Fav rattle can paint.

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SolarYellow said:
I was being a little sarcastic. It's extremely bumpy. Would not be happy with that surface profile on my rocket.
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If I understand @Banzai88 's post (#89) correctly, applying a coat of Max2K on top of Montana (or other any other paint that leaves an eggshell texture), leaves a smooth, high-gloss surface. But it strikes me that unless the eggshell texture is sanded smooth prior to application of the Max2K, you still have the appearance of eggshell texture showing through the Max2K. So, a smooth finish that reduces drag, but still appears bumpy.

Or am I missing something?
 
If you put enough clearcoat on the paint in the image shown above to level it without blocking it down first, that's a heck of a lot of paint weight. And expensive clearcoat.

I talk about paint weight a lot, but it's a consequence of figuring out that a body tube I'd painted weighed 9.# grams before paint and 19.# grams after paint. More than half the weight of that part of the rocket was paint, and my mass and c.g. calcs were blown all to heck. Big problem.
 
Dane Ronnow said:
If I understand @Banzai88 's post (#89) correctly, applying a coat of Max2K on top of Montana (or other any other paint that leaves an eggshell texture), leaves a smooth, high-gloss surface. But it strikes me that unless the eggshell texture is sanded smooth prior to application of the Max2K, you still have the appearance of eggshell texture showing through the Max2K. So, a smooth finish that reduces drag, but still appears bumpy.

Or am I missing something?
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I clear coated a rocket with eggshell texture, I'll get a pic of it later today. Would eggshell finish be similar to a golf ball where a smooth surface is not the best for drag? I don't know, but now I'm wondering. You got me thinking and I sometimes like building MD rockets for max height. I just got a 23 Subaru WRX that has a hexagon texture on the bumpers and fender flares, Subaru claims the texture improves aerodynamics but that could easily be just marketing hype. It would've been cheaper to have a smooth surface, not sure why they did it. Wished I had a wind tunnel.
 
SolarYellow said:
If you put enough clearcoat on the paint in the image shown above to level it without blocking it down first, that's a heck of a lot of paint weight. And expensive clearcoat.

I talk about paint weight a lot, but it's a consequence of figuring out that a body tube I'd painted weighed 9.# grams before paint and 19.# grams after paint. More than half the weight of that part of the rocket was paint, and my mass and c.g. calcs were blown all to heck. Big problem.
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Thank you. for pointing this out. My next rocket will get weighed before and after paint. I do go heavier than I need to, especially for the rockets I fly with a Club. I have to be presentable around the guys who are 100X more experienced than I am.
 
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You all are using way too much paint if you're getting texture you can see/feel that shows up in pictures like textured wall paint.

The orange_blue is 1 coat of Montana, 1 coat of Montana clear applied over sanded primer on MAC phenolic. 99% as smooth as gloss rattle can enamel.

The purple_pink is 1 coat of Montana, 1 coat of Max2k over soller composite fiberglass sock and sanded primer. (Pardon the field rash from about 6 flights). It is ever so slightly textured, but can only be seen in the right light, and cannot be felt. On L2 motors, it doesn't make enough difference to notice, and it's a sport flyer, not a record setter.
The nose cone is gel coat fiberglass, and the same paint schedule is as smooth as a 1 coat enamel.

In some cases Montana isn't as glass smooth as some 1 coat enamels, but it's darn close, and has NONE of the issues that you all are complaining about with other mass market rattle can paints.
 

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Hard to tell exactly with monocular vision of the camera lens, but my Acryli-Quik lays down about as well as that.

The price/can for AQ colors currently in my cart at zoro.com, pending my next order, with one of their regularly-issued discount codes applied, averages $7.70/can with free shipping. Comparable to Rusto or Krylon at box stores locally.
 
