Glassing and Painting techniques

[Terryscustom]

I have an account with TCP Global so will check them out. I used some of the Nason clear with mixed results but that was before I learned the blender trick. It went on slick but dried with a bit of texture that I didn't like. The dealer said I wasn't the first to complain of that. I think I probably used the wrong catalyst and should have used a slower one. I used PPG clear some years ago but the local dealer went away. I liked it then.

They have two clears, one is a spot panel and the other is a multi panel. One sucks, one is "OK" but maybe not for beginners. Both take a long time to cure and one stays soft basically forever.

On that subject, I know flex agents work in base, how about clear? I'm going to be doing a couple of full-airplane paint jobs this year.

 

[Truckracer]

Terry, I used both of the Nason clears. The panel clear flashes off way too fast for my taste. The multi panel one works pretty good. I still prefer the Dupont product though. For model use, I've found the higher temp catalysts work the best so the surface is still open when you come back to your start point. Again, blender helps with this problem.

I've never used any of the flex agents in urethane clears. I've done many test panels over the years and most urethane clears are plenty flexible for our use. If cracking occurs, it is usually from the brittle base coat. Lately, base coat has got so expensive that most of my colors are KlassKote epoxy now. It covers extremely well and offers pretty darn good crack resistance. The down side, it cures slowly and requires color sanding before recoating with a urethane. The up side, for simple colors the shine is excellent and no clear coat is required. They may not have some of the wilder colors you may prefer though.

 

[Truckracer]

I forgot, when testing for flexibility I always do the tests on plastic bags or plastic wrap. When cured, you can peel the paint film off and bend it. Base coat / clear coat films will always crack when they are bent towards the clear ... clear to clear. You will see the crack develop in the base layer. When flexed the other way where clear is on the outside of the fold, the film may not crack at all. I guess one way the base coat is in tension where the other way it is compression .... or something like that. I learned this years ago when Imron was popular (no base coats then) and they demonstrated how flexible that paint was by painting bags then wadding them up after the paint cured .... when opened up, the paint film remained uncracked. That was good stuff if it didn't kill you off. Not many of us used proper breathing protection in those days.

 

[Jetpainter]

Back in the late 70's and early 80's if you wanted to paint something and have it last forever you used PPG DP40 Epoxy Primer and DuPont Imron paint. When I worked for my father in those days we had all the work from the Illinois Power Company in our area. I used a lot of of DP40 and orange Imron. I don't miss being covered in orange.

 

[Jetpainter]

When it comes to activators I always use the slowest one no matter the temperature, unless there is some particular reason I want something to dry really fast, or it's a really small area like a side mirror.

 

[Jetpainter]

On that subject, I know flex agents work in base, how about clear? I'm going to be doing a couple of full-airplane paint jobs this year.

There really isn't any reason to add flex agent to base colors. They are so low in mil thickness that they don't usually crack. You can add it to clear if you wish, but there is some thought that flex agent may dry out after a time in some paints anyway, so unless your doing an open ribbed structure they probably arn't necessary.

Flex agent will slow dry time and might help flow. You can also add flex additive to Nason primer, I've done that many times on bumper covers, and probably will do it on the fabric areas of my scratch build project.

 

[Terryscustom]

Was wondering about that, got my fabric for the Gee Bee, looks cool. It will be mid summer before I even look at that project.

 

[Billy J]

Agreed with Nason clear ,, easy to shoot no thinning drys quickly to touch ! Also shot chroma premier single stage similar to Imron on the bearcat last week for a base color came out like glass with no clear ..yellow spinner is base clear coat Nason product with Nason clear ! Good luck

 

[Alky6]

Sigh. I really miss Imron. That was awesome paint.

 

[Pistolera]

Earle,

Did you ever get your Krill painted?

Tom

No, but it's coming sooner than later!