So my wife and I just celebrated a 2 year wedding anniversary, and what did I wake up to that morning...? A master kit of MK, a see through kit, a no name kit, and a couple extra colors... She had given me a couple of MK paints the other day and told me it was for our anniversary, I had no idea she was going all out though. She also got me a Bullmark B-club Kanegon, and a Medium size U.S. Toys Kanegon... I'm stripping them down and painting them today... (Just Kidding about the stripping and painting...). I bought her a another Takoichi Seiju and his brother man Takoji Seijin

My question is this, is the MK only "Activated" by the clear coat that comes with it? I want to use Krylon matte coats in between paint applications, but I'm not sure if it will change the overall look of the paints when I add the final MK clear coat... Does anyone else work like that?

First off happy anniversary!! And that's awesome of your wife to get you a MK set like that. MK can be used with or without the clear coat..it really depends on what type of look you are going for and how well you want the toy protected...I use to use krylon clear coat and to be honest it sucks IMO ..it ended up making all the toys become real sticky later on to the point where paint was coming off..MK clear coat is solid and it gives your toy a nice gloss look after wards if you don't want the gloss look you can always pick up MK matte finish..

not sure what you mean by "is it activated" the paint doesnt get activated by the clear it gets protected. But the clear coat needs to be mixed and then sprayed on because it's a two part clear and hardener. Light sprays of color can rub off of bare vinyl easily, less easily on basecoated so you need the clear. I don't recommend using the rattle can clear coat becaus the particles are larger than an airbrush and will give a texture. Just my preference though. If you're gonna use the mk clear anyway I'd just handle the toy carefully.

hope that helps. Your wife rules btw!

Yeah, stay away from that krylon stuff. Total crap. The MK paints do gain some extra vibrancy once the clear coat is added and cured. Go to the MK website and make sure you follow the instructions fully:

http://monsterkolor.ning.com/forum/topi ... tion-guide

Thanks for the advice, to this point I've been using Liquitex with a floetrol mix, and Golden acrylics mixed with Golden's airbrush medium. MK is a whole new beast... The way I usually work... (Canvas, Old TMNT toys, etc...) is to lay down colors with my airbrush, spray down a layer of Krylon clear coat, and layer on a different color, spray down some more Krylon, ink in details with a brush... clear coat again...

From what I've read MK clear coat is really thick, and takes a long time to dry, so it would really prolong my work, and end up having a huge layer of clear coat in the end... My real question is will the chemicals from the Krylon have a bad reaction with the MK, I'm not worried about the texture, because I'm still planning on using the MK clear over the top, I just want to use the Krylon to pencil in the details....

MK clear takes roughly 24 hours to cure...

Krylon isn't the best choice, unless you make the RIGHT choice...

Krylon Crystal (has to say crystal) will not get tacky, or sticky, and it cures rather quickly... There are a couple other clears made by them, that will indeed leave it sticky, but the crystal will not. I've painted COUNTLESS customs with over 50 cans of crystal, not one issue at all... So if you're out to save money, and not deal with 2 part paint, krylon CRYSTAL works well... You can spray it on light for a semi gloss look, or you can do a pretty decent wetcoat without dripping... That is always the technique i used until I started using MK

I've used it over acrylics, v-color, Mr. Color, and Monster Kolor with no issue...

Also you shouldnt need all those layers of clear... just takes away from the toys texture, and joint movement...

I plan on using MK to finish, I don't mind the 2 part system. I just want to use a layer of Krylon underneath so I if I mess up on the details I don't ruin all the work I did on the paintjob and Krylon is a fast way of holding everything together.. If MK is over the top of the Krylon, do I have to worry about tackyness since, it holds like concrete?

MK shouldn't react over anything, but I think you will find that an extra layer of Krylon before the MK clear will dull your colors and finish. What kind of details are you worried about? You might be better off doing all your spray colors, MK glossing, painting in your details, and then applying a second gloss coat.

I was mainly talking about detailing the eyes and teeth... I know I wasn't very clear in my first post, when I used the word "activate" I was talking about, the colors having a little more shine...

I haven't personally used any clear yet, just sprayed some basic color layer. that said I'm not sure how the paint is affected by the clear coat, hence my questions.. To be honest my main area of expertise when it comes to painting is on a canvas, and tack is never an issue on cloth, or wood.

Just curious, how thick is the clear coat after mixing, and will it expand or shrink as it hardens? I've read the word "resin" used when describing the chemical process, and I wasn't sure if they were talking about the process of mixing, or the effects of the mixture.

Also thanks for the help prometheum, I'm sure there are a lot of things we don't see eye to eye on, but it's great that the community will hop in bed with people who are willing be taught.

I just dont really get why you'd need to clear inbetween things unless you're manhandling the toy? I dont see why it would come off or anything. And like I said, the rattle can will leave a texture. I dunno how you like your customs but I like em nice and smooth. Finishing with the MK clear will smooth some, but I dont think it will completely get rid of the texture. For stickiness though (if you must use the rattle can) I've found that rusto acrylic laquer is pretty close to MK clear if you wet coat like D said. It'll still give texture though.

The MK clear will add a little thickness... More than a coat of Krylon would. I think as long as you are careful, you should have no problem with the sprayed colors while painting the eyes and teeth. I would recommend just laying down a cloth or soft rag to lay the figure on while you brush your details. The MK clear does liven up the colors, especially the metallics and pearls, so you don't really want to get anything else in between there.

Try it out and let us know how it goes!

Intermediate clear coats can be your friends if you do 'em right. I don't know why you'd use krylon though...

Is there a reason you can't just do a light MK clear coat, brush on your details (& correct any mistakes), then do a final clear coat and build to the desired level of gloss?

Seems like it should be easy.

The only real reason I was even thinking about using Krylon is because I have it on hand, and currently use it frequently in my 2d paintings... I get that vinyl is a whole different beast, so I interested in the input of those more knowledgeable than I... This is a good place for info, I'll let you know how it goes... The reason I like clear coats is because it lets me get to a certain point of perfection, and not have to worry about ruining my other coats, that said I think with more practice, that won't be such a problem. I have a tendency of making things more difficult for myself than they should be (I'm a perfectionist) and clear coats, help stop me from turning back and deciding it wasn't good enough...