Hello all, I am glad I found this site, looks like some active forums here. My questions are about paints. Can acrylic clears go over enamels spray paint, or do you have to use enamel clear and primer first? I went to a meijer store but they only had testors laquer clear, but the decals I have said not to use that. I went to road race replicas site because those guys defintiely know what they are doing and in thier FAQ they said they put acrylic crystal clear, which did work one my test junker but when I put it on another car I enamel sprayed it instantly krinkled up, big bummer. I was all done and now *#@%*!!! I found some cool old decals from the 60's I think, and customized a JL roadrunner with some light blue enamel spray paint (no primer) and roadrunner decals as shown in my pics, I took a pic of the decals by my test junker and the roadrunner before I totally messed it up. Any tips or links to any painting tips sites would be much appreciated, thanks, Jim

Welcome, Jimmy!
I've had good luck spraying several light coats of Krylon Chrystal clear acrylic, but I emphasize light coats. I did have some very tiny waterslides like a roof drivers name diffuse slightly when I put it on too heavy. 4 or 5 light coats to seal em up then a normal coat worked. Test it to see if ya like it.

Later --- Circle Track DAC

I always use Duplicolor acrylic enamel clear for autos. I have had great sucess with it. Like was said before, use light mist coats to seal in the decal. What happens when you lay on the clear heavy the driers in the clear literally melt the decal.When dusting a car for clear it looks like it is very dull at first but the more coats the shinier it gets.Let dry between coats is a plus and a must. I have used Krylon and Duplicolor and found both to work great. Time and patients make great jobs.
Happy Painting

Gear Buster

Hello all, I am glad I found this site, looks like some active forums here. My questions are about paints. Can acrylic clears go over enamels spray paint, or do you have to use enamel clear and primer first? I went to a meijer store but they only had testors laquer clear, but the decals I have said not to use that. I went to road race replicas site because those guys defintiely know what they are doing and in thier FAQ they said they put acrylic crystal clear, which did work one my test junker but when I put it on another car I enamel sprayed it instantly krinkled up, big bummer. I was all done and now *#@%*!!! I found some cool old decals from the 60's I think, and customized a JL roadrunner with some light blue enamel spray paint (no primer) and roadrunner decals as shown in my pics, I took a pic of the decals by my test junker and the roadrunner before I totally messed it up. Any tips or links to any painting tips sites would be much appreciated, thanks, Jim

hi, umm try this link that i gave you. its for diecast but i used it for slot cars. i think this website is really helpful.

http://www.hotworldcustoms.com/

Wes

Hello all, I am glad I found this site, looks like some active forums here. My questions are about paints. Can acrylic clears go over enamels spray paint, or do you have to use enamel clear and primer first? I went to a meijer store but they only had testors laquer clear, but the decals I have said not to use that. I went to road race replicas site because those guys defintiely know what they are doing and in thier FAQ they said they put acrylic crystal clear, which did work one my test junker but when I put it on another car I enamel sprayed it instantly krinkled up, big bummer. I was all done and now *#@%*!!! I found some cool old decals from the 60's I think, and customized a JL roadrunner with some light blue enamel spray paint (no primer) and roadrunner decals as shown in my pics, I took a pic of the decals by my test junker and the roadrunner before I totally messed it up. Any tips or links to any painting tips sites would be much appreciated, thanks, Jim

Hello Jimmy
Clear coat can be real tricky :(
Try to use the same brands of spraypaints just because it says its enamel doesn't mean it will mix, too many other chemicals... Keytones.
The only safe alternative is to use Future Floor Finish for clearcoat it dries pretty fast, seals your decals down, is real shiny, non-yellowing and cheap you get enough for $5.00 to clearcoat hundreds of HO cars.

Jimmy,

I ran into this problem as well. What I started to avoid screwing up my decals was to clearcoat the body without the decals. Making sure I maintained compatibilty with the paints and clearcoat as stated in earlier posts. Once the clearcoat cured, I would add the decals. Once the decals set up for a day, I would dip in Future (two-three coats depending on level of gloss). This has worked great for me and I haven't wasted any decals since. Plus I still get a high gloss vehicle finish.

:thumbsup: rr

Hey, great tips and learned a few things from the link, thanks. I never heard this future floor polish tip, I wonder what made somebody think of that, I have some at home, will try it on another junker.
I tried to put a light coat of the clear coat on it but when I looked at it in the light it looked bumpy and uneven and I thought that more coats would just magnify the uneveness and bumps, so I tried to do it in one even coat. I just got done soaking it in some super clean and I will try again and hopefully not mess it up, I only have a few sets of the decals. One tip I can give is when repainting old junker t-jet bodies I learned that castrol super clean works nice to disolve the old glue on windshields and other stuff glued on, learned this after noticing you cant just grind off the little flattened top of the post or peg windshields are mounted on under JL bodies. I could use a few JL roadrunner acme stock cars bodies and may soon in swap and sell post a pic of bodies I will trade 1 to 1 for. Jimmy

I use future floor wax before the decals to guarentee a smooyh surface [even hides light orange peel [ bumps]] then again after decals. The more coats the shinier.

Hello-

Anything I could add has already been covered above, but I’m curious as to which type of Super-clean you are referring to- :confused:

I sent the wife to the parts shop this morn’ and she picked up the wheel cleaner, but noticed Castrol has a few different cleaners. The have degreaser and upholstery cleaner. Did she purchase the right stuff? :confused:


I’m really looking forward to giving it a go! :)



Cheers..

Hey boss9, the stuff I use to strip enamel sprayed cars is Castrol Super Clean in a purple spray bottle, it says its a degreaser on the bottle, it does not seem to work on acrylics, I have cleaned up many old painted bodies with it, also has taken off JL tampos( I think thats what they're called), I put a JL ford fairlane in some and it came out without the numbers but didnt hurt the factory paint, test on a junker first. I put some in an old coffee cup drop in the body and the next day its clean, and I have used the same old super clean in the cup to do a few cars, just pull one car out and drop another in. Jimmy

Ahh..

It’s the degreaser.
Well, I can tell you that the wheel cleaner doesn’t work. I put some in a jar with an old T-jet Stang’ convertible and let it sit overnight. Although the stripes on the boot disappeared, the windshield is still tight.

I’ll pick-up some degreaser tomorrow.

Trust the wife to go for bread and if there’s more than one choice, I’m out to lunch. If I want rye she will inadvertently buys pumpernickel—every time! :rolleyes:

It Has to have something to do with that lawmaker “Murphy”. :freak:



Thank you for the clarification, Jimmy! :)



Cheers..