I’m about to paint the frame for my ‘29 highboy. I ordered some acrylic enamel from TCP Global, mid-sixties Corvette Daytona Blue metallic. I have a Model A hood that came with my coupe that I’m not going to use and it already has been stripped and primed with light gray DTM primer. I thought it would make for a good color test to be sure that I like the color. The temperature was in the high 60s, clear skies, average humidity although it had rained a little the day before. The hood was not primed with high build and I didn’t apply sealer like I plan to when I shoot the frame. It was just a color test. I mixed the components per the info on the TCP website. I applied it with my Turbine system and the gun that came with it using the 1.3 tip. I put on three coats using different directions so that the metallic would lay out evenly. Looking at the photos you can see thousands of tiny spots that appeared a few hours into the drying time - that’s not metallic, it’s on the surface. Any ideas?
have you ever used the turbine system before? The one time i used one it seemed to heat the air up and cause it to flash much faster than normal. That being said it, looks just like the way my first time using the turbine paint system looked...like some of the paint had dried in the air, and gave it a rough granular looking finish. Never used the turbine crap again, and went back to spray guns and my compressor, and have never had another issue with it.
What speed catalyst did you use? Turbines produce hot air which is not good for painting. If you have a short hose from the turbine to the gun that heat gets transferred to the paint. The paint probably dried before it had time to lay flat and off gas so you ended up with a sever case of solvent pop or it just sprayed very dry giving a granular texture.
@bchctybob A slower drying thinner, and maybe a little more thinner, may cure that problem. think of it as tuning a carburetor mixture…… Ray
Had that very effect on a solid color with that acrylic enamel paint. I also used a gloss hardener provided by TCP. I was able to color sand 90% of it out and buff. Looked great! It gave it a perfect effect that was far from a basecoat and clearcoat. The pic was right after paint. I too didn’t notice it until it setup.
The tiny spots appeared after it sat for a couple hours, initially it looked great. I used the hardener that was recommended by the gentleman on the phone when I ordered the paint, I told him that the temperature would be high eighties-low nineties because I had planned on painting it in the early summer. Our summer was 100+ so the temperature is just now getting back to habitable.
It is solvent pop then. Did you tell him you were using a turbine? Again the air you are spraying the paint with is hot with a turbine so it speeds up the dry time of the paint immensely. The surface started curing before the solvents were able to escape so they pushed though the top already curing surface of your paint and left thousands of tiny bubbles.
it looks like solvent pop. Top layer dried before releasing the solvents of the fist coats. Sometimes caused by to short of flash time between coats. The turbine systems work fine, but you have to adjust the mixture for them. Slower reducer and a little over reduced And there is no easy fix, going to have to sand it down and respray. Wet sanding will only cut open the bubbles and leave thousands of little white spots
Nothing to add that the fine gents above have already told you BUT a bit of advice. Wet sand down and keep practicing on that hood until you get happy with the results. I've seen guys go thru similar problems then feel the have the problem figured out and then go ahead and paint the car only to find out the problem still existed and ended up redoing the whole car again only after finding the true problem. Good luck !!
Thanks guys, that sounds like it. I didn't mention the turbine when I bought the paint. Truth is I wasn't going to use the turbine but my main compressor finally gave up the ghost and I haven't been able to replace it yet. I have three more hood panels to experiment on so I'll take the advice; slower reducer, more flash time and I think I'll use my long hose, maybe it'll give the air time to cool a little. BTW, my color test was fruitful, I'm not in love with the color. I'm going to try another dark metallic blue found on mid-nineties GM trucks if I can find the code. I'm shooting for an early sixties vibe so I chose an early sixties color. It seems a little too subdued. It may be just what the car needs but I'm going to try something with just a little more pizazz. Thanks a bunch.
To get a proper color test you will have to duplicate exactly how you plan to apply the color,use the same color sealer or primer you will have under it.It is hard to get a "60s" vibe from the newer colors as they all use pearls not so much metallics anymore,but the pearl will make it pop in the sun.
Very true. I’m building a tribute to the Sam Conrad roadster and my research showed that they used ‘63 Buick Diplomat Blue so that is what I ordered. It’s basically just a dark metallic blue, the metallic being very fine. I did this before with another car and another color, staying true to the period and truthfully, I didn’t care for the color and I eventually sold the car. I really liked the car and would have kept it if it was a different color. I’m not going to make that mistake with my roadster. I need to find a color that I’m more happy with. I sprayed my test blue over the same prep/primer that is currently on my frame to get an accurate test. Many of the new car colors are attractive but just don’t look right on a ‘30s body style. Knowing that it may take a few tries to find the right color. When we painted my mild custom T-bird a few years ago we tried six different greens and three different clears trying to get the color I wanted. It was definitely worth the effort.
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