Clear coat gone wrong

[1hobby1]

Hey everyone, 

So my clear coating was going great on my 1955 Ford pickup before it’s started to crinkle. This can also be a heads up for any new comers not to use these products together. 

For primer I used Touch n Tone Primer which is cheap stuff but works great and lays very smooth. 

For paint I used Testors enamel and sprayed 50/50 mix with lacquer thinner which came out great. Did 3 coats. 

For Clear I had some Rustoleum acrylic enamel laying around and figured this would shoot a nice coat and work with the paint for a glossy finish (as it passed the spoon test I had painted). When I started spraying, it laid down pretty smooth and I was actually really pleased with the results as you can see in one shot of the hood below.... until about 10min later when I noticed crinkles on certain edges. The body is still good and hasn’t crinkled yet so I think I can salvage that however the fenders, tail gate and hood I believe have to be stripped and pained again unless someone knows a way to salvage these pieces. 

If anyone has used the Testors enamel paint mixed with lacquer thinner 50/50, what clear coat do you suggest? 

Thank you! 

Steve

[64SS350]

Looks like it wrinkled in places where the paint or clear may have 'pooled'. How long did you wait between color and clear?

[1hobby1]

3 hours ago, 64SS350 said:

Looks like it wrinkled in places where the paint or clear may have 'pooled'. How long did you wait between color and clear?

I waited about 4 Days. I wonder if this clear coat just isn’t friendly with this mixture of paint and thinner. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

This is one of the risks that you take when you use 3 different products to prime, paint & clear coat a body.

There is no guarantee that they will work together.

You're always much better off using "like" products whenever possible.

 

As Karl stated, it looks like the issue is manifesting itself in areas where the paint my be "pooling" a bit, which tells me that it is more than likely a "curing time" problem.

Enamels generally take much longer to cure than other paints.

If you shoot anything over the paint before it has time to cure completely, you're opening yourself up to all sorts of "cracking" issues.

Sometimes, the overcoat can dry more quickly than the paint underneath and that's never good.

Picture a lava flow, with the molten lava underneath & the crust on the surface.

Not a pretty picture when you're talking about paint.

 

Steve

 

[Miatatom]

15 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

This is one of the risks that you take when you use 3 different products to prime, paint & clear coat a body.

I've been back in the hobby for the last 7 years and it's taken me about 6 1/2 of them to quit trying to save a nickel, reinvent the wheel, experiment or whatever you want to call it and follow this rule.

[crazyjim]

I'm pretty Donn Yost uses Testors clear enamel over his fabulous Testors enamel paint jobs.

[BigTallDad]

The clear was a Rustoleum acrylic (water based?) sprayed over an oil-based paint?  The old adage about "Oil and water don't mix" might be rearing it's ugly head here.

Edited March 25, 2018 by BigTallDad

[StevenGuthmiller]

12 minutes ago, crazyjim said:

I'm pretty Donn Yost uses Testors clear enamel over his fabulous Testors enamel paint jobs.

I used to use a lot of Testors clear enamel & it does work quite nicely.

One coat is all that you need.

The drawbacks are:

        Enamel takes an especially long time to cure, so if you're planning on doing any polishing afterwards, plan on putting it away for a couple of months after application.

        The biggest problem with Testors clear enamel is, never use it over a light color! That is unless you want your pure, snow white paint job to look like dingy yellow in a few months. Testors enamel clear yellows horribly over time.

This is evidenced in this lovely yellow '37 Chevy that I painted years ago.

Unfortunately, it started out as a very light ivory color before the clear coat!

 

Steve 

 

 

 

[crazyjim]

I'll stick with Nason 2 part urethane clear.

[espo]

Sometimes the money saved up front on paint products comes back to bit you were you sit when you try to get that perfect finish. The first thing to remember is the paint and body work are the most predominant feature of any build and the first thing you see and leaves the most lasting impression  of any build. No matter how much effort you put into all the little details the first thing anyone sees is the paint. The paint finish can be difficult at best, but when you start mixing different products together it can be an invitation for disaster. I struggled for years with paint issues and I still haven't got it 100 % figured out,  but I have always gotten the best results using like products and sticking with one manufacture on each build. There are many here that seem to pull it off like it was nothing but the ones that due it have paid the price getting there. The old fashion spoon tests are the proven way to go. Try out all the combinations you want and you're only out a spoon or two. That's far better than putting a body you've done your best on in the Purple Pond. Just saying.  

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, espo said:

 The old fashion spoon tests are the proven way to go. Try out all the combinations you want and you're only out a spoon or two. That's far better than putting a body you've done your best on in the Purple Pond. Just saying.  

But remember, "the spoon test" is not infallible either.

I have sprayed fairly heavy coats of automotive lacquer, just to check for color & metallic flake size, over un-primed spoons with no adverse affect to the plastic.

Something that I would never even consider on a kit body.

 

Steve

[peteski]

9 hours ago, BigTallDad said:

The clear was a Rustoleum acrylic (water based?) sprayed over an oil-based paint?  The old adage about "Oil and water don't mix" might be rearing it's ugly head here.

I have never seen a water-based enamel paint in a spray can.  But who knows . . . 

The word "acrylic" in no way should imply that a paint is water based. It is one of those fallacies propagated in the model-building world.

Edited March 26, 2018 by peteski

[Ace-Garageguy]

11 hours ago, espo said:

... The old fashion spoon tests are the proven way to go. Try out all the combinations you want and you're only out a spoon or two. That's far better than putting a body you've done your best on in the Purple Pond. Just saying.  

Fifth line in the OP's post:   " it passed the spoon test I had painted "

 

[Jim N]

For what it's worth, I had Rustoleum clear make one of my builds look like alligator skin and this was over a Rustoleum paint.  Both enamels.  I will never use a Rustoleum clear again.

[espo]

Sorry missed the "It passed the Spoon test".   

[1hobby1]

hey guys, 

thank you for all the responses. I agree that using the same brand of products for the paint job is the best route. I tried this on a spoon test and it worked and actually the body held up fine after the first coat (I haven't put on any other coats since). debating on trying another coat on the body of clear. the only issues were on the hood, fenders, and only the back side of the bed. Nonetheless, my last build I used Gravity Colors from start to finish and was pleased with how it came out. The reason i tried these mixed matched products was because I have a good amount of small testors enamals and wanted to utilize them before switching to solely gravity color products. Anyways, i will not be using these products together again and thank you all for your input. 

how have your experiences been with ordering gravity colors lately? My first order went fine and i only ordered one paint color, however i heard they have had shipping issues and were taking over a month for products to arrive. 

thanks!