Humbrol Clear

[Brigand]

I bought a bottle of Humbrol Clear a while ago and noticed at the bottom of the bottle there was a white buildup with clear liquid above that, the two clearly separated. Assuming the bottle had been stood a while I shook it up and painted it onto my kit - with disastrous results. It left a brown scum over most of the aircraft and dried with no shine at all, in fact it was as if I was just painting dirty water over it. Thinking I had a dodgy batch I bought another bottle from a different place some weeks later and again saw the white stuff at the bottom of the bottle, but rather than shaking it up this time I painted the clear liquid on and this time I got the correct results.

My question is, what is the white substance in the bottle? A friend swears his bottle doesn't have the white stuff in, and if I shake it up it can take a good two days to fully settle back to the bottom. Is it supposed to be there or have I got two dodgy batches?

[EagleMoto4-2]

A picture of it might help diagnosis. However I have some Humbrol satin coat and if left to settle you get a white layer of liquid underneath a clear layer, this is obviously the gloss and matt varnish layers which mix together to give satin. I wonder if this is something similar.

[Composite Guru]

I would put my money on it being satin clear as the layer at the bottom should be the base material.

[Brigand]

Here's a picture, I gave the bottle a good shake two days ago and its slowly settling, and it'll settle further as my other bottle is at a lower level.



It is Satin Clear. Shaking it then painting that onto the kit gave horrendous results as noted above, the only way to get good results, the ones the Humbrol video on YouTube state, is to dip into the clear stuff and paint that on.

[EagleMoto4-2]

Yeah that looks like satin coat which will give a semi-gloss finish when mixed. It should still dry clear though, but if you need a gloss finish just dip your brush into the top layer.

Edited by EagleMoto4-2 on Friday 6th May 10:26

[dr_gn]

I though Humbrol Clear was meant to be a direct replacement for Johnson's Klear? There shouldn't be any flat base in it at all if that's the case.

[Brigand]

If I mix it up, as I would a paint and brush it onto a kit, although initially looks satin / glossy its almost as if it evaporates leaving only a brown scum in places. Multiple coats doesn't add any kind of shine only more brown traces. Its odd, I'd have thought I'd need to mix it before use but there's nothing on the bottle to suggest I need to do that.

[4321go]

How about emailing that photo to Humbrol themselves, and seeing what they have to say?

[e-mail]

[Brigand]

Its worth a shot I supposed, and its entirely possible that the two bottles I bought from different shops came from the same batch which may be dodgy. As I said, a friend has a bottle and swears there's no white layer.