D@/\/\&!T Paint!

Ok, I take back all I have said that was good about the Valspar "Kustom Kolor" line of paints that are available at walmart. I have yet to be able to strip this stuff, and what happens? I decide I'd give it one more chance. under PERFECT painting conditions (and well within parameters labeled on can) I sprayed the white base coat on top of sanded, cleaned, properly dried, primed, sanded again, cleaned and dried again RARE Nissan Leopard (Infinity J-30) and what happens? all of the paint pulls up out of the seams in the body!!!!

F**K Valspar!!!! not to mention that the spray nozzle on the can is a piece of crap.

I have yet to try the air brush paints, but I'm not looking to enthused about it.

It's funny, the first time I used it, it came out PERFECT! so I bought a couple more cans, and low and behold I can't get a decent paint job out of it to save my life!!! So yeah, after spending like $40 on paint (it's like $6 USD per spray can) I have decided to throw it all in the trash! wal mart won't give refunds without reciept (I don't blame them).

so if you see that awesome color available in walmart, DON"T GET IT!

I've been sayin' for years, "if they spell 'custom' or 'color' with a 'k', stay away!" :grinno: If they can't even spell, how good could the paint be?

Seriously, sorry to hear of your frustrations.

Man that sucks!!!

Do you airbrush? If so, drive up the turnpike to Owasso, OK and head over to Top Shelf Models. They carry the real House of Kolor paints by Black Gold. And while there, get some Gunze Mr Color thinner to thin it with. This combo is not as hot as regular lacquer paints and you can shoot it over Tamiya primers, which you can also get there.

I've heard more negative than positive about the Kustom Kolors paints, which Top Shelf also carries. Why use a klone when the real stuff is 100 miles away.

Well, I sent a nasty-gram to Valspar, and Robert Baugh replied rather quickly, much to my surprise. He wants to talk person to person with me about techniques and what not. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some good paint jobs with his assistance. He came across as having genuine concern, and sounds willing to help out. Who knows, it may be that my age old paint techniques are out of date, and need to be re-honed? We'll see, hopefully I'll be receiving a call pretty soon. I'll keep you all up to date on any pertinent information, and/or what the out come will be.

Ok, I talked to Robert, From Valspar today. He's the product manager for the Kustom Kolor line of paints. Very friendly, and quite helpful. It seems that there is a Kombination of things that led to my paint's/model's demize.

First off, this paint should be laid in thin layers, and let to dry for at least 5 minutes between coats. First coat should be light, but not TO light, because of the nature of lacquer to dry slightly before it hits the surface and create orange peel effect. After that first coat of paint, every following coat should be more wet, but not heavy. The "wet" coat promotes the flow of paint to level out before it dries.

Now here is the kicker. The air brush paints (2 oz. jar) is enamel based, where as the spray is lacquer based, so the spray can be used as a base, but not as a top coat to the air brush paints....for now. During our conversation, Robert informed me that the lacquer based spray will be replaced with an enamel based formula.

Both the spray, and airbrush paints are automotive grade. This means that you should not use either paint without a primer, or run the risk of damaging the plastic. He suggested the use of either duplicolor, or plastikote lacquer based primers, or any automotive grade primer that is lacquer based. Spraying the enamel based airbrush paint on any kind of primer should be fine.

As far as stripping a botched paint job, he says isopropyl alcohol should strip the paint and not harm the primer, but I have seen isoproplyl partially strip automotive primer, or atleast leave it slightly etched, but not stripped.

I was thoroughly impressed with the Kustomer service, and quick replies. This shows me that they are serious about pleasing their patrons.

I am going to give this paint another chance. I am really impressed with the array of colors, and that you get 2 ounces per airbrush jar, and I think it's a 6 oz. spray can, or 8, I can't remember. I'll be shooting some white automotive primer on a kit with similar plastic to that of what tamiya and fujimi offer, possibly the impala wagon with the belair sides from monogram followed by either the base silver and candy red, or snow white pearl from the airbrush. I'll let you all know how it goes.

If you are enclined to do so, he suggested I check out a website www.coastairbrush.com. I haven't yet checked it out, so you can be the judge. they appearantly carry the entire line of paints in the kustom kolor line.

I'll get back in a couple days to let you know how things go.

That's pretty cool that you actually got to speak with him. I wish more retailers in general were that good about customer service.

yes, but keep in mind, this was from the manufacturer, not the retailer. In my opinion, other than being the best prices on groceries and automotive fluids in my area, Walmart sucks! They don't even have wrench sets that are even half decent, because usually, just across the street from almost EVERY walmart, there is a Lowe's. Guess what, Walmart owns Lowe's, big suprise, huh? so you have to spend MORE money at a different store.....

ok, sorry, got off on a tangent.

but yeah, Valspar has great customer service. and if I only have the first paintjob that turned out great, they do have a great selection of custom colors. I have talked to others that say that they have been getting great paintjobs. So I'm thinking that it is really just an "operator error" as they say in my line of work.

Yeah I also did a thread on Kustom Kolor and I also remember MPWR warned me if they cant spell correctly then their products are a big gamble. However, I bought the Lime Gold color and it turned out to be a nice looking mint green with absolutely no yellowish tone in it. The sample on the can lid showed a goldish looking color and for that reason I bought it. I followed the instrustions on the can using the recommended primer and so on but the outcome was a lime green looking color. THEN, you cant believe how hard it was to strip the damn thing off. Took me a week and 3 different products to strip the paint off and it really didnt strip it off, it just softened it enough for me to get a coin and a couple other metal pieces to strip it off carefully without damaging the plastic. The guys at my LHS recommended it. They'd probably give it two thumbs way up but I say STEER CLEAR FROM THAT BRAND.

the lime gold you speak of is meant to be sprayed over a gold, or yellow base to get the yellow into the mix.

From what Robert says, all of the Kustom Kolor paints are translucent, except the base colors (and even then the metallic base such as silver and gold are somewhat translucent). So what ever color you put under your top color coat will show through, changing the outcome of your color. This would be good for a ghost flame/graphics paint job.

sounds to me that they have bad instructions but is not actually bad paint.

exactly my thoughts. I should be re-spraying my Leopard today, if I get the yard mowed, that is