Large Scale Central

Rattle Cans

General Discussion
#1

A week ago , I used a fresh rattle can of Satin Black to coat a model .

Today , I needed to put an undercoat of black on a Tender prior to spraying the required finish .

I started off by grabbing last week’s rattle can , and as is my habit , I sprayed a test piece first .

Good job I did , it was “gritty” . That was the reason for testing first , I have found this with part used cans before .

It seems to happen with most rattle cans (except Games Workshop and Tamiya) . The reason for trying to use it as an undercoat is the cost of the the Games Workshop and Tamiya paints ; you get what you pay for I suppose .

It doesn’t happen every time , I can’t even pin down a particular make , but be advised , a quick test spray beats completely stripping back to etch primer and beyond .

Mike Brit

#2

Good warning Mike.

#3

So, after cleaning out the nozzle with the test spray, was the next spray satisfactory?

#4

A possibility is that the first time you used the paint, you disturbed the ratio of solvent to pigment, due to incomplete mixing and settling, resulting in a different finish.

#5

Steve , it wasn’t just a nozzle clean , it was a spray of about a square foot .

Todd , you could be right , but I always use my can the same way .

Seriously , they get a good rattling and then are kept at room temp , as is the model to be sprayed . I have been doing the same for many years , so has my Son . We both have found that

a) test spraying is essential .

b) getting the paint and the model to the same temp is advantageous . (no paint bloom) .

We had a paint manufacturer locally who could not explain it , but they managed to reproduce the symptoms and were at a loss to explain , except to say that it appeared that the paint in suspension had started to dry , and were looking for electrostatic effects causing clumping .

So we just keep testing and avoid the occasional problem .

Mike Brit