Zero paints and clearcoat

Hi peeps

a while back I painted a Mclaren Mp4/5b with Zero paints - a process which I found frustrating and hard work as no matter how I varied my air pressure I ended up with a sandpaper like rough finish on the paintwork, requiring extensive micromeshing before the clear coat (which after the first attempt I abandoned in favour of a Halfords rattle can)

I'm going to give the paint a try again as I was advised a little while ago the paint isn't thin enough out of the bottle, my question is do the Zero paints use the same thinner as the 2 part lacquer kit or do I need to buy a seperate thinner as well ?

cheers

John

I don't know about the 2-pack thinner but any regular cellulose/automotive thinner should be just fine IMO. I personally thin with Mr Hobby Levelling thinner. However, you can always mix a little of the paint with the 2-pack thinner and see what happens...

In my experience with Zero paints, the finish has been universally great and they have been easy to use. It's also true that I cut them quite heavily with thinner (I've yet to find ANY paint that is truly "pre-thinned for airbrush use" straight from the jar ;) )

I am sure that with the extra thinner you will be happy (unless there is something different about this particular paint)

cheers k, thats some helpful info

:)

J

Klutz is absolutely right that thinner should beautifully solve your troubles. Zero may require a lot of thinner (maybe 2x or more the volume of paint, especially if the paint was packaged in the older plastic bottles). Properly thinned, I expect you will find it a joy to use.


However I will strongly and enthusiastically disagree about using 'just any' lacquer thinner. It is ALWAYS best to get the right thinner that is matched with the paint your using. Lacquers are chemically complicated mixes, and an incompatibility cannot be reliably predicted. Even if it goes on ok, mismatch reactions can happen days or even months later- utterly ruining what would otherwise be a beautiful paint job. Sure it may be possible sometimes to use the wrong stuff and have it come out right- but you're taking a real risk in doing it. Don't ever think because it's worked one way once that it will always work that way, or that because it's worked that way for someone else that it will work for you. Stripping ruined paint is frustrating and expensive- you will save yourself money, time, and aggravation by doing it right to start. Paints reduced with matching thinners also perform better- like they're designed to.

The thinner you want is Hiroboy's basecoat thinner. Or you can go to an auto paint dealer and get a can of Lechler's lacquer thinner (Hiroboy just sells it in smaller volumes). Consider it a couple of quid of insurance that you won't have to redo it.

I agree with all that has been said already. Use the proper thinner for thinning the Zero paints and make sure you thin them well and they go on a treat. The rough "sandpaper" like finish you describe is most probably the paint being too thick. It could also be the air pressure as well, so experiment with that too. It can also depend on the airbrush tip size, I find a 0.5mm tip works the best.
You can use the cheap thinner for cleaning the airbrush after use, it works great for that. I have used the thinner that comes with the 2K clear for thinning the Zero base coat paints and I believe they are one and the same.

Thankyou guys, advice duly noted and appreciated :)

John

You're right; it sounds like your paint was too thick.

Lacquer thinner can cause curdling when it's used to thin urethane paint. I say "can" because it works okay sometimes. But I had one bad experience and since then I've taken my automotive paint shop's advice and used BASF U-R40 reducer to thin urethanes.

It's potent stuff. Be sure to wear a respirator.

Ddms