what is everyone's favourite brand of AUTOMOTIVE 2K clear?

[Nicholas]

as the title implies,only AUTOMOTIVE type of 2k ,not the stuff the hobby shops offer,I am thinking of going that route as I go thru a lot of clear and the little bottles add up plus the hardner, but not sure if I will use a quart size container before going bad (including the hardner) so shelf life is important also! TIA!

[slusher]

I like Testors one coat clear..

[Dave G.]

To me, 2K in modeling ? 0

[StevenGuthmiller]

No use for it myself.

I’ll stick with my lacquer.

 

 

Steve

[YoungGuyJames]

2k clear is over rated

I just give it a hawk tuah and spit in that thang

[Engine 51]

PPG

[bluenote]

For me, I'll never use 2k clear for a building model cars, it seems way too toxic for a hobby.  I always just use good ol Tamiya Clear in the rattle can.  

But, can anyone clarify the positive of 2k Clear?  is it ease of use or is the result any better than hobby clears?

Not to hijack the thread, so I will contribute to the OP's question and say that i've heard good things about Scalefinishes 2k clear.

[Jon Haigwood]

I have only tried Splash , did not go well. One of my club members told me that their activator only had a 2 month shelf life. I think it is too shiny for that

  realistic look

[Dave G.]

4 hours ago, bluenote said:

For me, I'll never use 2k clear for a building model cars, it seems way too toxic for a hobby.  I always just use good ol Tamiya Clear in the rattle can.  

But, can anyone clarify the positive of 2k Clear?  is it ease of use or is the result any better than hobby clears?

Not to hijack the thread, so I will contribute to the OP's question and say that i've heard good things about Scalefinishes 2k clear.

Automotive 2K belongs in a professional 1/1 paint situation. At that, with proper training and handling, setup in the shop and personal protective gear. I quit 35 year of 1/1 refinishing after all the seminars and warnings on the use of catalyzed systems. Or so called two part paints. I'm not about to bring it into my house, risk my own health, wife and pets as well. Nope not me.

[Bainford]

As has been suggested, the potential health issues are reason enough to not use the stuff. But beyond that, personally I think it just doesn't look good. To each his own, this is very much 'eye-of-the-beholder' stuff and I won't knock what others prefer to use, but for my money it does not provide a pleasing look when striving for realism. That's just my view, of course, but I think the incredible shine is anti-realism. With so many great looking, user-friendly clears on the market, I struggle to understand why 2K is so popular in our hobby.

[Dave G.]

47 minutes ago, Bainford said:

As has been suggested, the potential health issues are reason enough to not use the stuff. But beyond that, personally I think it just doesn't look good. To each his own, this is very much 'eye-of-the-beholder' stuff and I won't knock what others prefer to use, but for my money it does not provide a pleasing look when striving for realism. That's just my view, of course, but I think the incredible shine is anti-realism. With so many great looking, user-friendly clears on the market, I struggle to understand why 2K is so popular in our hobby.

I have to agree. And actually in many of my build, since they are old classics and antique era build, I'd rather not use clear at all. Enamels when done right and LP lacquers are pretty dangs good right out of the airbrush. Maybe just a little buff up when the time is right. Most of those cars were not metallic . It's just when I get into hot rods and then I'm going to use a clear color or candy over a base color. I have 0 need for 2K. Thus my first reply.

[StevenGuthmiller]

5 hours ago, Bainford said:

As has been suggested, the potential health issues are reason enough to not use the stuff. But beyond that, personally I think it just doesn't look good. To each his own, this is very much 'eye-of-the-beholder' stuff and I won't knock what others prefer to use, but for my money it does not provide a pleasing look when striving for realism. That's just my view, of course, but I think the incredible shine is anti-realism. With so many great looking, user-friendly clears on the market, I struggle to understand why 2K is so popular in our hobby.

I think it’s just become a fast and easy way of getting a super, high gloss shine without having to go through the extra work of polishing or anything.

It’s become very prevalent on the Facebook modeling groups, and I really wonder how many of these guys have any clue at all of how bad this stuff can be for their health.

I see people asking questions all of the time on Facebook that just by the questions asked, you can tell that they’re very green in the hobby, yet I know that they’re using 2K paints and clears.

It’s pretty frightening actually!

Sad part is that they’re basically being talked into it by more experienced modelers.........who also probably don’t know of the toxicity issues themselves.

Anyway, you sometimes feel that you want to try to offer alternatives and warn of the dangers to all of these young or inexperienced modelers, but it mostly falls on deaf ears, because unfortunately the desire for an easy and shiny paint job trumps everything else.

