I found an inexpensive clear coat in satin and gloss (haven't seen a semi-gloss yet ). This is a "NON YELLOWING" formula and is cheaper than the Dupli-Color acrylic clear (gloss only) and available just about anywhere.

Krylon ACRYLIC satin and ACRYLIC gloss !!! Once the Christmas bills are taken care of I will investigate the Krylon matte finish and see how/if that will work for a flat clear coat.

Completed a test panel for the preliminary testing. Panel is painted with Krylon gloss white. Half of the panel is clear coated with the satin, the other half with the gloss clear.

Let the panels dry for 24 hours, then poured 15% nitro fuel on the panel and let it sit for 8 hours.

Everything came out perfect. The fuel wiped off with no softening of either the clear coat or the paint.

Now to stick the panel outside for awhile and see if their "non yellowing formula" is truth or hype.

Sounds very good. Some clear coats on cars are also Acrylics.

Hey Campy,

I see your back to the scientific research again on clear coating. We await your findings.

Good Luck

Ed

This is great news. I have just started using Rustoleum on my last kit. I didn't realize that Krylon was fuel proof also, ( I assume the plane colors).

And its really great to hear about a good clear coat. Is it really glossy, like wet looking ?

Can you repair the finish.

I recently finished a model with an acrylic lacquer top coat. When I went to repair the finish and sprayed on some of the base colour coat it crazed on the edges.

That's great news Campy (So Far)

May I suggest you paint a strip white without any coating to see it side-by-side with the coated areas

It is not a "wet" look, however, it has the equivelant shine to UC/Lustercrap clear

Good idea. It hadn't occured to me to do that.

Did you ensure that the area was thoroughly clean ? Did you go over it with alcohol and CLEAN rags prior to painting ?

While you can put enamel over lacquer (not the other way though ), you really should LIGHTLY MIST the first couple of coats on and let dry between coats. Occasionally the enamel and lacquer do react with each other even though can put enamel over lacquer.

Since you are using a lacquer clear coat, I presume all the paint is lacquer. Lacquer does have certain features that are nice, however, for future repairs, etc, I prefer to stay with either enamel or latex for the complete paint job.

What I do is either use ONLY enamel paint OR ONLY latex paint followed with an acrylic enamel clear coat. I have found that doing this, I have had no problems with repairs/painting.

Hi All......Kinda new here...... so, Rustoleum and Krylon are fuel proof ?

Krylon COLORED paints ARE NOT FUEL PROOF. They must be clear coated.

If a colored paint STATES ON THE CAN it is an ACRYLIC, then there is a good chance it is at least fuel resistant. Before using it on your plane, I strongly suggest doing a test panel and testing the paint's resistance to glow fuel.

SOME of the Rustoleum paints are fuel resistant/proof, but not all of them.

Krylon COLORED paints ARE NOT FUEL PROOF, they must be clear coated.

raw cold nitro fuel will not hurt almost all paints but get hot burnt fuel on it and it will run off like a sick dog,ask me how i know this and i will tell you i tried krylon long time ago and won't do it again without a good clear coat and even then it will sometimes react bad

And some paints will not be fuelproof until they've had time to cure, not just dry to the touch.

Give some paints time to cure and they turn out to be fuelproof. One problem we have with paint advice is that some people report what happened the day after they painted, and others didn't expose the paint to fuel for weeks after painting. And some say "Xbrand" isn't worth spit, while others think it's bulletproof.

Another problem we have is that paint manufacturers may change their contents from batch to batch and the label never changes. And none of the mfg's making home improvement paints have any interest at all in making their paint fuel proof or advertising that.

And some paints actually have special ingredients in them depending on the climate for the sales area.

Paint and it's qualities is a messy topic.

FWIW, there is a line of paint that is not fuelproof..... until you add it's "cross linker" before painting with it and then it is.

It would be very interesting to discover what that cross linker is and if it would work with other brands of similarly based paint.

Home depot Latex primer is garbage to people who expect it to set completly in 2 days.

2 weeks later and we had to use power sanders to get it off.

Time IS important.

