Well... you did the ultimate cardinal sin.... you mixed 3 different types of paint. Matters not they are all the same brand. Stick with the same type.I.E. If using Painters Touch...primer, finish & clear should be Painters Touch. The only clear I have used on anything[that I painted] is Dupli-Color that could cross brands with out issue. But I have not used it on every type of paint.
I was a commercial painting contractor for 30+ years [actually was referred to as "coating specialist"]
Coated everything from million dollar yachts to log cabins.
Every brand recommends a 'system for any particular use. It is even more important today as the formulas change like the wind with every new regulation. I could go on & on, but you get the point.
Second it could have cured for months & wouldn't have mattered when too heavy of a coat has the volatiles attacking the underlying surface. It will melt & pull the surface into wrinkles.
It seems to happen worse at fillets because usually that's where everyone "overlaps" twice, from painting the fins & the body tube. You get a heavier area or thickness of paint which is ripe for attack from the clear anyhow, let alone from incompatible paint. Just by seeing your pics....it looks like the problem is in fillet area & along bottom/rear of fins, most likely due to collecting there.
Heck...I've been in a hurry & done it myself...full well knowing better. As stated the best way to beat the odds is to fog a couple of light coats on the surface, let them dry. Then hit the final with steady motion, starting at one fin tip, going to fillet, then up & down the entire tube,across the next fin, around the other side of fin, up & down tube etc.etc. til done with clear. This way there is no backtracking or overloading in any area.
I did a special thread with step by step pics on priming, sanding, painting,clear coating, taping, 2-3 colors, making your own decals and applying them. It's a darn shame that was lost to Rocketry Planets demise. I can't reproduce it here cause all those pics were on a different computer that crashed & burned.
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I have painted rockets COMPLETELY in as few as 4hrs. from raw to clear coated, 3 colors. taped off for lines, all with Rusto paints. Sanded between coats [wet is how you beat that one]
Here's a quick rundown on how I did it in 45-50 degree weather to boot. But I painted in the Sun ! How you beat the low temps.
Shot light coat primer over fillets. Spot puttied flaws.
waited 15 minutes, wet-sanded...fogged another coat, just enough to see any flaws.
spot puttied again, sanded again.... dry sanding would have loaded paper.
Fog coated entire rocket [3in Wildman] painting vertically once around, then hit it again. [about 1hr has gone by.] lightly sanded.
Taped off fin tips and area to be painted flour orange later, covered with paper [10 min.]
Shot metallic blue on lower fincan, 3 coats [15 minutes] waited 15 for paint to be dry to touch.
Removed paper, but left tape line over the white primer. [this will become a stripe later]
Reversed paper to cover painted blue areas and shot flour. orange on everything else,including fin tips! another 1hour has gone by.
Now I have to wait about half hour, the orange will pull up if ya don't, it's a soft finish.
I carefully run a razor around the paint/tape lines so it pulls up clean.
I now have a blue fincan ...white primer stripe between that and the orange part of fincan, all the upper stuff is orange too. Even have nice 1/4 white primer pinstripes between blue fins and orange tips!.
Immediately spray 2 fog coats of clear, as soon as they tack up, hit it with 2 heavy coats & I'm done in 4-4.5 hrs...... Clear turns white primer stripes into gloss finish white stripes.
Well almost...I lied...forgot about the black on NC tip. I did that the next day. lol
Here is said rocket ready for the Xmas photo's opps for website. All decals were cut out of sheet goods, from Michel's and hand applied.
Yes I forgot the quick link, but some digging and it lived to fly another day. I still have it...My favorite all time rocket....chopped.. dropped Wildman 3 only weighs 6.5lbs and will spank any other!
So yes... waiting for paint to dry is NOT always needed & yes this was the new formulations in paint.