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PDawg said:
I clear coated a rocket with eggshell texture, I'll get a pic of it later today. Would eggshell finish be similar to a golf ball where a smooth surface is not the best for drag?
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The dimples on a golf ball trip the boundary layer into turbulent flow, which reduces the magnitude and associated drag of the wake. That is effective because a sphere is a particularly non-aerodynamic shape on the back half. If you had a golf ball diameter rocket with a straight body tube of typical length, or even with a boat tail, and used an actual cut in half golf ball as a nose cone, it would likely perform better if you filled the dimples and made that hemisphere smooth.

On rockets, we are striving for laminar flow for as much of the length of the airframe as possible. It's one of several reasons that airframes longer than they need to be aren't best for performance, no matter how good they look to the crayon-eating drawing majors in the styling department.

ETA: Since you brought up the Subaru, the hood scoop on the STI, at least the original version, worked better if it was turned around to take in the high pressure air at the base of the windshield. At least that's what some racers told me back in the day.
 
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Banzai88 said:
In some cases Montana isn't as glass smooth as some 1 coat enamels, but it's darn close, and has NONE of the issues that you all are complaining about with other mass market rattle can paints.
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This is Classic Gray Krylon over white Krylon primer on a BT-80 tube, with a top coat of Pledge acrylic floor finish. The gray Krylon was not sanded prior to being coated with Pledge.

IMG_0698 (3).jpg
 
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Dane Ronnow said:
This is Classic Gray Krylon over white Krylon primer on a BT-80 tube, with a top coat of Pledge acrylic floor finish. The gray Krylon was not sanded prior to being coated with Pledge.

View attachment 580085
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Nice work.

Never said Montana was the only way, but it's a very cost effective way, since 1 can will do 3-4 6 foot tall 4 inch diameter rockets since it's easy 1 coat coverage, and I've long advocated that it's probably best for larger size rockets.

20230511_181358.jpg20230511_181330.jpg20230511_181315.jpg

Only the individual can decide what is best for their project, time, money, and level of effort to achieve their desired results.

I present what is possible with Montana rattle can grafitti lacquers. Each of these was done in the space of less than 4 hours from primer to applying top coat with Montana/2K, other than masking time. Very difficult to do with enamels in a week of painting. Maybe even harder and longer seeing as everyone seems to like playing alligator skin clear coat roulette with their enamels, especially when taking into account of the ever changing non-compatible chemistry.
 
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SolarYellow said:
Since you brought up the Subaru, the hood scoop on the STI, at least the original version, worked better if it was turned around to take in the high pressure air at the base of the windshield. At least that's what some racers told me back in the day.
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Pontiac did that with their Trans Am and Firebird beginning in 1970.
 
Banzai88 said:
it's a very cost effective way, since 1 can will do 3-4 6 foot tall 4 inch diameter rockets
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The paint that I typically use will easily paint one rocket and I get good one coat coverage, but when you take the paint off the shelf for the second rocket it won't work anymore. I'm goint to start trying paint from ACE hardware, it seems to be better quality.
 
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bjphoenix said:
The paint that I typically use will easily paint one rocket and I get good one coat coverage, but when you take the paint off the shelf for the second rocket it won't work anymore. I'm trying paint from ACE hardware, it seems to be better quality.
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Is the valve clogged or the can itself? I take the valves off my spray cans as soon as I'm done, put it on a can of glass cleaner and spray for a second to clean out the valve, then re-install on the spray can. This only works on female caps and aerosol glass cleaners like Sprayaway.
 
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PDawg said:
Is the valve clogged or the can itself? I take the valves off my spray cans as soon as I'm done, put it on a can of glass cleaner and spray for a second to clean out the valve, then re-install on the spray can?. This only works on female caps and aerosol glass cleaners like Sprayaway.
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My theory is that it is a problem with the valve itself. I think some of the valves clog easily, but I also think some of the valves might have a very slow leak and leak out the pressure over time.

