Duplicolor Enamel Color + Duplicolor Enamel Clear = wrinkles

The Rocketry Forum

Help Support The Rocketry Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 14, 2017
Messages
13
Reaction score
2
I just tried applying Duplicolor clear enamel to a rocket that I finished with Duplicolor enamel white (Duplicolor filler primer under that). Color was applied at least a month ago. First coat went on fine. Waited 10 minutes per directions and applied a heavier coat. A couple of small areas started to wrinkle up as though it melted the white color coat. Any ideas why? Used exact same methodology over Duplicolor yellow the other week with perfect results.

Thinking of switching to Testors lacquer coat on top of Duplicolor enamel colors - will this minimize chances of this happening?

Thanks!
 
Are you sure the clear was enamel? They make both that and lacquer clears. A mix up would cause what you see. I've found Duplicolor to have some of the best spray paints to work with.
 
Bummer... :mad: I hate it when that happens!

Enamel paints have a re-coat time window. You probably waited to long to re-apply. They specify a time frame but in reality temperature and relative humidity have a huge impact on paint drying times.

What is your location? Here in Colorado where the relative humidity is often in the teens or single digits it's amazing just how quick paint drys.

Additionally if you don't shake the can enough you can also have issues such as you described.

More here: https://duplicolor.com/assets/documents/application-tips.pdf
 
Are you sure the clear was enamel? They make both that and lacquer clears. A mix up would cause what you see. I've found Duplicolor to have some of the best spray paints to work with.

Yeah, definitely both enamel. I've never had issues before either.

Bummer... :mad: I hate it when that happens!

Enamel paints have a re-coat time window. You probably waited to long to re-apply. They specify a time frame but in reality temperature and relative humidity have a huge impact on paint drying times.

What is your location? Here in Colorado where the relative humidity is often in the teens or single digits it's amazing just how quick paint drys.

Additionally if you don't shake the can enough you can also have issues such as you described.

More here: https://duplicolor.com/assets/documents/application-tips.pdf

I'm in the DC area - humidity today in the 45% range, and a bit cool, but I bring them in to dry. Is it preferable to add the coats in quick succession?
 
for clear do multiple light coats, don't do a heavy coat

I typically will do the light coats 10~15 min apart
 
Thinking of switching to Testors lacquer coat on top of Duplicolor enamel colors - will this minimize chances of this happening?

Thanks!

Unless I'm mistaken, this is a very bad idea. Lacquers are more reactive and probably screw with any enamel or acrylic they're laid over.

The common order I've read is Acrylics over Enamels over Lacquers
 
Enamel paints have a re-coat time window. You probably waited to long to re-apply. They specify a time frame but in reality temperature and relative humidity have a huge impact on paint drying times.

What is your location? Here in Colorado where the relative humidity is often in the teens or single digits it's amazing just how quick paint drys.

Additionally if you don't shake the can enough you can also have issues such as you described.

More here: https://duplicolor.com/assets/documents/application-tips.pdf

As per the pdf you linked, Duplicolor Enamel re-coat is generally (as you pointed out dependent on environmental conditions) 1 hour and past this window you need to let the paint cure before you re-coat, which they say is 1 week.

I have worked with Duplicolor and I have had this very issue. When it happened to me it was due to laying down the clear before the base was cured, so it was still off-gassing. As primitive as it sounds when I posted my results on TRF someone suggested the "sniff test". So now I wait the week and if I can still smell the solvents off-gassing (evaporating) then I will wait.

One practice I got into was to wet-sand between coats with 600 grit, nothing too obsessive, just a quick wet-sand to take off the top layer. I will usually do this within the first week then leave it for a day or two before I do a sniff test and go from there.

At the end of the day I don't use enamel paints much anymore. This is due to the long lead times when painting, they tend to crack overtime and the clear turns yellowish.
 
As per the pdf you linked, Duplicolor Enamel re-coat is generally (as you pointed out dependent on environmental conditions) 1 hour and past this window you need to let the paint cure before you re-coat, which they say is 1 week.

I have worked with Duplicolor and I have had this very issue. When it happened to me it was due to laying down the clear before the base was cured, so it was still off-gassing. As primitive as it sounds when I posted my results on TRF someone suggested the "sniff test". So now I wait the week and if I can still smell the solvents off-gassing (evaporating) then I will wait.

One practice I got into was to wet-sand between coats with 600 grit, nothing too obsessive, just a quick wet-sand to take off the top layer. I will usually do this within the first week then leave it for a day or two before I do a sniff test and go from there.

At the end of the day I don't use enamel paints much anymore. This is due to the long lead times when painting, they tend to crack overtime and the clear turns yellowish.

What's interesting is I let the base color coat cure for a month or so, so it was fully cured.

What I'm noticing is that I get this reaction when the clear coat goes onto too thick. I may add several light coats, let it cure completely, then add the flow coat?
 
Back
Top