The few Valspar lacquers tend to do well for me, when I use anything other than airbrush acrylics. Valspar clear lacquer is my go-to clear. Also good results with White and Black.
I've been "done" with enamel spraypaints for years.
And I agree, the new Valspar twist cap thing sucks.
Marc
This is true... spray enamels are just going totally to crap... it's all about marketing now, and complying with EPA regs, not about producing a product that does what it's intended to do, and do it WELL...
Hence all the "all in one" primer/paints coming out, and the flashy twisty-lock caps, twist-fan nozzles on new Krylon, and other "gimmicks" that actually make a WORSE product, NOT BETTER...
Being a farmer, I've dealt with spray nozzles of various types and kinds for decades... there are rules to nozzle design that differentiate a good nozzle from a bad nozzle and dictate the uses for which they are designed, and how they work... and most of these "gimmick" nozzles are just the totally OPPOSITE of what you need to get a good coat of paint on a rocket...
Basically, the plain-Jane old "hairspray" nozzles they put on the 99 cent a can Walmart paints give the best paint job... WHY?? Because they do EXACTLY what you want the paint to do-- atomize finely into an even cone spray pattern. Why a cone pattern, why not the flat pattern touted by the Krylon people as SO superior?? Simple-- a cone pattern will atomize into FINER DROPLETS at a given pressure than a flat fan nozzle at the same pressure. Smaller droplets coat more evenly and smoothly, and flow out onto the surface more evenly, for a finer coat. Big, gloppy droplets that "spit" out of flat-fans create less overspray, true enough, but they also don't flow out on the surface as smoothly and evenly nor do they coat as evenly, leaving a poorer final finish coating.
So why do paint guns used by professional painters use fan patterns?? To cover more area more quickly-- and for more even coating across a larger (wider) pattern than you'd get from a cone pattern. BUT, there's a critical difference. If you ever look at a professional paint gun, you'll notice it has NUMEROUS air holes around the tip that mix to create the flat-fan pattern... these jets of air rip into the stream of liquid paint coming from the paint gun when the trigger is pulled and atomize it out into a flat pattern of finely atomized droplets. This combination of liquid paint and AIR coming in from the surrounding nozzles creates the excellent atomization of a professional paint gun-- the "flat fan" nozzles of Krylon DO NOT have any air holes to help atomize the paint stream from the nozzle-- they are basically identical to ag spray nozzles that squirt pressurized liquid mixes of water and pesticides through a slit-shaped opening and atomize that liquid by a combination of the effects of surface tension of the liquid itself, the very exacting design and machining of the slit in the nozzle itself and how it manipulates the fluid flowing through it, and the pressure of the liquid being sprayed itself... factors like the pressure of the fluid and the design spray angle of the nozzle have the greatest effect on droplet size and pattern uniformity, once the slit in the nozzle is properly designed and machined or molded. The higher the pressure, the wider and more finely atomized the pattern is, and the smaller the droplet size. The lower the pressure, the narrower and coarser the spray pattern is with larger droplets. The wider the pattern design, the smaller the droplet... (how the nozzle orifice is cut, which is referred to in nozzle terminology as "spray angle" of the pattern-- for instance, most nozzles are available for ag use in 45, 60, and 90 degree patterns, and some nozzles in 120 degree patterns. Most popular nozzles are the 60 and 90 degree patterns). In ag, finer droplets lead to more drift of pesticides off-target, which we want to avoid. Hence the use of flat fan nozzles (which produce larger, more uniform droplets at the same pressure versus cone pattern nozzles) and lower pressures (say 30-60 PSI versus 70-90 PSI, which is a MAJOR contributor to droplet size... doubling the pressure quadruples the number of "fines" or extremely small, drift prone droplets from a given nozzle-- this is also the reason for the change to "high-volume, low-pressure" (HVLP) spray paint guns for professionals-- fewer fines to create "overspray" and more paint on target, thus lowering the overspray problem and using paint more efficiently). Also, lowering spray height to reduce drift, but this produces a tradeoff-- you can spray lower (reduced height) with a wider pattern nozzle angle, and lower height reduces drift... BUT higher angle pattern nozzles produce finer, more drift prone droplets at the same pressure versus lower-angle nozzles.
Anyway, that gives you some idea of why nozzles and nozzle design matters... Don't fall for the hype... most of that crap about how "superior" their fancy-shmancy nozzle is on a can of spray paint is all just pure BS advertising rubbish and gimmickry, nothing more...
Airbrushing of course gives the best final coat-- like a professional spray gun, they mix the paint and air and finely atomize it into a conical pattern as it leaves the airbrush... since you can adjust the amount of paint in relation to the air, and how much air pressure you use, just like a professional paint gun, you have a LOT more control over the final droplet size and pattern, and the rest is good technique and skill in actually applying the paint to the surface to avoid runs, drips, and sags... the best equipment in the world won't make up for an unskilled, unpracticed, poor-technique painter... so yeah, practice, practice, practice... a good, highly skilled painter can produce good results even with poor equipment, but even the best equipment can't make a bad painter produce great results...
There really are no "miracles in a can"...
Later! OL JR
