Model Masters Clear Lusterless Flat is the best of the "spray bombs" for flatness. Everything else has a noticed sheen.
I had been able to find Dull Coat at my local Ben Franklin until just recently when the Ben Franklin store changed owners. The new owner told me that even Walmart has discontinued Spray Can Paints. That is B.S. and the new owner has lost a customer! I'd been wondering about hardware store spray paints. I will look for Krylon Flat Clear! Thanks for your experiment!
I see zero sheen on the Krylon ColorMaster Crystal Clear. But good to know there's another option that's actually flat.
It's also a good idea to test the paint you are going to put the flat coat on. I use acrylics and have found some over coat stuff will curdle the paint underneath.
This goes along with my next thought, did the Krylon ColorMaster Crystal Clear work so well because the base color is also a Krylon paint? Wonder what the Tamiya Clear Flat would look like painted over a Tamiya paint? I've been spraying Dull Cote over Floquil, Polly Scale and Scalecoat II paints for years and never really noticed a sheen, they always appeared flat to me, but again I'm no expert. This is my latest paint and decal project, the locomotive was painted with Scalecoat II Engine Black. After the unit was decaled, it was over coated with Dull Cote in the 3 oz. spray bomb. Having said that, it appears my can of Dull Cote has a different label than DiezMon's can. Did Testors change the formula for their Dull Cote when they changed to the new label? Or is Dull Cote specially formulated for Floquil and Polly Scale paint and reacts differently to other paint brands? Now to throw another hat into the ring, has anyone tried Scalecoat II 2051 Flat Clear or 2056 Satin Clear? If yes, what is your opinion of the Scalecoat II clear over coatings?
Thanks for the experiment! Over the past eight years I've used just about everything sold on the market.I will second your findings of Krylon ColorMaster and Tamiya as far above the rest. They result in superior flatness but are also less likely to fog. Nothing like the feeling of having worked on a big model for a week and thinking it is ruined by a foggy overcoat! I can usually recover with a second overcoat of one of these two, thank God!