But here is new data- I was finishing up some paint details yesterday on one rocket. It was orange and I was going to put a black roll pattern on it so I cut out the strips of tape and put them on. This particular tape doesn't always seal well so I was going to spray a coat of orange over the tape so that whatever leaked under the tape would be the same color as the background. My orange sprayed OK for the first half of the roll pattern then just stopped. I had a couple of other nozzles laying on the bench so I put one on and finished the spraying. Altogether there were 4 nozzles laying there from past paint issues. I've previously soaked them in acetone and blown them out with air pressure but I noticed that even after blowing them out there was a bit of paint up in the nozzle. I got a 1/16" drill bit and cleaned out the bits of paint from up in there. I'll try these on some of my old cans later to see if they start working again.

I had given up on the Ru_______ brand so I bought a can of ACE brand at ACE hardware. It has worked well for 4 small tasks and the BT-60 nose cone I painted yesterday came out very smooth and glossy. This will be my new favorite paint for awhile.
 
PDawg said:
Is the valve clogged or the can itself? I take the valves off my spray cans as soon as I'm done, put it on a can of glass cleaner and spray for a second to clean out the valve, then re-install on the spray can?. This only works on female caps and aerosol glass cleaners like Sprayaway.
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More evidence that the "spray in any position" nozzle/paint supply is a bullshit marketing gimmick based entirely on wishful thinking and getting people to buy more cans of paint when the old ones won't work. You can't clear out a "spray in any position" paint supply system by holding the can upside down.

Screw that Kool-Aid.
 
Mightymango said:
The MTN clears so nicely.
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That's one of the reasons I decided to give MTN Hardcore a try. Next step was to find a retailer that had shipping charges I could tolerate. I looked at Machine Studio, MC Art, Max Warehouse, Blick, and Amazon. Machine Studio was the cheapest shipping. Just for grins, I clicked their Contact page to see where it would be shipping from. LAS VEGAS! They're a straight shot down Sahara Ave, 10 minutes from where I live.

My search for a good spray paint at a decent price is over. Woohoo!
 
Dane Ronnow said:
That's one of the reasons I decided to give MTN Hardcore a try. Next step was to find a retailer that had shipping charges I could tolerate. I looked at Machine Studio, MC Art, Max Warehouse, Blick, and Amazon. Machine Studio was the cheapest shipping. Just for grins, I clicked their Contact page to see where it would be shipping from. LAS VEGAS! They're a straight shot down Sahara Ave, 10 minutes from where I live.

My search for a good spray paint at a decent price is over. Woohoo!
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I am lucky as there is a blick close to me. Just picked up a few more colors today for 6.50 a can. Got some of the clear gloss as well.
 
A question for @Banzai88 , @Mightymango , @ShadowSpire48 , or anybody else using Montana/MTN Harcore paints:

Both of these paints have a dozen different size valves available. Is the spray pattern from the valve that comes on the can a good size for painting rockets (mine is 3' dia., 52" long)? Or do I need to get one that sprays a wider or narrower pattern?

Thanks!
 
lakeroadster said:
Where do you store your cans of paint.... and how do you store your cans of paint?

What type of Rustoleum paint are you using?

There's got to be a reason why you have so many issues with Rustoleum.... and I don't.
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In a cool dry space in my Rocket Lair that keeps the Balsa fine as well. Older Krylon and new Rusto paints no longer spray. It's a shame as I bought 100s of dollars of the Krylon at wall mart before they changed their formula for the worse [ie no lacquer anymore] and much of it won't spray.

The new Krylon will orange peal on the second coat just as the new Rusto does for me. ACE is working good
 
Dane Ronnow said:
A question for @Banzai88 , @Mightymango , @ShadowSpire48 , or anybody else using Montana/MTN Harcore paints:

Both of these paints have a dozen different size valves available. Is the spray pattern from the valve that comes on the can a good size for painting rockets (mine is 3' dia., 52" long)? Or do I need to get one that sprays a wider or narrower pattern?

Thanks!
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I use the default nozzle as well, never had a need for anything else, and I've painted 38mm min diameter all the way up to 4", no issues.
 

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