Tony,
Yep, 12 inches is probably too far away. I use mist coating for building up enamels and lacquers so they don't run, but it doesn't work well with Future because of it's self leveling properties. It's designed to be applied in heavy coats, and its fast drying. I recommend turning up the paint flow on your AB up and turning down the pressure to start. If you hang the model from a coat hanger, the Future will naturally drip off, and you can use the "wicking" method above to remove the excess, then just let it level on its own. There's a natural tendency of modelers to mess with it as its drying, because we see drips and streaks-- just ignore them and let it dry and level on its own. Once its thoroughly dry, if there are high spots, you can sand them and re-future. As to your question about clear coats-- I would give the future at least a week to dry before clear coating. I only have experience clear coating future with light coats of Testors lacquer clear gloss and Alclad Clear Kote in the round bottles (I prefer the Alclad unthinned)-- I'd be careful with anything else-- but give the Future plenty of time to harden-- lacquers are naturally caustic, and could cause problems with Future that is partially cured-- Humidity is again an issue-- Future takes longer to dry in humid climates (like RI or Washington where I live) so I recommend finding a warm dry place to let it cure. VR Russ

Tony,
I'm happy its working for you. I've been modeling (off and on) for close to 55 years now, I started in 1959 with a Monogram Jeep and 37mm gun given to me by my Brother in-Law, who was a surgeon (my sister was 15 years older than I). He was a world class modeller and built WWI biplanes, sailing ships, and the occasional race car just to keep his manual dexterity skills up. He could paint airbrush finishes-- without the airbrush using a five and dime paintbrush and old Pactra paints, some of which were cellulose based. He started me in this hobby. I've learned a lot over those 55 years--sometimes the hard way. I didn't do a lot of modeling in the 30 years I spent in the Army, But while I was in School at the Naval War College in Newport in 1991-92, I had the time and opportunity to build. My travels always took me to places where I could visit LHS's, so when I retired in 2006, I had quite a large stash of models, and I started building commissions. I gave that up this year, because I didn't get the opportunity to build much for myself. My model building experience is based on a lot of trial and error, knowledge passed on to me by fellow modellers, and reading a lot of magazines like Fine Scale Modeler and Scale Auto. I don't have all the answers, But I'm always glad to help a fellow modeller with knowledge I do have. Now, if I could only master these darn confuser (computer) things-- I'd publish some model photos!. I did write a few articles for Internet Modeler a while back (1/72 CMR S-23 and Contrail 1/72 HP 42 aircraft), but they did all the computer editing. Again, I'm looking forward to your finished Z-car. I had mine in Germany in 1978-- a tall blond female German Polizei almost wrote me a ticket just for having the Z on the street-- but she settled for a warning, and the promise of a ride on the Autobahn. It was not unusual to hit 125-130 on the straight stretches over there. It was the "funnest" car I ever owned. In December 1979, I drove it from Wurzburg to Lubeck on the North Sea, at times through 2 feet of compact snow-- it was white knuckles a few times, and Leopard Tanks were used to extract stuck cars on the autobahn, but that Z got us through OK-- wish I'd never sold mine. VR, Russ

Looking forward to seeing images of the finished model.