Clear coat whoopsie

[ksnow]

Well, another body gets to go for a dip in the purple pond. I had painted this TA body about 23 years ago, then life got in the way. I started building again recently and dug this out. Got the striping decals on, as bad as they were and finally got the bird on the hood. 

I picked up what I thought was glosscote, but is actually rustoleum clear enamel. The first light coat looked good, second had a few spots that looked like dust, and the third coat went south. All the paint crackled, but the decals look fine, interesting.

I have no idea what paint the black color coat was, best guess would be cheap rattle can, I was 18 or 19 when I painted it.

This is a 1978 AMT/Ertl Trans Am kit. Now I have to decide on a paint scheme and how hard I want to search for decals..

 

[SCRWDRVR]

Wow that sucks, I have seen replacement decals for them but I don’t recall where off hand I’ve thought about getting a set myself for an old build I want to rehab... I know someone will chime in and say where...

[gman]

What was the interval between coats? Enamel often has a re-coat window, and can do some strange things if successive coats are done too close together. My guess is it wasn't a reaction with your base coat, but with previously applied coats of clear.

[ksnow]

2 minutes ago, gman said:

What was the interval between coats? Enamel often has a re-coat window, and can do some strange things if successive coats are done too close together. My guess is it wasn't a reaction with your base coat, but with previously applied coats of clear.

Per can instructions, I gave it "several", about 5, minutes between coats.

To the best of my knowledge, I never put a clear coat on the body after the black color coat.

It may be that I just applied too much, too fast. I thought I was applying light enough coats.

[gman]

Sounds like it was within the recommended window for recoating then.

Sorry it turned out that way for you, hope the stripping goes well.

[Fat Brian]

That was an interaction between two incompatible paint types. That's why the decal didn't wrinkle, it protected the paint underneath from the clear. 

[ksnow]

31 minutes ago, Fat Brian said:

That was an interaction between two incompatible paint types. That's why the decal didn't wrinkle, it protected the paint underneath from the clear. 

That's what I was thinking. Thanks.