Lacquer or enamel paint

[brennant]

Hello everyone! I am wondering, what is the best type of paint for altitude, lacquer or enamel? Also, I am not concerned about spending 20+ hours polishing with either kind of paint.

 

[rharshberger]

Whatever you can get a polished finish on, lacquer is easier to apply but a catalyzed poly auto paint would probably be harder and polish out better.

 

[Nathan]

I don't think either lacquer or enamel is going to make any difference in altitude. I almost always use lacquer mostly because lacquer dries much faster than enamel. Lacquer is dry as soon as the solvents evaporate while enamel has to cure. Lacquer is completely dry in hours; enamel takes days or even weeks to fully cure. In my experience, enamel can be polished to a high gloss even without clearcoat but getting a high gloss finish with lacquer requires clearcoat. When painting with lacquer I always finish with 4 or 5 coats of clear lacquer, then wetsand and polish the clearcoat.

This Minie-Magg was painted with Duplicolor Engine Enamel and has no clear coat.


This Upscale Onyx was painted with Duplicolor Paint Shop Lacquer and has several coats of Duplicolor clear lacquer.

 

[jimzcatz]

" Lacquer is completely dry in hours; enamel takes days or even weeks to fully cure. "

I take issue with this statement. I use automotive enamels exclusively. I am able to wet sand and apply second coat within an hour of first coat. Able to cover in blankets for transportation without fuzzies next morning.

 

[Grog6]

Catalyzed paint is an epoxy, so naturally it's harder. It lasts 20+ years on cars.

 

[Nathan]

" Lacquer is completely dry in hours; enamel takes days or even weeks to fully cure. "

I take issue with this statement. I use automotive enamels exclusively. I am able to wet sand and apply second coat within an hour of first coat. Able to cover in blankets for transportation without fuzzies next morning.

I have had a waffle pattern from a blanket imprinted on a rocket more than a week after it was painted with enamel, because the paint had still not fully hardened.

You may be referring to catalyzed urethane enamel which is the only kind of paint that has been used on new cars for decades. I don't use catalyzed urethane enamel because it can only be sprayed safely with a full body suit and a fresh air system. I wear gloves and a full face mask with organic vapor cartridges, but that's not enough.

 

[jimzcatz]

Nason acrylic enamels. Yes, I use a hardener but I have never had any issues with rattle can enamels? But that's me

 

[brennant]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Is duplicolor really the only good option for lacquer paint or are there other options?

 

[Nathan]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Is duplicolor really the only good option for lacquer paint or are there other options?

I use either Duplicolor lacquer or Restoration Shop lacquer. Restoration Shop lacquer is sold by tcpglobal and is not available in rattlecans. The main reason that I switched from Duplicolor to Restoration Shop lacquer is that there is a very limited selection of colors from Duplicolor.

 

[Grog6]

I use sign painters paint; it's got really good uv resistance.
https://www.amazon.com/sign-painters-one-shot/s?k=sign+painters+one+shot

 

[heada]

Find your local paint store. No, not a big box store like Lowes or HomeDepot. Look for PPG paints or Sherman Williams or a real paint store like that. They'll have higher quality paint and a much better selection. You'll pay more for it though.

If you have a HVLP setup, they can create custom lacquer colors for you.

 

[John Kemker]

You can also go to NAPA and ask about their paints. They can be expensive (inventoried one line of paints at a NAPA that was over $600/gal) but some can be more affordable. They do carry Duplicolor, but remember, DC is primarily intended for touching up factory paint jobs, that's why it's called DUPLIcolor, as it DUPLIcates factory tints.

Most NAPAs carry Martin Senour as their main line of paints.

I have not tested any of their paints, so cannot comment on quality, etc.

 

[Grog6]

I use a lot of krylon; there's a whole rainbow at my walmart.
They all look black at altitude anyway.
When you see the dot with 3 lines, and it's getting bigger, that means RUN!

 

[Banzai88]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Is duplicolor really the only good option for lacquer paint or are there other options?

Montana Gold. Artist lacquer in dozens of colors in a high end rattle can. Single coat coverage, 1 can is enough for 2 coats on a 4 inch 6 foot rocket. Easy to apply, easy to repair, and especially nice if you use Max2K clear.

https://www.montana-cans.com/
https://www.dickblick.com/products/montana-gold-acrylic-professional-spray-paints/

 

[brennant]

Montana Gold. Artist lacquer in dozens of colors in a high end rattle can. Single coat coverage, 1 can is enough for 2 coats on a 4 inch 6 foot rocket. Easy to apply, easy to repair, and especially nice if you use Max2K clear.

Is there any other clear coat that you recommend for those spray paints? The Max2K clear looks pretty expendive.

 

[Banzai88]

Is there any other clear coat that you recommend for those spray paints? The Max2K clear looks pretty expendive.

Since Montana Gold is lacquer, you can put any lacquer or enamel clear over it. Max2K is automotive grade poly.

 

[Bill S]

I can say that the Montana Black line is not suitable for rockets, in my opinion. Goes on thick, dries with a texture. I also tried some "Lac" paint from Australia, same thing, textured paint. Ugh.

 

[icyclops]

I use a lot of krylon; there's a whole rainbow at my walmart.
They all look black at altitude anyway.
When you see the dot with 3 lines, and it's getting bigger, that means RUN!

