Best spray paint and easily available?

[The Hitman 2007]

I thought I had found the best spray paint untill I used Krylon's Sun Yellow Gloss on my 2006 Mustang Gt. Such a nice color, I loved it on that Mustang and it all went on good, BUT... When it dried it was flat looking in most places, and I honestly don't know why, do any of you? I've always had alot of success doing paint jobs with Krylon very smooth fast drying, without even using any primer untill I used this color. Could it be just this color? Could the paint be bad? I dont know.

It looked just like a Rust-Oleum paint job So, I think it is time for me to start using another kind of paint. I know that Tamiya is probably the absolute best, but it is so hard to get (only online) and very expensive for what you get. What are some good spray paints that I can find in local stores that you guys have had success with?

THANKS!

[MPWR]

Are you serious- you can't find Tamiya in Tampa??

I've certainly found it in Ft Lauderdale and Miami.

Look around, it has to be availible somewhere. Tamiya has five shops listed in Tampa alone- at least one will have TS sprays. Yeah, it's a bit more expensive than others, but it's totally worth it. I would take spray laquer over spray enamel any day.

[stevenoble]

I would also recommend the Tamiya spray as well.It is a little more expensive but the quality outweighs the slight price difference.In my experience the spray enamels take an age to dry and they aren't very resilient to finger prints/general handling and the like.If you have an airbrush check out the Zero basecoat paints ,you won't be disappointed.

[willimo]

In addition to Tamiya paints, I've had good success with Duplicolor sprays, sold as touch up cans at auto parts retailers like Autozone. The paint goes on surprisingly well, dries quickly, and is very resistant to handling.

[935k3]

I love Krylon and always use it if the color I need is available. The uneven finish is due to being too humid too paint. Tamiya's paints are nice but they rub through very easily when polishing and they have very weak pigments. Krylon is an Acrylic Enamel and drys much quicker than regular enamels. It rubs out beautifully and is a very durable finish. Krylon is is less than $3.00 a 11 oz. can at Walmart and Tamiya is $5.50 for a 3 oz. can, that's a big difference in price. Duplicolor Primer and all of their metallic colors are also very good paints that dry very fast. All of these paints are sensitive to excessive humidity in the air.

[davesans]

Hitman

I live in St.Petersburg there are 2 LHS that sell Tamiya paints and there easy get to from Tampa and I275 and there with in a few miles of each other

[turbo_b00st]

tamiya FTW

[jmwallac]

I always seem to have a tough time following the herd....

I've used Krylon and duplicolor almost exclusively. After reading how great TS paints are, I bought a can or two to try them out. I'm not impressed. The paint tends to run and pool up quickly, gets a good shine when wet, then orange peels and seems to be paper thin. That's great for details and panel lines, but can spell disaster for polishing. Maybe I just need to adjust my heavy handed technique for these hobby paints.

I wouldn't get too caught up on the "best" part. If you check enough WIPs and finished projects, you'll quickly see modelers who use all different paints and have equally good success. I would equate it to people who think buying a 10MP DSLR is going to make them a better photographer. There is no magic bullet. Practice with whatever you can get your hands on. Figure out the quirks and nuiances of that paint and run with it! My .

[Mr. Me.]

Try this - http://www.kustomkolorpaints.com/
But Tamiya is the best...

[klutz_100]

Originally Posted by jmwallac

I wouldn't get too caught up on the "best" part. If you check enough WIPs and finished projects, you'll quickly see modelers who use all different paints and have equally good success. I would equate it to people who think buying a 10MP DSLR is going to make them a better photographer. There is no magic bullet. Practice with whatever you can get your hands on. Figure out the quirks and nuiances of that paint and run with it! My .

Not a bad point that...

None the less, lacquers are still a better choice than enamels - not least because of the drying times.

[jmwallac]

Originally Posted by klutz_100

Not a bad point that...

None the less, lacquers are still a better choice than enamels - not least because of the drying times.

I wouldn't disagree with the enamel/lacquer debate. As long as you know how each behaves, however, great results can be obtained with both. I just hate when people say you can only get good results with "insert favorite brand here" and everything else is crap!

I'm sure guys like you, gio, MPWR, kunta, hiroboy, etc. could make house paint polish up and turn out great!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by jmwallac

I wouldn't disagree with the enamel/lacquer debate. As long as you know how each behaves, however, great results can be obtained with both. I just hate when people say you can only get good results with "insert favorite brand here" and everything else is crap!

I'm sure guys like you, gio, MPWR, kunta, hiroboy, etc. could make house paint polish up and turn out great!

I tend to agree; each type of paint has it's own benefits and cautions.

The original poster mentioned the Krylon went "dull" in some areas. I suspect that is because it crazed the plastic in those areas, that will definitely cause a "mottled" effect on plastic where some areas are fine and others soaked up the the thinner and the plastic surface was damaged. A proper primer coat underneath would likely have avoided the problem.

I'm working on a Revell kit where I did a lot of sanding of the body mold lines; I applied some primer to those areas, sanded smooth, then applied a sealer over the affected areas, then applied a couple couple more coats of Plastikote primer, then a coat of Tamiya primer. The body paint came out beautiful. Other areas I didn't sand/modify only saw the Tamiya primer. And those areas got a few spots of mild crazing of the plastic (look like dull areas against the gloss) where my better prep and a more robust primer on the body kept it from the crazing.

