Rust-oleum Issues?

[peteski]

2 hours ago, ctruss53 said:

And because of this I don't like using the term acrylic unless a paint is truly water-based.

So you are one of "those" who choose to propagate this "acrylic=water-based" terminology.  As for automotive paints, look up their MSDS -  many of the automotive paints which are not catalyzed use acrylic resin as the binder.

[Dave G.]

4 hours ago, ctruss53 said:

"acrylic"

No, automotive paints are not usually acrylic. They are almost always a lacquer of some sort. And because of this I don't like using the term acrylic unless a paint is truly water-based.

You might want to dig a bit deeper, don't assume.

[Lone Wolf]

Interesting thread. I thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth into the pot, for consideration. At a certain fb modeling group, on an almost daily basis, I'd see yet another ruined and wrinkled paint job. 9 out 10 had Rust-Oleum (RO) paints, most often the painters touch line. These failures always involved a RO clear coat. It didn't help these poor souls that numerous people were always telling them they'd be "safe using the same brand" paint. What I eventually discovered was this, the RO colored paints are an Acrylic-Enamel while the clear is a straight Enamel. According to the now very old "painters rule" LEA, your not supposed to put Enamel over Acrylic. Obviously, there are many modern paint developments that allow the old LEA Rule to be violated, but in those cases it appears to still apply. One odd, or frustrating thing, about RO spray paints is they almost never label the cans as to exactly what's in them. Finding the color paints were an acrylic-enamel also took a lot of tedious research.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is this, please don't use RO clear (over RO colors) on your precious old model kit. If you clear it at all, please test it as you have been doing. Best of luck to you!