Krylon Acryli-Quik

[SolarYellow]

Gets discussed in a lot of other threads, but I thought maybe we could have one thread to collect thoughts about it, experiences and questions and answers.

This is the stuff:
https://www.krylon.com/en/industrial/products/mro-aerosols/acryli-quik-acrylic-lacquer
Available at many industrial supply houses such as Zoro, Grainger, and whatever Google finds for you.

I've just finished (I think) painting my first rocket with it, and I like it so far. Goes on the way I remember spray paint going on when I was a kid - even better. Smooth and super-resistant to runs or drips.

One thing, I used red, and although very red and very smooth, it isn't as glossy as I expected once dry. Did I do something wrong? Does it need more drying? Does it need a coat of the Acryli-Quik "Crystal Clear" to be shiny?

 

[Banzai88]

Acrylic lacquers are usually dull and need a clear, usually one that's buffed after many, many layers and some wet sanding, especially when sticking with the same chemistry for the top coat.

It is also soft when compared to enamel.

I've been using Montana acrylic lacquer for years now, I expect that this is probably similar. Montana has the advantage of having a whole host of diggerent spray nozzles available, too.

As to clear, never found anything better than Max2K, but it has it's own issues with use.

 

[Initiator001]

The "Acryli-Quik" Krylon is basically the original version of the paint.

The Krylon you can buy in stores is now an different formulation to conform with various laws and regulations.

I buy it by the case from several of these industrial supply mail-order places.
I use the grey sandable primer and gloss white the most. A few other colors I have bought by the case.
Of course, when you only need one can you start looking for ways to use the rest of the paint.

 

[SolarYellow]

I did my initial order of several colors from Zoro, but they were OOS on gloss white and greens. Grainger has them, but the shipping is kinda steep so I'm not going to order it just to have it - will wait until I specifically need it.

I picked up some Createx opaque white; will airbrush it when I use it. Whole rabbit hole to go down there.

As a recent BAR, I'm still in the mode of trying a lot of things to see what works and figure out what I want to be my SOP/methods.

 

[astronwolf]

Would that "Acryli-Quik" paint was easier to obtain. I've been to several Fastenal stores and all I found were colors that I don't want. They'd sell me the more popular colors if I bought a whole case of spray paint. I'd be happy if I could just get gloss white if that was all I could get.

I've been painting small model rockets with a foam brush and the acrylic craft paint that one can find at Walmart. It's not so bad. Good enough sitting on the pad from 10-feet away. Masking is easier, and it dries faster. But the brushed on surface finish is IMHO too rough if you want to put on decals. So I'm back to running outside for 30-seconds of spraying in the cold and running back inside. Some rockets get the hybrid treatment - spray primer, white gloss, and then hand painted little things, like a nose cone and a fin.

 

[lakeroadster]

Gets discussed in a lot of other threads, but I thought maybe we could have one thread to collect thoughts about it, experiences and questions and answers.

This is the stuff:
https://www.krylon.com/en/industrial/products/mro-aerosols/acryli-quik-acrylic-lacquer
Available at many industrial supply houses such as Zoro, Grainger, and whatever Google finds for you.

I've just finished (I think) painting my first rocket with it, and I like it so far. Goes on the way I remember spray paint going on when I was a kid - even better. Smooth and super-resistant to runs or drips.

One thing, I used red, and although very red and very smooth, it isn't as glossy as I expected once dry. Did I do something wrong? Does it need more drying? Does it need a coat of the Acryli-Quik "Crystal Clear" to be shiny?

Post up some photo's...

 

[neil_w]

Zoro.com has a decent selection of the Acryli-Quik in stock, $10-$12 bucks a can, free shipping over $50.

I would like to try the stuff but only if I could reasonably buy it locally, and as far as I can tell I cannot.

 

[Bruiser]

I get mine from Grainger but they are 80 miles away and they don't stock them. I have to order them a few days ahead of a planned trip so they have time to come in. It's a pain but I do like them.

-Bob

 

[dpower]

<sigh> I miss old Krylon. I’m just about out of white, so will have to order a case.

 

[SCIGS30]

Search my builds, Acryli-Quik is all I use.

 

[SolarYellow]

Zoro.com has a decent selection of the Acryli-Quik in stock, $10-$12 bucks a can, free shipping over $50.

I would like to try the stuff but only if I could reasonably buy it locally, and as far as I can tell I cannot.

If you get on Zoro's mailing list, they frequently send emails with a 20% off everything code. Also, several colors of Acryli-Quik are on sale right now and the discount applies to the sale price. Makes it about the same as Rusto at Home Depot. Might do another bulk order. Unfortunately, they are backordered on several SKUs.

