Paint help

Laydog

Laydog

Concept
Hey I’m new around here and am having a rough go of it with clear coating my pieces. I’m working on a season 3 Mando costume. I’ve spent weeks sanding in prep for paint and was incredibly stoked with how the gloss black pieces and blue knee armor came out. I waited a few days and clear coated them but the black pieces came out hazy and slightly rough. The pic included of the black armor was after I tried sanding the clear coat off with 1500 grit.

The blue knee almost instantly cracked (I did the toothpaste method to have metal parts showing so maybe this caused that?) any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
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This is due to either incompatible paints, paints not cured enough or laying the clear on too thick.

Some thinners in paint will liven up the underlying layer even after cured.

I’ve found after trial and error what works for me. When spraying on clear I do it in thin layers, misting it on at first then after each layer of clear dries I’ll build it up.

What paints in particular are you using and what clear?
 
Thanks for the quick reply. From what you said, I’m probably spraying too think. I suffer from a heavy hand with the spray paint and constantly try to remind myself to pull back. I’m using krylon fusion for the gloss black and gloss clear coat. Then the blue is rust oleum with a krylon fusion satin clear coat
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Agree with Roger!!! For what it's worth, I've always hated krylon!!! Don't like the way it sprays and cures. I've used krylon clear that stayed sticky/tacky for months, and have had my share of bad paint reactions with it!!! . I always recommend testors dullcoat for a clear sealer. As Roger said, thin light coats and plenty of curing time are very important!!! I Have yet to have a bad reaction with any paint using dullcoate ....but....always do test piece 1st!!!😉
 
I would say it’s a combination of both heavy application and uncured paint (especially the knees) as stated above. It’s possible you put the blue on too heavy initially and didn’t allow enough time for curing and then a heavy clear coat on top of that caused the wrinkles. Frustrating for sure. We’ve all done it. It’s a good reminder to go with several thin coats. I’ve never had much success with the Krylon clear as well.
 
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I've had the best luck with Montana "Hardcore" gloss black paint. It's probably a little more expensive, but it does a great job.
And Yes, thin light coats, after the 3rd coat, go over just a little heavier until the coated area looks glossier, then move on to the next area.
If you get a spot the runs, don't go back over it to try to blend it. That will cause it to wrinkle up in a heart beat!!
Been there screwed up all that stuff!
 
DWoelf said:
Agree with Roger!!! For what it's worth, I've always hated krylon!!! Don't like the way it sprays and cures. I've used krylon clear that stayed sticky/tacky for months, and have had my share of bad paint reactions with it!!! . I always recommend testors dullcoat for a clear sealer. As Roger said, thin light coats and plenty of curing time are very important!!! I Have yet to have a bad reaction with any paint using dullcoate ....but....always do test piece 1st!!!😉
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Bummer to hear that about Krylon! It’s pretty much everything I bought for this haha. I looked for Montana Golds but couldn’t find them on my area (Los Angeles) and Amazon won’t deliver them to me. I did buy some 2K clear coat that I’ve seen used in an abundance on how to videos so I’ll try that instead of the krylons. Thanks for the Testors recommendation; I’ll look into that too!
ShortFuse said:
I would say it’s a combination of both heavy application and uncured paint (especially the knees) as stated above. It’s possible you put the blue on too heavy initially and didn’t allow enough time for curing and then a heavy clear coat on top of that caused the wrinkles. Frustrating for sure. We’ve all done it. It’s a good reminder to go with several thin coats. I’ve never had much success with the Krylon clear as well.
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Yeah my heavy spraying has got to be a big issue. So if I lightly coat a piece once and it’s not fully covered should I wait a minute or two before going another pass on it? I think I let the blue cure for about 24-36 hours, I was too eager to finish it clearly.
HVACDON said:
I've had the best luck with Montana "Hardcore" gloss black paint. It's probably a little more expensive, but it does a great job.
And Yes, thin light coats, after the 3rd coat, go over just a little heavier until the coated area looks glossier, then move on to the next area.
If you get a spot the runs, don't go back over it to try to blend it. That will cause it to wrinkle up in a heart beat!!
Been there screwed up all that stuff!
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Unfortunately, I’ve searched for montanas but they either aren’t sold in LA anymore or are just hard to find. Which is frustrating because I had a roommate 5 years ago that had every Montana color under the sun.

Hopefully this time around I’ll show some restraint on the paint and perfect it. Should the primer (Rustoleum 2 in 1 filler sandable primer) need more than 24 hours to be ready to be painted? The can says 4 hours I think but I’d rather be safe and ask those who’ve done it already. Thanks everyone for the good tips and guidance!
 
Yes. 3-4 light coats with a few minutes in between. Michael’s craft stores started selling the Montana paint in my area. You might want to check there.
 
ShortFuse said:
Yes. 3-4 light coats with a few minutes in between. Michael’s craft stores started selling the Montana paint in my area. You might want to check there.
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Hey Brother, how's things down South?? I'm not liking this 105* degrees we're getting up here...

I used to go hunt the Montana paint at Michaels, the stores around the Dallas area aren't consistent and haven't carried a very good variety. I just get their paint on Amazon since I'm always getting something from there pretty often anyway...
 
Ok - I'm back with a new paint problem sadly and looking for some guidance. I graphite powdered the suit pieces and have some great success with that, but when doing the final 2K clear coat it turned them all a shade of gunmetal. I hadn't read or seen an issue of this before so I was befuddled. Not sure if I want to try applying a coat of graphite over and seeing how it takes, but I can't imagine it would have the same look as the 2K gloss black base coat.

First 3 pics are after applying the graphite and last pic is after the 2k. To be fair to the lighting, both pics are in tents but the last picture is in the dining room whereas the first 3 are outside and lit by the sun. Any help is appreciated!
 

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You put 2K on everything without doing tests first? If I had one piece that was completely altered by the 2K, I would stop there and figure out what was going on.

It appears as though the 2K has almost dissolved the graphite powder.

Maybe try and aqua gloss or something. Test on small stuff first before doing whole armour sets.
 
Unfortunately, anytime you have to put the 2K clear over the graphite, it's going to darken it up.
It all depends on the light angle, brightness and type that makes it look different.
I used the SprayMax USC 2K High Gloss clear.
Here's a couple of pics with different light and brightness and a final one in broad daylight..
My helmet is painted with Alumaluster and I can't see a difference in the color with the armor.

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8 new items by Don Hoover

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roger12RAMJET said:
You put 2K on everything without doing tests first? If I had one piece that was completely altered by the 2K, I would stop there and figure out what was going on.

It appears as though the 2K has almost dissolved the graphite powder.

Maybe try and aqua gloss or something. Test on small stuff first before doing whole armour sets.
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I was being careful after making that mistake (earlier in this thread too -_-) but it didn’t appear this dark when I first sprayed it.. just glossy. It was after drying a bit when I checked that I really noticed it. Could it have dissolved from too heavy a coat? I was trying to not go too light like my previous error that caused the black to become hazy and foggy.

Ohk Don, thanks for the input as always. That’s the same 2K clear coat that I’ve been using too.
 
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