Matte Finish Clear Coat Questions

I am painting my 1977 KZ750B2 along a 40's Army bike theme. I have a base coat of OD Green (Flat). I've applied three coats of Duplicolor Matte Clear Coat with a spray gun.

Is there anything I need to do in between coats? How long until I should apply another coat? I'm thinking 24 hours and do another 4 coats and call it good.

Does this stuff stand up to fuel at all?

I mean you don't buff it cause it's not supposed to shine. But what should you do with it? Just leave it?

This is the stuff.

1. Duplicolor Matte Clear Coat

This paint is pretty forgiving. Usually you just want to let paint flash between coats. touch an area where you have over-spray like whatever your parts are sitting one. When the paint is kinda sticky but doesn't string back is when you want to coat again. Usually about 15 minutes depending on weather. Be careful for runs if you add clear after 24 hours because it wont have a sticky surface to "bite".
As far as what to do with the clear, I don't have personal experience with the matte clear but i would say you should probably just leave it if it looks good. If it doesn't you might be able to wet sand like you would a normal clear with very fine grit (2000ish) wet sanding paper to get a smoother finish without extremely noticeable scratches.
I can tell you from personal experience that this stuff won't hold up to fuel. I don't think any lacquer will. For that you would probably want a urethane base clear system. You can do a pretty good job with the paint shop stuff but it didn't hold up too well for me.
Probably more than you wanted to hear but hopefully it helps some.

It's actually whether the paint is a two-part paint with a hardener that usually determines whether it will hold up to fuel. Without the hardener it usually won't hold up.

Eastwood has a Rat Rod Clear which is a Matte Finish. I have not used it, but I used their European Eurethane Clear kit which worked well and has held up nicely so far.

www.eastwood.com/ew-rat-rod-satin-clear-ouart-kit.html

Right, that's what I was getting at. Lacquer is a one-part solvent based finish that doesn't cure, the solvent evaporates and the finish dries. At least I've never seen a two-part lacquer, that doesn't mean they aren't out there i guess.

If you want to do a military "flat" finish than use "Polane-T" just go to any industrial Sherwin -Williams distributor and they will mix the color for you just give them the FS# youy want. I have painted a lot of military stuff and that is always what we use. It is a two part poly.

@jramsey89 - Great information and more is better than not enough.

@DoubleDub - I have painted firearms with a paint called DuraCoat. It's is a two part system and holds up to solvents so I am sure it will hold up to fuel. I might use that for the final coat on at least the tank.

@otakar - Military is exactly it. What is the FS#? Will the paint stand up too fuel? I also have a Jeep Cherokee that I am working on. That one may end up getting painted that way.

I ended up just hitting it with a tac-cloth and then putting a couple more coats on. It came out great. I am really happy with it all things considered. Hopefully it will hold up to a little fuel but I bet after spending as much time as I did on the thing I won't get any on it.

I'll post pics of it once I get it back together.

glad it came out good. I had the same thoughts on the fuel situation but... a couple weeks after I painted mine I left on a trip and I was EXTRA-careful at every gas station but sure enough one of them had a sh*#@y old handle. I pulled it out and it splashed two big drops right down the side of the tank. I grabbed the windshield squeegee and squeezed water all over to rinse it but the damage was done. two big streaks of dull paint. that's why I have mixed feelings on that paint and probably won't use it on a bike again. Hopefully this won't happen to you haha

The FS# is a five digit # that is the paint color which you want. It would come from the FS-595B color code manual. For example; FS34*** would determine that the color is (3) flat, (4) Green, *** would determine where the color falls in the greens. The first # would always be either a 1 or 2 or 3. (1)Gloss, (2)Satin, (3)Flat. Second # determines the base color (0)Brown, (1)Red, (2)Orange, (3)Yellow, (4)Green, (5)Blue, (6)Gray, (7)Purple or metallic, ( Day Glow. The last three ### have no order but the one they were put in the manual. The Polane-T is an industrial paint that is chemical proof once it is cured. The nice part is that it is relatively inexpensive. Mostly about $100/Gal. It is a two part Urethane and requires no top cote.