Clearcoating

Time for another experiment : clearcoating.
The Vallejo Air color range contains 3 kinds of "clear" : matte, satin and gloss. This basically is a kind of varnish. The gloss one will give your model a nice shiny finish (like a brand new car), the matte will reflect less light and give a more realistic finish for vehicles "out in the field". Satin is somewhere in between those.

The reason for doing this is putting a protective layer around your model. It will protect all underlying paint and (especially!) decals against moisture, handling with bare hands and the effects of time in general.
If you plan to add weathering effects to your model, like a black oil wash to create an "ageing" affect, add a clearcoat first. It will make it easier to clean up mistakes if you overdo it.

I started by loading some gloss clear in the airbrush. As it did not seem to be liquid enough, I thinned it about 50%. It sprays very easily and covers very fast. I probably didn't have to thin it this far, if at all. I'll find out next time, when I'll try it straight from the bottle.

The interior of the Puma is now coated with gloss, ready for some weathering with a black wash. I slightly overdid the gloss, so it pooled up in some spots, but - being in the inside - this will hardly be noticed.
I sprayed a display stand (for the Starfury) as well, but added a few drops of black paint to the clear, thus creating a very gloss black paint. Not sure if the difference will be noticeable.