At least until they find themselves toting around an oxygen tank with them for the rest of their lives.

 

 

 

 

Steve

Edited June 25 by StevenGuthmiller

[Bill Eh?]

Steve, I was going to fall into that trap. A YouTuber, with a popular car modelling channel, was getting impressive results by mixing a percentage of the catalyst of 2K clear with his enamel paints. My thinking initially was why not. First I thought it best to find out if both 2K components are carcinogenic. Boy was I surprised to find out that the catalyst is the worse of the two components. I do have some Unused Splash 2K clear. I believe it will remain in the unused state.

[Pierre_tec]

Well maybe I’m the first to admit that I’m a sucker for 2k clear, but taking the safety issues of course. Although I dont use it as much as the body shops do, maybe 2-3 time a month, I try to always use it with a respirator and nitrile gloves. 
 

My choice, Basf Rm5335, two coats and done. I paint mostly at night and since is a tropical island, humidity is always present. I can’t find Testors one coat lacquer locally. Also try AutoZone Upol high gloss clear, what a waste of money!

[Dave G.]

8 hours ago, Pierre_tec said:

Well maybe I’m the first to admit that I’m a sucker for 2k clear, but taking the safety issues of course. Although I dont use it as much as the body shops do, maybe 2-3 time a month, I try to always use it with a respirator and nitrile gloves. 
 

My choice, Basf Rm5335, two coats and done. I paint mostly at night and since is a tropical island, humidity is always present. I can’t find Testors one coat lacquer locally. Also try AutoZone Upol high gloss clear, what a waste of money!

One of the easiest entry points for the type isocyanates in the 2k mix, to your body is through your eyes. This is not just while spraying but also during the curing process. If you still get a pre cured odor off the finish, it can get to you.. In 1/1, when we shot catalyzed paints we followed seminar class recommendations, to use a positive pressure head piece, with a fresh air source separate from the spray room.. This was basically a plastic head piece with open window in the front to see clearly through. The air escaping the hood went out through that eye opening, keeping paint and fumes out. While also wearing a mask, it was optional. In that you breathed the fresh air coming into the hood, nothing from the paint room. The mask was there in case of an error in the system..

What do I mean by " get to you" ? Well, the issue isn't just residual damage and the product gets expelled in time. This stuff gets into you and continues catalyzing, embedding into your body tissue cured. Literally it becomes part of you. Your body can not expel it like lacquer or enamel.

Of course you can do as you wish. But something that requires that kind of treatment to be fully safe is not entering my house. And I have a wife and pet to consider as well. Not to mention it would not be customary to clear coat the classic cars I tend to build anyway. You can see yourself in my enamel paint jobs and it's natural looking. LP lacquer being another good option, though I don't know about in high humidity.

[restoman]

I've been using 2k clears and other automotive paint on my builds for decades.

At first, simply because I used it every day in my working life, and it was easy to slide a project into the booth at the end of the day to spray it. Full protective gear, air-supplied mask, etc.

Later on in retirement, I sprayed in my garage. I still do, though only in warmer months (no garage heat). Just for the smell alone, I'd never shoot 2k anything in my house, booth or not.

Charcoal respirator, nitrile gloves and proper ventilation always. I prefer to use my mini HVLP detail gun, but I've run it through my Badger airbrush many times.

HoK is currently the one I'm using, but really, any 2k clear will work fine. 

Shelf life is not an issue, if everything is sealed up tight after using, and nothing gets exposed to too much heat or too much cold. The HoK is a left-over from my shop, and that closed in '08. 

 

[Nicholas]

thanks for the responses so far, aside from the carcinogenic qualities, it seems that every show i go to the cars are so shiny its crazy!,i use mcw enamels, and the shine right out of the bottle when mixed with mr hobby slow dry lacquer thinner is just great in my opinion looks more on the line of a factory 70's muscle car,...as it should because it's actually auto paint!.. but i was wondering the flip side of using a  2 k clear, but the health reasons are scaring me

[StevenGuthmiller]

38 minutes ago, Nicholas said:

thanks for the responses so far, aside from the carcinogenic qualities, it seems that every show i go to the cars are so shiny its crazy!,i use mcw enamels, and the shine right out of the bottle when mixed with mr hobby slow dry lacquer thinner is just great in my opinion looks more on the line of a factory 70's muscle car,...as it should because it's actually auto paint!.. but i was wondering the flip side of using a  2 k clear, but the health reasons are scaring me

If there are any questions, don’t use it.

There are plenty of viable alternatives, so it’s not necessary.