I tested some "Acrylic laquer clearcoat" submerged in a jar of 10% fuel several years ago. Never got soft, so I thought it would work fine. Well in acyual use, all the areas subject to hot exhaust fuel got soft.

I've run into that same situation where the hot exhaust did in the fuelproofing of the paint. I wound up covering that area with clear Ultracote. After I'd scraped and sanded and repainted of course. I would have preferred to paint clear epoxy over it, but couldn't find any at that time.

I also found that blue rustoleum matched one of the Ultracote blues almost perfectly. So I sprayed the aluminum gear blue to match the airplane. Two days later the paint was dry and seemed firmly attached. But when mounting the engine, old fuel dripped on it. Nope, it didn't do anything to the paint. But when I wiped the blasted oil off with rubbing alcohol on a paper towel, some of the bloody paint came off too. Lousy adhesion to the aluminum. I'd sanded before painting to remove oxidation etc, so I was ticked. First time I'd ever had a problem with that brand. I figured the plane would look like a garbage truck as soon as I fueled it and flew it. And didn't feel like sanding off the paint. So I covered the blasted gear with clear Ultracote. Worked like a charm. Turns out the airplane was a toy masquerading as a model airplane and lasted a VERY short time. That blue gear lives on however. Best part of the airplane it turns out. Of course, it was originally a retrofit to the junk gear that came in that ARF box.

By all means let's go cheap. I've spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on my last project and now that it's time to paint, I am really looking to save some bucks. Can you tell me where I can get the cheapest "Dupli Color"? Can't wait to get this beast into the sky. the engine alone cost me more than my first car. All this BS about plastic coverings and top coat paints scare me. This thing is so big I can barely get it into my Pinto.

By the way, with all the money I can save on paint I can buy loads of old fuel. Does anyone have some cans of fuel sitting around I can buy for a song? Eight to ten years old will be just fine as long as it matches the color of my Kraft radio.

See you on the contest circuit and watch out.

Glad to see others are getting in to what I did years ago, but no one listened! I use Krylong Automotive, about five bucks a can, AND HAS AN EXCELLENT SPRAY HEAD! I then CLEAR COAT IT WITH MINWAX POLYCRYLIC in the spray can. I tested these years ago with 25%, left standing 24 hours with no problem. I did a rub test after 8 hours, no problem. By then you have cleaned your plane, gone home, have the steak on, and have downed a few! Here is the deal, you must let the paint cure for a couple of days. Then a coat of mist of the poly, cure for a couple of days, one more coat to cover, let cure for a week. Yes, I know, long time. However, you will have a great paint job for about ten bucks that is resistant to just about anything but Godzilla. You have to remember that the poly is plastic. No, for you all that won't take the time to learn this, the poly will not yellow. It will last longer in the sun than you will. Oh, Rustoleum is good, but I think Krylon is a harder paint, the spray head is better than any. OK, NOW YOU CAN HELP ME! I have Air Force numbers for three different shades of gray. Where do I find some matching numbers so I can get the paint mixed at the store? Thanks Tons!

I have used the Minwax Polycrylic. There are a couple of caveats with this.

1. Let the poly dry/cure A MINIMUM of one week before exposing to glow fuel.

2. DO NOT LET THE ENGINE RESIDUE REMAIN ON THE PLANE/FINISH OVER 4 HOURS !!
After about 4 hours, the residue will soften the polycrylic.

a strong version of WB poly is the Varathane Diamond finish its a floor and furniture finish that I have used with great success on my models as well as for work

I still use Model Master paints and then use their dulcote over it. Expensive? Yes, but I do not have to worry about the paint coming off or parts softening. As for the color matching from spray can to bottle type, I have not had a problem at all. Every time I painted or touched up a bird later on the color matched perfectly. Like I said it is not cheap but it is reliable and I am willing to pay for reliability.

OK folks. Brought in the test panels with the Krylon acrylic gloss and acrylic satin on them.

After washing off the dirt, the results are....Drum roll

There was NO NOTICEABLE YELLOWING with either the gloss or satin. I had also put a strip of unprotected Krylon white on the panel just to be sure.

Campy,

Can you use it over Latex