Testors lacquer ?

[guiwee]

Hey guys i just brought amt's 09 challenger for $15. When looking for paint i noticed testors has a new lacquer. This stuff says its a two-part system with base coat then clear coat.My question is has anyone used this stuff?If im reading it correctly you spray the color then spray the clear?How long do you have to wait?I have a food dehydrator to speed the process:
it says its dry in 20 minutes.If i dont use the clear will the paint be flat?
I used to work in the paint shop at chrysler.We made jeep grand cherokee.I can tell you in my time there EVERY color we sprayed went on
flat be it metallic or otherwise.Went through an oven; then it was clearcoated.Then oven again.Also our paint guns were electrostatically
charged to help paint stick to car.
Is this testors attempt at same thing since the paint seems to be endorsed by dodge. Has anyone used this stuff and is it any good?It certainly is cheaper then tamiya at $3.99 a can at my lhs!!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

The Testors 2 part lacquers are made to be clearcoated; I've tried to buff out their Italian Red w/o clear and it just would not gloss up like one-part paint. To some that level of gloss is okay.

It does dry rapidly if it's not to thick a coat. The dehydrator will allow it to cure very fast. The Testors lacquers seem to cover much better than Tamiya, though their paint nozzles are far inferior. You can pretty much mix and match w/Tamiya TS sprays. I prefer buffing out Tamiya TS 13 clear over the Testors stuff. But the Testors stuff gives a really nice finish.

Just follow their directions and you should have no problems. I will say their pearls/metallics tend to have overly large pearl/metallic pigment that's more bass boat than factory stock paint.

[guiwee]

So youre saying polish the clear and not the paint? I read somewhere you shouldnt
polish metallic paints anyway is that correct? How long till i can polish after i clear?
Just because its dry after 20 min. doesnt mean i can sand it doest it? Im sorry if im asking dumb questions,just trying to get a handle on this!!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Yes, polish the clear. If you have any flaws in the color, sand them out and respray color before applying clear.

If you have a dehydrator you can wetsand/polish when you can't smell the fresh paint anymore. This can be as little as a few hours after spraying, or better overnight. Testors clear lacquer does dry very fast.

[CFarias]

Indeed, polish the clear coat that you would apply over the metalics. However, I've had success sanding the metalic base coats free of nibs and other contanimants before I clearcoated. The trick here is to wet sand with at least a 1000 grit automotive sand paper. This will prevent the formation of scratches appearing in the finish which will only appear after the clear coat is applied. Since these are in the paint and not the clear you would not be able to polish them out.

Also it is important that your under coat (usually primer) is very smooth, too. If the natural orange peal from primer is not sanded out before the color base coat is applied, the texture will reappear after the clear coat is sprayed. Again, you will not be able to polish this out.

Base/clears require more work than single shot paints, but the results will be worth the extra effort.