Another paint question

[Monty]

Concept: I'll be using stuff I've already got on hand.  The car body will be airbrushed Testors White Lightning (lacquer pearl white, decanted) and flames or stripes (undecided) will be airbrushed with Tamiya candy blue enamel.  Both paints will be proportionally reduced with Mr Color Leveling Thinner.  

To the best of my knowledge, this should work fine, but I'm curious if anything other than white primer will kill the pearl white look.  

Other than that, do you guys see any potential problems with this plan?  

[Mike 1017]

I would let the White Lighting cure for about a month. Then clear coat or use inter coat to protect the paint. Let cure for another month. This will stop the paint from pulling off when you pull off the tape. A dehydrator will cut down curing time to a couple of days.

Ask the guys if 2k clear would provide more protection.

Good luck

Mike

[Chuckyg1]

This chevelle has 3 coats of white lighting over dark gray duplicolor dark gray. After the first coat, it took on a silvery blue color. After the 2nd two it looks as you see. Not quite full white, but looks pretty good. As I'm sure you know, with a dark base and a very light top coat, you gotta ensure all the panel match in hue. The pics were taken outside to help bring out the pearl. Hope this helps.

[Monty]

3 hours ago, Mike 1017 said:

I would let the White Lighting cure for about a month. Then clear coat or use inter coat to protect the paint. Let cure for another month. This will stop the paint from pulling off when you pull off the tape. A dehydrator will cut down curing time to a couple of days.

Ask the guys if 2k clear would provide more protection.

Good luck

Mike

I hardly have any experience with hobby lacquers.  Can you explain why a paint that dries so quickly needs that much drying time?  Does it have anything to do with the reducer (Mr Color Leveling Thinner)?

[Fat Brian]

1 hour ago, Monty said:

I hardly have any experience with hobby lacquers.  Can you explain why a paint that dries so quickly needs that much drying time?  Does it have anything to do with the reducer (Mr Color Leveling Thinner)?

Yeah, the Testors lacquers dry really fast. I would only allow that much time for the old enamels. I painted white lightning over white primer, even using the entire can it's very translucent. 

[Dpate]

4 hours ago, Monty said:

I hardly have any experience with hobby lacquers.  Can you explain why a paint that dries so quickly needs that much drying time?  Does it have anything to do with the reducer (Mr Color Leveling Thinner)?

Lacquers don’t cure like enamels do. You can clear coat a lacquer paint job same day if you wanted too. Leveling thinner does slow the drying time a little so the paint can self level better, but not slow enough to where you’d have to wait a month. Like the automotive lacquers I use I can prime, paint, and clear all in the same day. I think it’s worth investing in a dehydrator too, but everyone’s opinion is different. Can block sand Mr surfacer primer in 10 mins @120F while most wait a day or more lol. Most folks just like to let stuff dry on its own while they work on something else. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Dpate

[Dave G.]

If you want white pearl then you will need white primer or a white base coat under it. If you don't have white under it you will get a color cast from what is under it. This sometimes might be wanted, like I might use rose gold for instance. But if you want white you need white under the pearl finish in my experience.