I also just painted another car in enamel (it was the only color I had in my stash that was correct for the car); it came out beautiful-enamel polishes easier than lacquer. Yes, it never gets to the same level of a hard finish, too much handling will make the parts seem sticky. But it's forgiving paint; it flows very nicely when being airbrushed and is easy to get a mirror finish. I use a dehydrator to speed the drying, I applied the base coat (didn't need primer), let dry for about 4 hours, wetsanded out the flaws/orange peel, reapplied the paint, after overnight in the dehydrator I wetsanded again and polished out. All done in well under 24 hours. I break every rule

Oh, and Tamiya sprays rock! I also like the Testors lacquer paints for model cars, but they don't spray as nicely as Tamiya (wet coats tend to have more orange peel and nozzles aren't as good). They do have a more dense pigment, so they cover well. Both Testors and Tamiya spray lacquers work exceptionally well when decanted and applied through an airbrush. I can make a can of Tamiya go much further when applied via airbrush vs. straight from the can.

[The Hitman 2007]

Originally Posted by jmwallac

I always seem to have a tough time following the herd....

I've used Krylon and duplicolor almost exclusively. After reading how great TS paints are, I bought a can or two to try them out. I'm not impressed. The paint tends to run and pool up quickly, gets a good shine when wet, then orange peels and seems to be paper thin. That's great for details and panel lines, but can spell disaster for polishing. Maybe I just need to adjust my heavy handed technique for these hobby paints.

I wouldn't get too caught up on the "best" part. If you check enough WIPs and finished projects, you'll quickly see modelers who use all different paints and have equally good success. I would equate it to people who think buying a 10MP DSLR is going to make them a better photographer. There is no magic bullet. Practice with whatever you can get your hands on. Figure out the quirks and nuiances of that paint and run with it! My .

I've just picked up a can of Duplicolor. I see it all the time but never thought of trying it. Is there any advice you could give me about it? I havent used it just yet, but when I do I have some test parts I will be using. A quick question, what if I sprayed it into a bottle and used it in an Airbrush?

[jmwallac]

Originally Posted by The Hitman 2007

I've just picked up a can of Duplicolor. I see it all the time but never thought of trying it. Is there any advice you could give me about it? I havent used it just yet, but when I do I have some test parts I will be using. A quick question, what if I sprayed it into a bottle and used it in an Airbrush?

I had a whole long answer typed up and stupid windows restarted on me...

Basically, with automotive lacquers, make sure you have good primer coverage. This paint can craze the plastic if you're not careful. I use brite touch primer, available at Advance and Auto Zone for $2.49 a can. You can do 4 models with it. It is made by duplicolor. Duplicolor's own primer is also very good. With these paints I always use the T125 clear. The acrylic lacquers and enamel line don't need clear as often. I can get them to polish up on their own. Whatever you do, don't mix the paint lines on the same body (i.e. lacquer base coat use a lacquer clear). I don't bother with mist coats. 2 or 3 medium coats works fine for me. I'm pretty liberal with the clear, almost to the point of it running. I always 2000 wetsand, rubbing compound then wax, so I'm not too worried about orange peel.

I tried to decant the paint into my airbrush and spray it that way, but I didn't get a very good result with it. Others here have gotten fantastic results. It's all what you practice.

This is the way I do it. I get OK results (you can judge for yourself). You have to practice and develop your own technique. Good luck and post some pictures of your progress!!!

[The Hitman 2007]

Originally Posted by jmwallac

I had a whole long answer typed up and stupid windows restarted on me...

Basically, with automotive lacquers, make sure you have good primer coverage. This paint can craze the plastic if you're not careful. I use brite touch primer, available at Advance and Auto Zone for $2.49 a can. You can do 4 models with it. It is made by duplicolor. Duplicolor's own primer is also very good. With these paints I always use the T125 clear. The acrylic lacquers and enamel line don't need clear as often. I can get them to polish up on their own. Whatever you do, don't mix the paint lines on the same body (i.e. lacquer base coat use a lacquer clear). I don't bother with mist coats. 2 or 3 medium coats works fine for me. I'm pretty liberal with the clear, almost to the point of it running. I always 2000 wetsand, rubbing compound then wax, so I'm not too worried about orange peel.

I tried to decant the paint into my airbrush and spray it that way, but I didn't get a very good result with it. Others here have gotten fantastic results. It's all what you practice.

This is the way I do it. I get OK results (you can judge for yourself). You have to practice and develop your own technique. Good luck and post some pictures of your progress!!!

I must say I'm impressed with the Duplicolor paint.Thanks to you and anyone else that has ever mentioned this stuff! I picked up some Turtle Wax, on the bottle it says "Platinum Series Ultra Gloss Detailer" It is a 16 ounce spray wax, do you know if it would work well with the Duplicolor, or any other paints for that matter?

I also just want to say thanks to people that posted in this thread, I never expected to get this much feedback, thank you guys for your input.