 

[SolarYellow]

Figured out today that Zoro.com counts sales tax toward the $50 minimum order total to get free shipping. Nice!
--------------------------------------------------
Anyway, more technical content:

I just sprayed my first color coat on a rocket. Fack!!!

Fortunately, just one fin. Got the primer all 400 gritted and ready to go on the whole rocket. Masked off a perimeter around the fin fillet, just to reduce the amount of overspray weight and sanding that has to be done. Will blend the edge by sanding when it's dry before hitting the next step. So the fin is white. Brand new can of Acryli-Quik gloss white. Went on with one wet coat over the AQ white primer. Looked great. Wetted out perfectly smooth and glossy. Awesome!

As it dried, the gloss went away. Completely. It's flat white, not gloss. When I left it, it had dried to the touch and is still perfectly smooth, like amazingly smooth for a rattle can job, but it's just a "white hole" in your field of vision. No specular highlights at any angle.

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/plasti-kote-sandable-primer-problem.98674/#post-1107419
So, it rained today. I'm painting indoors, in an air conditioned environment, in an automotive spray booth. Still, apparently, if the discussion in the linked thread is the reason for the flatting, waaaay too humid.

Was hoping to fly this one this weekend, but that's apparently not going to happen. Dangit.

Fortunately, the white fin is opposite the launch lug, so a tiny bit of extra weight from hitting it again once things dry out isn't going to be a problem. But I probably need to hang up the AQ cans for the rest of this week and wait for a cold front.

 

[neil_w]

Why not just hot it with gloss clear?

I have heard that the Acrylic-quick is not particularly glossy even under the best of circumstances.

 

[SolarYellow]

AQ is not super glossy, but this white was all the way flat. Zero gloss.

I tried again at lunch today. Sprayed a piece of trash with the main BT color and it dried nice and shiny, so I hit the white fin again. About three hours later, it was dry enough to feather the edges with 400 grit. While the BT color was still normally shiny, the white fin had just a patch of blush in the middle of the fin, more on the side that was facing up than the one that was facing down. It was nice and glossy around all the edges and on the perimeter out on the body tube. I found the paint was still soft enough to buff out the blush with my clean cotton t-shirt, and it's now as shiny as normal. Nice, convenient save when it's caught soon enough and isn't too severe.

Tomorrow is forecast to be wind from a direction that's usually dryer, so I'll mask the fins and hit it with the main body tube color at lunch. Peak temps, minimum RH for the day. Hopefully, it will dry enough to feather the masked edges and hit the other two fins by mid-afternoon.

 

[SolarYellow]

Body tube color came out awesome. Then...ugh.

Got go fever to get it ready for this weekend's launch. Applied masking before the body tube color was far enough along. Used a plastic grocery bag for masking. When I peeled everything off, the blue ink printed on the grocery bag had been dissolved by the solvents remaining in the paint, and now there are blue spots on the orange body tube. Also, the masking tape left some surface roughness behind. So overall, I get the dumbass award today.

Not quite to start-over stage yet. I'm going to let it dry thoroughly, wet sand with 600 to get the blue off, apply the stickers, and then gloss-clear it with the currently available replacement for Future. (I forget what it's called ATM.)

I used Rusto Pro Aluminum paint on the nose cone and one fin. It sucks. Spit random big drops on the nose cone, ran on the fin. Won't be using it again on anything I care about.

The Tamiya 2mm masking tape was awesome, though. My first time with it. Very happy with putting it down, taking it off, and the edges it left.

 

[SolarYellow]

Has anyone used the Acryli-Quik gloss clear?

https://www.zoro.com/krylon-industrial-spray-paint-crystal-clear-gloss-12-oz-k01301a07/i/G0742837/

Just wondering if it's any glossier than the regular colored cans. I'm thinking about masking and painting a roll pattern, and would like to kind of lock down and uniform the color transitions.

 

[SolarYellow]

Application-specific question:

If I'm cloning a Fat Boy or Mini Fat Boy, would I want to use the Acryli-Quick Banner Red or Cherry Red? The Banner Red is a fairly deep, fairly blue red already. The Cherry Red looks a lot bluer in the online colors I can see, almost edging toward maroon, but I'm confident all the digitization of colors makes them nearly worthless as an indication.

The factory Fat Boy color is pretty dark and pretty blue, again edging in the direction of maroon. Seems like a match for Cherry Red. Just wondering if anyone has specific knowledge.

Thanks.