Banned from my bench: Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear gloss coat. I am done with this stuff. It has ruined fine paint jobs on multiple rockets now and I should have stopped at the first. This is even after getting suggestions on using it from my neighbor who is a professional paint man for Sherwin-Williams. This time, it demolished the paint job on the nose cone of my Mega Der Red Max. It went on fine for most of the nose cone but oddly, on one 2" wide stripe, it completely wrinkled the black paint underneath as if there were some chemical in the can that happened to come out when I made that one "swipe" with the can down the nose cone. It also did that in small "spots" in a few others areas of the cone. I tested a sand-down of the wrinkles and as it turns out, it can only be repaired by completely sanding down the nose cone through the primer and down to the plastic. Bye bye decals as well. Fortunately I did not have any of the "wrinkling" problems on the body but it went on uneven in spots and wouldn't "even out" with subsequent coats. Many more problems with this stuff than I care to mention. It looks absolutely gorgeous when it works right. Too often for me, it doesn't.

This one just hit me hard. I worked very hard on this MDRM - my first mid-power rocket. To see that happen right at the end is just a punch in the gut. I was in a foul mood all last night. Paint fail has caused me more grief over the years than just about anything else except maybe for seeing my old Estes Colossus nose dive into a cotton field because I thought I would be "smart" and avoiding severe wind drift on recovery by sticking a D11-9 in it. I am OCD enough to want paint and decals near-perfect and even so, small imperfections bother me. It is something I need to get over for sure - lifelong project there haha. Ok done with complaining, time to move forward with paint repairs.

I am not willing at this point to sand down the MDRM's rocket body and lose all of the decals on it. The body doesn't look very good up close and feels very "rough" in areas from overspray but it looks good at 10' and I'll just chalk it up to experience and go start learning how to fly mid-power and enjoy it (working on that OCD problem!). Losing the decals on the nose cone isn't too bad because neither the mini nor the original had nose cone decals so I have found a way to be ok with that.

I guess now I am going to try a foam brush and Future floor polish. Does anyone have suggestions on how to successfully coat a rocket in this stuff? Sounds like foam brush + thin coat is key but if you can offer up any "particulars" I would love to hear them.

Thanks!

Curtis

ALL Clear-Coats from Krylon are almost as 'hot' as Clear Dope. DO NOT use it on any basecoats other than DOPE. It will RUIN virtually ALL other finishes. If you want a Clear-Coat that is safe over virtually anything, get Testor's Glosscote or Dullcote. Yep, it's expensive but is a very special 'non hot solvent package' lacquer that has Ethyl Acetate as the primary solvent, which will NOT dissolve virtually any enamel basecoat.

Future sucks. PERIOD.

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When I use future I use a thin coat and a foam brush just like you said. I bought a couple hundred of them at Michaels when they were on sale for 5 cents each. Just toss 'em after each use.

I have a couple of motor casing sized tubes mounted on a sticks so I can spin the model and turn it upside down and rightside up until it dries.

Another lesson learned the hard way. If the Future "sticks" the nose cone to the tube don't try to twist it off, work it back and forth until it breaks loose

I spray Pledge (new name for old Future) unaltered from an airbrush. Spray isn't the right word. 'Hose' is much more accurate. I spray it on so heavy that all the excess runs off to the lowest point and drips away. Hang your nose cone upside down after you are done 'shooting' and let the Pledge run or drip off the point.
After spraying the rocket body down ( I spray a lot starting at the top of the BT and work down to the fins), let it sit on a stand and just let the Pledge flow to the lowest points of the fins, then just touch the droplets as they form. Decals sometimes will try to bead up the Pledge when I first spray, but I keep the airbrush spraying, just hosing the area down. The material is so thin, it levels nicely and evens as it spreads towards the fin low points.

I totally disagree with GH on the Pledge thing. Here, he does not know what he is talking about.
I use it on ALL of my rockets and model airplanes (for the decals, then use Testors Flat clear for the Camo jobs). GH is right about the Testors and Pactra Clears, though.
These Red Max pics are of one I built for a friend of mine. Christine had to send me a new decal for the top of the BT 'cause I messed mine up putting it on (the usual fantastic service from her and Estes). It was a nice build.
I had to download these off my phone, so their quality isn't super.

And I have fallen in love with this new (to me) Rustoleum "Painters Touch" paint, too!
Apple Red on the Max.
See for yourself...

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Krylon ANYTHING is banned from my house. It's called "Krylon" because it makes you "Kry".

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I remember Johnny Bench used to do commercials for Krylon "No runs, drips or errors." From what I have read on this forum about Krylon, there are plenty of runs, drips and errors!

Mostly I agree. When Krylon changed their formula a few years back, the product went almost completely to Hell. Almost.

While shopping at the Peterson AFB Exchange, I came across Krylon ultra-flat camouflage colors. Since I build a lot of military subjects, this seemed to be right up my alley (plus, you get a LOT of paint for a low price, as compared to Testor's). I actually like those paints a lot. They dry FAST (great for us impatient types) and look pretty cool. They come in a couple of shades of green and a couple of shades of brown. I also use Krylon primer, as it sticks well, covers well, and sands easily. And again it's pretty cheap.

Those are the ONLY Krylon products I could recommend to anybody.

I love the finish pledge with future shine gives, especially when working with larger rockets it is just so easy to use. I use it straight with a foam brush. I hang the nose cone upside down and the body fins down. Than working from the top down just brush it on heavy and keep moving around and down to the bottom. As drips form on the bottom edges or tip of the nosecone dab them with a piece of paper towel to let them bleed into it . After about twenty minutes the drips will stop. Small air bubbles will dissappear as it dries. A couple hours to fully dry and your done.

Do let your paint cure for a week or so before putting on the future. I tend to rush to clear coating too soon and have had the clear form 'cracks' in it. I think this was the fault of not letting glossy paint fully cure first.

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This what ive learned about finishing rockets...not that my way is correct, but this is what ive learned to this point....
Ive had no problem with Kryon paint, providing that im not loooking for a SUPER glossy finish......i have painted rockets with Krylon and they look fine as long as i do NOT use Krylon clear.

If i want a glossy finish, i use standard Rustoleum spray paint...if i put another color or clearcoat the rocket, i wait AT LEAST 48 HOURS before i apply paint or clear...after 48 or more hours i scuff the rocket with #400 wet/dry, then shoot it. The result that ive had is some very decent paint jobs for someone of my VERY average skills.. ive had zero problems with Rustoleum clear attacking ANY decals to this point.

I have painted and cleared several r/c model race boats with Imron Automotive spray paint over the years, and i cant believe that Rustoleum rattlecan spray paint looks nearly as good as an automotive type paint finish.....and as i said, my painting skills are AT BEST merely average!

Oh, and i did want to mention that i did use Testors model gloss clearcoat over a Krylon paint job, and it worked fine....BUT the Testors clear is EXPENSIVE!!Like 5 + dollars for a TINY little can!!

I'm with you Bill. I've learned to love Rustoleum. It looks fantastic. It can clog a bit (I keep spare spray nozzles just in case), and it dries VERY slowly - but man does it ever shine!