Very true
Krylon paints work very well especially if you apply it in many thin coats….looks like glass then. I think people get so excited to finish and lose patience and try and put enamels on too thick. Which can cause problems down the line when the applying a clearcoat. Cool paint jobs are made for short distance viewing for sure….can’t really see at altitude anyway is a very good point

 

[Grog6]

Somewhere down the years I inherited someone's testor's paint sets; I have a half dozen paintsets in cigar boxes Some are marked 19Cents and 25 cents, lol.

 

[Philip Tiberius D.]

I can say that the Montana Black line is not suitable for rockets, in my opinion. Goes on thick, dries with a texture. I also tried some "Lac" paint from Australia, same thing, textured paint. Ugh.

I bought 2 cans of one of their Reds for a “Rat Rod Rocket” made from a 4” LOC Goblin and I agree thick and texture. In the end it looks good but had to do a lot of sanding.

 

[Bill S]

I'm actually going to try some Traxxas R/C car paint for polycarbonate, because they have some gorgeous florescent colors. I have not been able to find out if the paint is lacquer, enamel, or something else, so its a total crapshoot. I need to replace my Estes Vapor rocket, done up in a medium-dark purple, and frankly a florescent purple would look very nice if I can pull it off.

 

[Philip Tiberius D.]

I have read (on here) that some members use fingernail paint with a airbrush - tons of great colors there and I see them on close out for pennies.

 

[afadeev]

I use a lot of krylon; there's a whole rainbow at my walmart.
They all look black at altitude anyway.

Just saw this paint comparison review.
Results include weathering testing after a year of UV exposure, flaking from impact damage (new and after a year), scratch resistance, etc.
They did not test on rockets, but still somewhat informative:

 

[Helly]

Hello everyone! I am wondering, what is the best type of paint for altitude, lacquer or enamel? Also, I am not concerned about spending 20+ hours polishing with either kind of paint.

The difference between enamel and lacquer paints lies in their solvents. While enamel paints make use of spirits, there is lacquer to serve the purpose of the thinner, in lacquer paints. Lacquer paints soften over a period of time, whereas enamel paints remain hard for a long time.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Hello everyone! I am wondering, what is the best type of paint for altitude, lacquer or enamel? Also, I am not concerned about spending 20+ hours polishing with either kind of paint.

Rattle can or spray gun application?

 

[brennant]

Hello! It is surprising but appreciated to see new replies after a year to this thread! In the end I decided to eventually move to Montana Gold paint. Unfortunately, I do not own a paint sprayer. I would be interested to know what kind of spray paint you use.

 

[Hobie1dog]

Hello! It is surprising but appreciated to see new replies after a year to this thread! In the end I decided to eventually move to Montana Gold paint. Unfortunately, I do not own a paint sprayer. I would be interested to know what kind of spray paint you use.

Fortunately the last 4 rockets were sprayed with automotive paint at my son-in-laws body shop.

but that's the last ones as I am going to switch over to the Duplicolor lacquer paints sold at the automotive stores, the "Paint Shop" series. It's difficult to get good results with rattle cans.

 

[Off Grid Gecko]

In my limited experience enamel tends to pool and self-level while laquer sticks to the surface as is. Enamel is a quick one-and done solution once the surface is prepped. Spray it on, and if you like cover with a couple layers of clearcoat, go fly.

The current bird I'm painting is laquer, there's an extra flattening step if you want a smoother finish, but when you are sanding with 600grit to flatten paint or clearcoat layers it goes much faster than the regular bodywork involved with smoothing and taking care of spirals. I hand-sand on paint and don't bother with the block. Just want that last coat of clear to be smoother.

 

[Helly]

Hello everyone! I am wondering, what is the best type of paint for altitude, lacquer or enamel? Also, I am not concerned about spending 20+ hours polishing with either kind of paint.

clear enamel is more durable than lacquer. Another distinction is that clear enamel is a topcoat. You can't mix it into the paint as you can with lacquer. The important tip is that I have learned about thinning enamel paint from multiple resources before painting and polishing.

As per my experience, A lacquer paint is clear coating that, when dried, produces a solid, durable finish. It is designed to be chip-resistant, waterproof, and breathable. Lacquers can be applied to a variety of surfaces such as wood and metal and they come in a range of colours, as well as clear finishes.

 

[bjphoenix]

The problem with paint is that people keep tinkering with the formulas for various reasons. Many years ago I had good luck with Krylon, then not too long ago I had good luck with Rustoleum. Now I don't know what to use.

I'm not someone to worry a lot about paint jobs, after all the rockets get banged around in the car, banged around during recovery, etc. But I would like to be confident that I could get consistently good results. Another problem I have is when I spray one kind of paint over another they might not be compatible. I have an old rocket that I built I think almost 50 years ago. I painted it all white back then, intending to come up with a more interesting paint scheme sometime later. Well a few years ago I decided to repaint it, I couldn't find any spray paint that wouldn't react with the white underneath even though the white underneath was 50 years old.

Many years ago my father owned an auto body shop, this was somewhat before the EPA got involved in paint regulations. The less expensive way to paint a car was with acrylic enamel, and before my time they used enamel. Both of these took some time to dry and were not typically sanded, you had to put it on wet enough to get it to flow and not look dry or orange peeled. The more expensive way to paint a car used lacquer. That stuff would typically orange peel but it dried fast so it was always wet sanded and polished.

I've noticed that some plastic modelers use acrylic paint these days and airbrush it. It doesn't give a glossy finish so they topcoat with some kind of floor wax. I have a compressor so I'm considering buying a low priced spray gun to experiment with.