Paint - clear coat or not

[LewisM]

Doing a resto on a forlorn old scope for a mate and need to decide do I clear coat the polished paint or leave it be?

I shot it with around 9 coats of acrylic gloss white, sanding with 1200 between each dried coat (dry for 3 days between each coat). For the final coat, I rubbed it with 600, 800 then 1200 grit to ensure a really even coat, then waited an additional 7 days and hand rubbed it with BlueMagic auto polish cream (VERY fine grit polishing compound, no wax). The sheen is absolutely lustrous, smooth and glossy.

My question is should I now hit it with say 3 light coats of acrylic gloss clear, to seal in the paint and help prevent marks? (rubbing back the clear for a final gloss too), or left alone should be OK? I am thinking the clear will add a little surface integrity.

Thoughts?

[Kunama]

Might have trouble getting the clear to stick to the tube now it is polished, would need to be washed down with prepsol first ......... I would leave the painted finish.

[LewisM]

Thanks Matt - I would hate to have gone to all this effort only to have the clear go orange-peel or grainy on me. I wish I had done it with enamel now, but too late (besides, the matching colour was only available in acrylic - Corvette White [might give away the scope type for those that know])

[PeterEde]

What about a satin coat?

[MattT]

What does 'shot it with 9 coats etc' mean Lewis? Sprayed on?
Wow 9 coats + a couple of undercoats I'll bet too, pretty impressive.
I gave up after 4 top coats on my scope and 1 year on apart from the one scratch I put on it the first time it went in the tube rings it's still the same...not exactly lustrous... but not bad.