If you’re not afraid to put forth a little effort, you can get every bit as good of a result with clear lacquer and some polishing as you will with 2K,(and in my opinion, a more realistic in scale finish anyway)

There are of course other safer alternatives that are also good.

 

 

 

Steve

[Dave G.]

1 hour ago, Nicholas said:

thanks for the responses so far, aside from the carcinogenic qualities, it seems that every show i go to the cars are so shiny its crazy!,i use mcw enamels, and the shine right out of the bottle when mixed with mr hobby slow dry lacquer thinner is just great in my opinion looks more on the line of a factory 70's muscle car,...as it should because it's actually auto paint!.. but i was wondering the flip side of using a  2 k clear, but the health reasons are scaring me

Paint jobs have traditionally been about 80% of winning model car contests. But not because they are scale or true to the era of car. Gloss and polish wins the day. So it's gotten to where it takes 2K to win unless it's some patina category at a local show.

In my day, to win took candy color over metallic silver or gold. And strangely, upholstered interior in felt or corduroy. Oh and some semblance of spark plug wires. So I now don't do shows. Who cares ? Nobody. But I build em how I want them to look.

By the way, you could easily find flaws in a 1/1 show room stock paint job, even body panels in the 1960's and 70's. But don't try to enter that look in a model show unless you want to place last. Yet it might be most authentic. Most of the muscle cars with awesome shines back then were owner induced, through polishing and waxing, polishing and waxin faithfully. They didn't come off the lot that way, especially GM metallic colors in the late 60's. Least not the best I can recall.

I also might add, there was no 2K then !

Edited June 25 by Dave G.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Personally I wouldn't use 2k clear. Regular paints can.be harmful if you don't protect yourself but the 2k is even more hazardous. I'd want adequate protection and a good spray booth designed to filter the air exhausted. 

As said polishing and lacquer paints can produce a great finish with reasonable effort.

[StevenGuthmiller]

On 6/25/2024 at 2:41 PM, Dave G. said:

Gloss and polish wins the day. So it's gotten to where it takes 2K to win unless it's some patina category at a local show.

I won't disagree with much that you said, but I will disagree with this statement.

I routinely do quite well in the few shows that I attend, and I'm not using 2K.

As a matter of fact, a good number of those that I know that produce some of the best models that I've ever seen, do not use 2K either.

Shine on a model may be a high requirement to do well at a show, but there are a number of ways to reach that goal that don't require the use of 2K clear, and that has been the case for many years.

 

Likewise, I don't believe that most GOOD judges are not aware of the intricacies of what constitutes a good or "realistic" paint job.

They are just as knowledgeable, if not more so, of what a paint job should look like for a particular subject as we are, and as has become evident by a number of opinions just in this thread alone, there are a lot of people who feel that there absolutely can be such thing as too shiny when it comes to model cars, and that could very well include a good number of judges. 

Just like anything else, 2K is not necessarily the "silver bullet" when it comes to paint.

It might be an option for some, but it's use alone is not necessarily going to bring home any more hardware than a good enamel paint finish, or a nicely executed polished lacquer paint job.

 

 

 

Steve

 

[stavanzer]

What is everyone's favorite brand of AUTOMOTIVE 2K clear?

 

The Kind that doesn't make me sick, probably.

[Dave G.]

On 6/26/2024 at 11:21 PM, StevenGuthmiller said:

I won't disagree with much that you said, but I will disagree with this statement.

I routinely do quite well in the few shows that I attend, and I'm not using 2K.

As a matter of fact, a good number of those that I know that produce some of the best models that I've ever seen, do not use 2K either.

Shine on a model may be a high requirement to do well at a show, but there are a number of ways to reach that goal that don't require the use of 2K clear, and that has been the case for many years.

 

Likewise, I don't believe that most GOOD judges are not aware of the intricacies of what constitutes a good or "realistic" paint job.

They are just as knowledgeable, if not more so, of what a paint job should look like for a particular subject as we are, and as has become evident by a number of opinions just in this thread alone, there are a lot of people who feel that there absolutely can be such thing as too shiny when it comes to model cars, and that could very well include a good number of judges. 

Just like anything else, 2K is not necessarily the "silver bullet" when it comes to paint.

It might be an option for some, but it's use alone is not necessarily going to bring home any more hardware than a good enamel paint finish, or a nicely executed polished lacquer paint job.

 

 

 

Steve

 

I should tread softly here, as many of you in the forums are still active in contests and shows. I have not been active in that for decades. Thus my statements you quoted from should have been less outright. Also, and I debated it, concerning 2k, I should have said something like, many modelers feel it's required to win. Rather than give the impression that it really takes 2K to win. My mistake !