paint help needed

[l88 chevelle]

I painted my newest model with testors 1 coat laquer,then painted chrome trim with testors enamel.can I still clear this with clear laquer from testors??

[KWT]

lets it dry completely... 24 to 48 hours.. shouldn't have a problem. YMMV, but I've never had any trouble with testors over testors...

[l88 chevelle]

thanks,

[XJ6]

I don't have a answer, but to my understanding Lacquer is Hotter than Enamel, so therefore I feel it will not work.

[StevenGuthmiller]

I don't have a answer, but to my understanding Lacquer is Hotter than Enamel, so therefore I feel it will not work.

The Testors is basically lacquer in name only.

It's not nearly as hot as an average lacquer.

I've used it many times over enamel paints with no issues.

You can use it over virtually anything.

As long as your trim paint is thoroughly cured you won't have any trouble.

 

Steve

[peteski]

Clear coat will make the chrome paint much duller looking.

[Snake45]

Clearing over chrome sounds like a good idea, and I played around with it on several builds about 25 years ago.

When everything works as advertised, there's no real advantage or appearance improvement to it.

When things go wrong, you can screw up an otherwise nice paint job. I have a '69 Charger 500 sentenced to the Shelf of Doom due to this technique.

I can't recommend it.

[XJ6]

The Testors is basically lacquer in name only.

It's not nearly as hot as an average lacquer.

I've used it many times over enamel paints with no issues.

You can use it over virtually anything.

As long as your trim paint is thoroughly cured you won't have any trouble.

 

Steve

Thank You for the information. Now I have a better understanding.

[THarrison351]

Sometimes, not every time, when I used clear gloss lacquer over chrome paint, the chrome paint would show tiny streaks of bleed in the clear. I'm just saying. I now spray Future with an airbrush. Well my bottle says Future, I've had it that long. It's now Pledge with Future Shine. It's acrylic and reacts with nothing I have ever had on a model.

[Snake45]

The other thing that can happen is, your clearcoat can yellow over the years. I did a green '70 Camaro this way back in the '90s. The clearcoat yellowing doesn't show up on the green paint, but the car now looks like all its trim is gold. Sometime soon I'm gonna go over all the "gold" with a Silver Sharpie--either that, or convert the whole car into some kind of Pimpmobile.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Clear coat will make the chrome paint much duller looking.

Testors "Chrome Silver" enamel doesn't look much like chrome anyway, so I don't think I'd worry too much about that.

 

Clearing over chrome sounds like a good idea, and I played around with it on several builds about 25 years ago.

When everything works as advertised, there's no real advantage or appearance improvement to it.

When things go wrong, you can screw up an otherwise nice paint job. I have a '69 Charger 500 sentenced to the Shelf of Doom due to this technique.

I can't recommend it.

I would never do it this way either.

I apply all of my paint & clear and then foil.

But the OP's question was whether or not he could put Testors clear lacquer over Testors enamel & the answer in my experience is yes.

 

Steve

[Art Anderson]

Testors "Chrome Silver" enamel doesn't look much like chrome anyway, so I don't think I'd worry too much about that.

 

I would never do it this way either.

I apply all of my paint & clear and then foil.

But the OP's question was whether or not he could put Testors clear lacquer over Testors enamel & the answer in my experience is yes.

 

Steve

Bear in mind that Testors #1146 Silver is nothing more than good, odl-fashioned aluminum paint.  As such, it takes, literally months (if not years) to dry completely.  It's been my 60 years experience with this stuff, that applying any petroleum-based paint over it (be that lacquer or enamel) can, and often will, cause it to run (if clear, it will dull #1146).

Art

[Snake45]

Bear in mind that Testors #1146 Silver is nothing more than good, odl-fashioned aluminum paint.  As such, it takes, literally months (if not years) to dry completely.  It's been my 60 years experience with this stuff, that applying any petroleum-based paint over it (be that lacquer or enamel) can, and often will, cause it to run (if clear, it will dull #1146).

Art

At some point, maybe around the turn of the century, they changed the formula and the stuff WILL actually dry now. All its other problems remain, though, and you're right about clearcoats often/usually causing it to bleed/run. I still use it for very small emblems and things of that nature, but for the most part, I've completely replaced it with Silver Sharpie, which is superior in every way.

And no, I have NOT tried to clearcoat over Silver Sharpie. Have never seen any need, or had any desire, to. It comes right off with rubbing alcohol, so I don't imagine it would stand up to clearcoating well.

[Mike999]

Bear in mind that Testors #1146 Silver is nothing more than good, odl-fashioned aluminum paint...

Ha!  Yep, and from buying used kits at flea markets etc., I have about 47 bottles of the stuff, dating back to the 1970's.  One of these days I might spray some thru the airbrush just to see what happens. 

As for now, every once in a while I'll actually use a tiny bit of old Testors Silver on a small-scale figure belt buckle, medals or something similar.  It seems to dry OK but those applications are very small and don't use much paint. I also sometimes use it to dry-brush a figure's weapons, over a base coat of Tamiya Iron or something similar.  But again, it's nearly dry by the time I use it for that.

TBH, I think I use it for nostalgia as much as anything else.  I like that old-fashioned chemical smell when I open it up. Reminds me of building and painting stuff many years ago.

[Snake45]

Ha!  Yep, and from buying used kits at flea markets etc., I have about 47 bottles of the stuff, dating back to the 1970's.  One of these days I might spray some thru the airbrush just to see what happens. 

As for now, every once in a while I'll actually use a tiny bit of old Testors Silver on a small-scale figure belt buckle, medals or something similar.  It seems to dry OK but those applications are very small and don't use much paint. I also sometimes use it to dry-brush a figure's weapons, over a base coat of Tamiya Iron or something similar.  But again, it's nearly dry by the time I use it for that.

TBH, I think I use it for nostalgia as much as anything else.  I like that old-fashioned chemical smell when I open it up. Reminds me of building and painting stuff many years ago.

Thin it with lacquer thinner and it airbrushes quite nicely. I've done several rocker panel trims that way, even "replated" an old glue bomb's bumpers. Come to think of it, look at my blue '68 Javelin currently on page 1 of Under Glass--both the rocker trim and the rear bumper were done this way on that one.

[StevenGuthmiller]

And no, I have NOT tried to clearcoat over Silver Sharpie. Have never seen any need, or had any desire, to. It comes right off with rubbing alcohol, so I don't imagine it would stand up to clearcoating well.

Stay way from it.

They bleed like crazy.

First hand experience.

 

Steve

[mr68gts]

Stay way from it.

They bleed like crazy.

First hand experience.

 

Steve

Good to know! I was getting ready to try this very thing here in a couple days! Saved me the headache

[DeeCee]

I painted my newest model with testors 1 coat laquer,then painted chrome trim with testors enamel.can I still clear this with clear laquer from testors??

I find the most basic rule is : don't mix paint types !  go ask a real  1:1 painter.. it usually ends in disaster.

[MrObsessive]

I hate to be a killjoy in all of this but I can't stand Testor's enamel paints!

They never totally dry as Art mentioned, and as I've learned looks can be deceiving. It may look and "feel" dry, but you handle it enough, the paint will eventually smudge and simply make a mess. You could put it in a dehydrator to "cure" it, but even then too much handling will still lead to trouble. 

I'd sooner have you learn how to use BMF (Bare Metal Foil) for applying your chrome trim than going through the hassle of painting it, only for it to not come out so well in the end.

There's a learning curve to BMF but as they say................."Practice makes Perfect".