility problems. Hadn't heard of the cracking problem. They probably offer a plasticizer or you might try the Dave Brown's version.

There may be others that I'm not familiar with.

> Aerogloss is still good. I would suggest using all
>Aerogloss products if you use it to avoid incompatibility
>problems. Hadn't heard of the cracking problem. They
>probably offer a plasticizer or you might try the Dave
>Brown's version.
>
> There may be others that I'm not familiar with.
>
>George

I use 1 drop of castor oil per 1oz of dope for plasticizer.

I used castor until someone told me that castor should only be used in Nitrate and does no good in Butyrate.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt and stopped using it. Started mixing a little Rejuvinator in my Brodak clear. Have not tried Dave Brown's plasticizer.
I have no idea if castor is compatible with Aero Gloss.

Any Chemists out there?

>> I have no idea if castor is compatible with Aero Gloss.

It is.

>The hobby shop does not have clear coat. They have Aero
>Gloss, "Gloss Clear" made by Midwest. I bought some and it
>is not the same. This stuff is as thick as Honey. If I mix
>in a solvent, something like acetone will it work the same
>as clear coat?
>
>Gary Weaver

Gary,
Aero Gloss is usually made by Pactra not midwest--So make sure what is going on here!!The Aero Gloss has some real bad characteristics also--Like craking W/age---I've heard it is even worse than before..So My suggestion would also be the Windy video, combined with the use of either Sig or Brodak through and through..
Matching W/thinner of the paint--However the Dupont 3608S works well w/Sig...Thanks David

Correction David, Aero GLoss is now under the Midwest banner. I don't know who's making it for them but it is a Midwest product now.

If the clear is as "thick as honey" it may be they've changed the formula again, in which case I will look into using it again.

>this new stuff is all greek to me....and i dont mean
>"spartan" brand aircraft finish....jim

I'm with you on this one, Jim. AeroGloss was the only dope around when I grew up. It was always Butyrate, and it was always fuel proof. AeroGloss clear was clear, butyrate, hot-fuel proof dope. The clear was always thick, too - a 50-50 thinning was pretty standard, and 75-25 was not unreasonable.

It was made by Pactra, and now I see it sold under the Midwest brand. It seems obvious to me that Brodak formulated his dope as the old AeroGloss line. The candy Royal Purple was always my favorite color.

Whether Midwest did anything to change it, I don't know.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-20-04 AT 06:38 PM (CST)
 
here's the Midwest site

http://www.midwestproducts.com/paints.htm

Somewhere I have a Pactra pamplet fom the 78 or 80 Nats which describes Aerogloss dope as being an acrylic lacquer. I don't remember it as ever being very thick (started using it in the ealy '50's), but then I was used to using Lambert and Randolph aircraft dopes. I really liked the transparent dopes Aerogloss had.

Thanks, Walter. A quote directly from the Midwest site:

"The original hot fuel proof butyrate dope system which gives a durable, fast-drying, lightweight and beautiful lacquer finish."

Gary,

I would not use acetone as a thinner. IIRC, acetone is a much much stronger chemical that any of the regular "dope" thinners. It is (was?) used as a finger nail polish (another laquer type) remover, It performed that function well. You may damage the finish you already have on the plane.

LAST EDITED ON Nov-21-04 AT 08:15 PM (CST)
 
i was going to do a long winded post about this....but i wont...butyrate ,nitrate and lacquer are all keytone derivatives...aero-gloss contains toluol and methyl ethyl keytone(m.e.k.)...mek should work just fine as a thinner...u can get that at any hardware store...jim