Paint issues on my LOC 4" IRIS

[conneryc]

So I'm to the paint stage in building my LOC 4" IRIS. Finished the white base color on the body tubes (Rust-Oleum) with no issue. They came out so smooth and shiny that they look like plastic or old Quantum tubes. Put a couple of coats of white on the fin can from the same can...no issues. Got home from the office yesterday and went to add the final coat to the fin can. The can I had been using was almost empty, so I grabbed the next can of identical paint, shook it up and added the final coat. It went down looking perfect. Came back out to the shop about an hour later and found that the paint had wrinkled in several spots

So now I have to send it all down and start over. I'm hoping that I can get rid of the wrinkles with some 60 grit, smooth it out with some 220 and then wet sand again with 600. Unless someone has a better method to remove the wrinkles?

 

[Seatechnerd83]

wrinkles are usually caused by not waiting for the layer of paint underneath to dry enough, i had that problem once without having to change cans. Rus-Oleum paint, (especially the gloss paints) usually take 48hrs to completely dry enough that you have a 0% chance of wrinklage, but the gloss enamel can take up to a week to cure.

 

[conneryc]

wrinkles are usually caused by not waiting for the layer of paint underneath to dry enough, i had that problem once without having to change cans. Rus-Oleum paint, (especially the gloss paints) usually take 48hrs to completely dry enough that you have a 0% chance of wrinklage, but the gloss enamel can take up to a week to cure.

I don't disagree with that, but on the body tubes I did a dust coat and 3 heavy coats all in the space of of about 6 hours and had no issues. All with the same can. First dust coat and first heavy coat on the fin can was with the same can. The problem occurred when I added the 2nd heavy coat on the fin can with a new can of the same gloss white. I may have waited too long between coats and the previous coat was cured to the point where the new coat didn't make a good chemical bond. OR there was just something in the 2nd can where the formulation was off or something that made it incompatible with the 1st can. I was just hoping to be able to get the black & red painted after letting the white cure for a week. oh well.

 

[Back_at_it]

How long did you wait between coats?

This time of year it takes several days for some paints to cure. Rustoleum recommends doing all of your coats in 1 hour. In the cold weather (under about 75F) that window can grow. I'm not surprised that you didn't have issues with repeated coats over the course of 6 hrs. If it's colder where you live the paint had not begun to cure. The opposite happens in summer. Your window can reduce down to 30 mins. or less. I try to do all of my coats no more than 10 mins apart.

If you waited a day or two, the paint was still curing so the next coat wrinkled. With the exception of Duplicolor paint, I let all of my paints cure several days before adding additional coats or colors. I find that Krylon cures pretty quick but I still give it a couple of of days. Ace Brand takes forever (3, 4 5 days) to cure but the finish and hardness is better than anything I've seen other than automotive paint so I put up with it. Duplicolor you can recoat at anytime and I can normally do multicolor paint jobs same day.

I won't repeat my feelings on Rustoleum products here as it upsets some people but that right there might have been the problem. And NO, there isn't some magical technique to using their products. Wait a week or more, light sand previous coat, Shake the can two or three minutes and you should be more than good to go.

 

[KenECoyote]

@teeponoted he's had more issues with Rustoleum white and I'd have to agree that it seems to be the case for me as well with the gloss white.

 

[Handeman]

What does the instructions on the can say? I have some paint that says recoat within 4 hour or after 5 days. They all seem to be different, but following the instructions almost always works. I've learned the wrinkled paint way too. Especially when mixing brands of paint.

 

[conneryc]

Yes, I think my issue was waiting 24 hours between the last two coats on the fin can. I should have put the final coat on the night before like I had down with the body tubes earlier in the day, or waited several more days before the final coat.

Thank you for everyone's comments. Normally I use Duplicolor,but I was out and just picked up the Rustolieum while I was at Wallyworld.

 

[ep29030]

I abandoned Rustoleum several years ago after the formulations changed. I also found I was throwing out about half my cans due to nozzle issues I couldn't resolve. I've switched to Duplicolor for everything rattle can. Getting a paint station set up with a small booth so I can do alot more airbrushing. Gives you more control and paint choices and the ability to do water-based paints.

 

[conneryc]

I abandoned Rustoleum several years ago after the formulations changed. I also found I was throwing out about half my cans due to nozzle issues I couldn't resolve. I've switched to Duplicolor for everything rattle can. Getting a paint station set up with a small booth so I can do alot more airbrushing. Gives you more control and paint choices and the ability to do water-based paints.

I still had a can of Duplicolor high-build primer leftover and that's what I used to start with. Couldn't find any more so I finished out with the Rustoleum primer. Big difference. The Duplicolor sanded very nicely and didn't clog up the paper.....not the case with the Rustoleum. Of course I forgot about checking the local auto parts stores for Duplicolor. Won't make that mistake again.

 

[dpower]

Rustoleum works fine for me as long as I do the initial coats in 1 hour (and not one minute longer), then wait 48 hours for any subsequent coats, per the instructions. I usually wait double that for masking & subsequent colors.

I avoid Rustoleum primer, the Duplicolor stuff is far superior - though it's getting harder to find at auto parts stores around here. 3M Bondo primer is vefy good too, though there's only one HW store by me that carries it.

 

[bobbyg23]

I don't disagree with that, but on the body tubes I did a dust coat and 3 heavy coats all in the space of of about 6 hours and had no issues. All with the same can. First dust coat and first heavy coat on the fin can was with the same can. The problem occurred when I added the 2nd heavy coat on the fin can with a new can of the same gloss white. I may have waited too long between coats and the previous coat was cured to the point where the new coat didn't make a good chemical bond. OR there was just something in the 2nd can where the formulation was off or something that made it incompatible with the 1st can. I was just hoping to be able to get the black & red painted after letting the white cure for a week. oh well.

Waited too long for the last coat. Either do all the coats quickly, or wait a couple of weeks between.

 

[bobbyg23]

Yes, I think my issue was waiting 24 hours between the last two coats on the fin can. I should have put the final coat on the night before like I had down with the body tubes earlier in the day, or waited several more days before the final coat.

Thank you for everyone's comments. Normally I use Duplicolor,but I was out and just picked up the Rustolieum while I was at Wallyworld.

This.

 

[conneryc]

Once I sanded back, re-primed and repainted, I did all of the white coats in about an hour. Dust coat, light coat and then heavy coat. Came out great. Let that cure for a week and then did the red on the fins. I'll wait another week and then start on the black parts.