Okay time for another followup on Plutonium spray cans. I will get to the point and just say WOW I absolutely love this stuff and it is a dream to work with. Comparing this to other rattle cans, I have used Krylon, Rusto, Rusto 2x, Dupli-color lacquer, Dupli-color acrylic enamel, the Testors Enamel, Tremclad and a few other brands that I cannot recall. Besides the Krylon camouflage matte paint, which is very nice to work with, this Plutonium paint is a dream. If they every make a matte clear I would probably prefer it over the Krylon.
The good:
- It masks really well
- It is very forgiving for sag, although you can still get sag if you try
- coverage is nuts, this stuff just covers everything and quickly
- It dries to touch within min but it is still soft. I typically go by the smell rule, if you can still smell the paint then it is still off-gassing and drying, regardless of what the can says. In this case the nosecone in the pic was started about Oct 19th and the paint is still off-gassing but very little
- this paint is very unique in how fast the smell goes away, which is something I could not say for any other paint that I have used. I spray in a well ventilated area and with a full face respirator but at some point I typically bring the project indoors and as most of you know if you walked into a room with something that was just sprayed a few days ago you can smell it right away...not this stuff.
- The project below had some issues, mainly due to poor planning but also this paint is so different and it took a bit of getting used to. This was mainly because I used it like other paints, which it is definitely not. As a result of the issues, I had to touch up several areas as well as repaint part of it. I was dreading the process and thinking that I was going to have to strip it back and redo most of it, but it was so easy and seamless to do and there were no special curing restrictions I had to worry about.
- The company stands behind the product, as a matter of fact the owner called me directly on my cell. I had an issue with two cans and reported it to their info@ email address and they replied back within a day. Unfortunately I did not know this as it was tagged by my junk mail filter upstream so I sent another, still no response I was getting a bit irritated as it was getting close to a week and sent another this time saying that I was disappointed that I paid a premium for what I thought up until then was a premium product but the product is only as good as the company that stands behind it. Next thing I know I get a call on my cell and it is the owner of the company. Needless to say after he told me they were trying to get in touch with me to make my issue right I checked my spam filter and sure enough there were all of their emails. At this point I felt like a dick as I totally jumped the gun and misjudged the company. However the owner laughed and was great to talk to and we had quite a nice conversation. The big take away for me was he is a real hands on guy, proud of his product and has no issue standing behind it. I also found out that they are doing really well and there is now a store that sells it 10 min away from me so no more internet shipping. Plus they also expanded their colours, so lots of nice choices to chose from.
The bad:
- Price, it is a pricey product but as pricey as it is the product is so much easier to work with, especially if you buy the pro-tips. Factoring coverage into the equation the product is not as pricey as it appears, although there is still a premium. One can will go a lot further, how much I am not sure but I have not gone through a full can yet and I have done quite a bit of spraying, not just on the project below but on test bit of cardboard as well as the other 2/3rds of that rocket, which is still in the works. The bottom line, I will be using this going forward as my go to rattle can. Just the ease of working with it, easier to clean, easier to spray, easier to handle, etc. is worth the premium. And the results speak for themselves.
- No matte clear, I made a pitch to the owner to develop a matte clear however he said the realities of retail is such that as a manufacturer part of his winning formula is to keep his skews down, plus he has not had many requests for a matte clear. Hopefully that will change.
The ugly:
- Not a single thing, and I am honestly trying to be as objective as I possibly can and think of one, maybe I will at some point. This stuff is just really nice and I am very satisfied. I really hope someone else tries the product as I would love to hear another perspective, good, bad, or ugly!
This is a pic of the nosecone (plastic 5:1 pinnacle) epoxied to a 7.5" piece of G10 airframe, which is the top part of a GLR Mariah 38 that I am just finishing off. Honestly the pic does not do it justice but it is the best I can get with my crappy phone camera. To get this I used a StickerShock 3M mask and did pink over white, although I actually painted the pink first by mistake then painted a base of white over it then laid down the mask and filled in with pink. I removed the mask within 15 min and the lines are perfectly sharp. I then wet block sanded with 400 then quickly moved to 600 wet block. Once I got the seams close I laid down two coats of clear and wet block sanded with 600 until it was completely smooth and no sign of any seams. Then I laid one final light coat of clear and wet sanded with 1500 then 2000. Once it was fully sanded I left it for a week and tonight I hand polished it with a professional 1-2-3 step automotive polishing kit I have and finished it off with one coat of professional automotive carnauba wax.
