Clearing years after paint job

[SCRWDRVR]

Ok I have been looking at a few of my old builds that if I just cleared them and polished them they would be pretty awesome builds. So my questions do you think it would be an issue to clear an old paint job without sanding? I do have some Dupli-color adhesion promoter I figured I could use also. My other thought is some of them are painted with Testors model spray paint and I want to use Dupli-color clear over them, do you think that would be an issue?

 

Couple of pics to show a few cases I want to do...

 

[stitchdup]

The cobra and buick dont look like they need any clear to be honest. I cant really tell on the top one but from what I see it looks good as it is. I would use the same brand of clear as the original paint if it was me though

[SCRWDRVR]

24 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

The cobra and buick dont look like they need any clear to be honest. I cant really tell on the top one but from what I see it looks good as it is. I would use the same brand of clear as the original paint if it was me though

The Cobra and Buick are among the better ones but don't have the life like shine, the GTX in person almost looks like satin and I don't remember what kind of paint I used on it but I love the color on the car..

Edited January 11, 2019 by SCRWDRVR
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[stitchdup]

13 minutes ago, SCRWDRVR said:

The Cobra and Buick are among the better ones but don't have the life like shine, the GTX in person almost looks like satin and I don't remember what kind of paint I used on it but I love the color on the car..

you might get away with one of the micro mesh polishing kits, I've used them on primer before and ended up with a high gloss shine. If I remember correctly some enamels can be used over other paints but get confirmation from someone thats knows for sure first.

[SCRWDRVR]

21 hours ago, stitchdup said:

you might get away with one of the micro mesh polishing kits, I've used them on primer before and ended up with a high gloss shine. If I remember correctly some enamels can be used over other paints but get confirmation from someone thats knows for sure first.

The GTX is metallic so I can't polish it to easily, I do know you cant put lacquer on the enamels and the other 2 are definitely enamel.

[MrObsessive]

If it were me, I would NOT use Duplicolor clear over ANY paint unless it was fully tested out first! Perhaps try it on the underside of the hood of the GTX or some other benign area, but certainly not over the entire body. As for the others if they're a solid color, I'd simply try to rub them out and polish them. Solid colors normally don't need a clear coat as there's enough hardener in the paint that doesn't warrant that. Your polishing cloths are a better bet with those, along with a mild wax and a chamois cloth to bring out the shine.

Metallic paints on the other hand are  a different animal as you don't want to polish those directly as it can give the metallic flakes a swirled or mottled appearance. You want to clear those, but be careful what you put over 'em.

Rule of thumb is this: You can put enamels over lacquers/acrylic enamel, but not the other way around. Those paints are generally too 'hot' for enamels and will make a mess.

[Snake45]

2 hours ago, SCRWDRVR said:

The GTX is metallic so I can't polish it to easily, I do know you cant put lacquer on the enamels and the other 2 are definitely enamel.

This might be one of the very rare cases where I might think Future/Pledge could be the best and least risky solution. At least if it didn't come out to my liking, I could just take it right back off with common household ammonia. 

[Jack L]

I  cleared a old testors  red painted  amt 66 vette with Dupli Color clear I  used lite very lite coats let it dry 4-5 hrs between coats works good for me

[SCRWDRVR]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

This might be one of the very rare cases where I might think Future/Pledge could be the best and least risky solution. At least if it didn't come out to my liking, I could just take it right back off with common household ammonia. 

Do you just put Pledge on it?

Thanks for all the info guys very useful....

[Snake45]

On 1/11/2019 at 6:26 PM, stitchdup said:

you might get away with one of the micro mesh polishing kits, I've used them on primer before and ended up with a high gloss shine. If I remember correctly some enamels can be used over other paints but get confirmation from someone thats knows for sure first.

Good idea! I've shined up glue bomb "rescues" that didn't look anywhere near as good as yours with Wright's Silver Cream. I'd try that on the Buick and the Cobra before I worried about repainting them. 

[Tommy124]

On 13.1.2019 at 12:50 AM, Snake45 said:

This might be one of the very rare cases where I might think Future/Pledge could be the best and least risky solution.

I agree here. I cannot tell if Future/ Pledge are exactly the same stuff like the Alclad Aqua Gloss (AAG) I have been using. But I have been told that they are at least very similar. Anyways, I have made good results with cloth-applying AAG directly onto the basecoat. Just a drop and then polish it in. At least it worked on matte basecoats (Zero Paints, Gravity Colors) to the purpose of creating partial glossy areas on which BMF is to be applied (in order to avoid making a full intermediate clear coat). And yes, that means I clearcoated the BMF later on which worked out just fine... 

[SCRWDRVR]

I finally noticed the tread about using Future\Pledge I'm going to get some of that and give it a try.