Avoiding a Paint Fiasco (help!)

[carchub]

Alrighty, so I'm trying to paint a '77 Firebird a special green. At first, I thought I'd try to mix a gold and green to get a specific yellow green. Test turned out great on the '61 thunderbird test-body - but! I wasn't feeling the heavy metal flake (not what I'm going for). Frantically I purchased Testors spray Citrus Yellow Metallic custom Lacquer spray. On the can, the color was perfect. I sanded down the body smooth and cleaned it off, and sprayed a magnificent glossy layer of that Citrus Yellow Metallic (which is actually green, odd name). However! What sprayed out of the can looks nothing like the color on the label! It's what I can only describe as pistachio pudding with silver metal flake...big disappointment!

So I developed a new plan, but I need some advice. What I did was, was order the exact paint foolishly tried to replicate (duh! why didn't I try this in the first place!). It is automotive paint, I got two cans (one from ebay and one from ScratchWizard). As far as the ebay can of it goes, they state the paint is indeed a urethane paint. I have two questions:

Is it safe to spray automotive urethane onto testors Lacquer color base coat?

Is it safe to spray Testors Spray Lacquer Gloss Coat (1261, the lacquer, not the enamel) over this automotive urethane?

 

Any help appreciated, curious to learn regardless of this build. Thank you!

-carchub

[Ace-Garageguy]

This is why experienced modelers here always recommend TEST FIRST before applying any material to a model.

Colors don't always look the same as the can top or sample. Materials are often incompatible...even materials from the same manufacturer (we just went through a long thread on that too).

The odds of anyone here having shot exactly the combination you're asking about are minuscule, and opinions starting with "I think" or "I heard" aren't worth the electrons it takes to display them on your screen.

 

[Bills72sj]

Roland, the longer you wait the better the chance of success. You may have to wait weeks or even months. If you do not have that kind of patience, it will be best to test on scrap and see what results you get. The next suggestion is Future (clear) over your base color. It will NOT react with your base paint. You can then try shooting your transparent top coat over that. As far as the Testors 1261, while it IS a lacquer, I have not had any adverse reactions in the limited times I have used it. (Your results may vary)

[935k3]

I think they may look different because of the color of the spray can lid under the paint.

[carchub]

Thanks for the input! All makes sense to me, I'll be doing a lot of testing first for sure. One, I'll make sure it's the right color this time lol, and two I'll start with making sure the auto paint reacts well on some oversprayed scrap from the Citrus Yellow. Then the lacquer gloss coat onto that. I have exactly one week's wiggle room in order to get it done in time for valentine's day, as the paint order arrives in one week from now. I'll come back with some updates on how things go.

In a perfect world I would strip the body, but that's another can of worms I'm not sure I should open, as the current paint is a nice shield in the case that the auto paint is too hot for the plastic. Unless someone knows that I should definitely scuff it, I'm going to leave the current base coat on the car alone and spray the auto paint right over it. Then keep it stored up near the ceiling with my room set to 70 degrees for a week before clear coat.

-carchub

[Tom Geiger]

Hmmm.. kinda unpredictable what will happen over your existing paint. As a rule of thumb we generally use like paint over like primer. 

[Modelbuilder Mark]

I agree with waiting. Put this project on the shelf to "cure", and move on to anther project in the meantime. This is also why some builders keep more than one project going at a time.

[carchub]

Just finished this one, I'll post it in Under Glass!