I know that nobody else will, so I will put in a good word for new formula Krylon. What can I say? It works for me. It sprays and coats very evenly and smoothly, and it doesn't blush as easily as the old stuff did. I used the old formula, too, and I did like it, but I thought that it was actually a little bit fussier (in some ways) to apply. I used to get coarse, gritty coats much more often with the old stuff. Of course the new formulation can also be fussy, too, in other ways, such as with recoat times. But I have looked around, and ALL of the other brands that everyone is recommending as alternatives to the new Krylon have recoat times that are even more restrictive. If you miss the "fresh" recoat window of one hour, you have to wait until the next day (24 hours) to add another coat of new Krylon. With Walmart Colorplace paint, on the other hand, you have to wait 3 DAYS before you can apply another coat. With Rustoleum, it is 2 days. Believe me, I have looked, and I can't find any general use spray paint anymore that allows you to recoat any time, like the old Krylon did. The only kinds that still have that feature are the special lacquer formulations of some brands, but they only seem to come in gloss black or gloss white.

BTW, it is useless to recommend that someone use old formula Krylon now, because the stuff is virtually all gone. It is like saying, yeah, this is what you need, but sorry, you're out of luck, so you might as well forget about ever doing any painting. Like it or not, we are all going to need to get used to what is being produced now, and adapt our painting techniques accordingly. Old formula Krylon is not coming back, no matter how much anyone whines or complains.

As for primers, I do like Krylon white primer for general use. Unlike their color paints, the formula for their primers (white and gray, at least) did not change - it is exactly the same stuff, and you can still recoat with it anytime. I have used both Plasti-Kote and Duplicolor filling primers, and while both are very good, I give the slight edge to Duplicolor. Both brands are rather expensive, and a can of either does not last long, but that just seems to be the nature of filling primers. Toward the end of last year's painting season I also gave Valspar white primer a try on a few models. Unlike the others, this one does not seem to be lacquer based, but is more like enamel. It takes a long time to dry, but when it does, it leaves a very hard, very smooth base that is not at all "chalky." My models looked like they had been painted with gloss or semigloss white, and I had to double check the can to make sure that I had indeed used primer. So Valspar shows promise, but using it will take some patience, because it takes much longer than the others to fully dry. A lot of people like Kilz, but I have not tried it yet. Kilz really seems to be meant for interior walls, as a base for latex paints; that is what the label says, at least. The fact that you won't find it in the spray paint section of the store, but rather, in the interior wall paint section, is another clue about its intended use.

As for Testor's spray paints, the really great thing about them is the colors that they have. But that is about it as far as the positives go. They are quite expensive, they don't spray as well and are harder to apply, they have a much greater tendency to run, and as enamels rather than acrylics, they take forever to dry. I have not been very impressed with them, IOW. But man, the colors are great!

Like others have said, these are all just personal opinions, of course. Everyone has their own preferences. Try a few different brands in order to develop your own. One thing that has often been said in past threads on this subject (and there have been many), is that the brand matters less than how it is applied. IOW, you have to develop good spray paint technique, and tailor it to the brand that you like to use, in order to get the best results.

MarkII

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SAM # 0011

Don't speak/preach of what you don't know. Old Krylon white and black is still available as well as many of the colors. It is marketed under the "Industrial" name. Krylon can tell you several locations you can get it from. I just bought a dozen cans of gloss white, which I use under the Tamiya paints, from Grainger and am going to pick up several more cans for other modelers next week.

http://www.kpg-industrial.com/produ...exterior_paint/

http://www.globalindustrial.com/gcs....web#gridAnchor

http://www.utilitysafeguard.com/Kry...ylic-Enamel_32/

Leave the Testors/Model Masters enamel on the shelf and use their lacquer paints. Dries fast, looks great. I'm partial to their Italian Red....if I haven't mentioned it before.

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I love sanding.

Really? Have you compared it to Tamiya? DOES it compare? I'm always looking at that stuff on the shelf, but have never tried it. Please tell!

I've never used Tamiya. I was just comparing the drying time of Testors enamel vs. lacquer.

As for my comment on the Testors/Model Masters Italian Red, It is a beautiful bright red that puts the more commonly used Krylon Banner Red to shame. It's also lacquer and dries nice and fast compared to any of the enamels I've used.

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I love sanding.

Yup Rokitflite is correct.

I bought 5 cans of white and 1 can of black of the "old" Krylon paint from Grainger for my Saturn V. I had to say I was a business, so Marks Models was born. I ordered on a Monday and UPS delivered it on Tuesday.

I have the gloss white base coat on the SV, and it was a pleasure to use a good paint again.

Every rocket I have painted with the new krylon paint has had issues with wrinkling. I follow the instructions but it still happens. I am getting sick and tired of sanding and repainting. I was considering getting my airbrush out of storage before I read on the boardsthat Grainger still sold the old formula.

This place sells by the can and has more colors available, but they only picture the metallic gold... You gotta read the description to figure out the color...

http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/GSDRV...000000088871514

Oh and... You need to type "krylon" in for the search...

+1 for the Testors Lacquer...it is probably the BEST rattle can paint one can buy for rockets.
Testors Enamel is decent too, but has a long drying time

The Testors sprays result in a really high-quality finish, albeit at a HIGH price/volume delivered.

The "new" Krylon stinks compared to the old.

Rust Oleum is good and has a good value for cost/amount of product delivered and is available in a fairly wide range of colors, but not even 25% of the colors offered by Testors.

Color Place is not bad, but the color range offered is smaller than Rust Oleum and the product is not as good.

Out of all the choices listed above, I still prefer to shoot "old fashioned" color Aero Gloss dope out of my Airbrush when I want the BEST finish, although I HATE cleaning that thing.

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When in doubt, WHACK the GAS and DITCH the brake !!!

Yes, there is such a thing as NORMAL, if you have to ask what is "NORMAL" , you probably aren't !
Failure may not be an OPTION, but it is ALWAYS a POSSIBILITY.
ALL systems are GO for MAYHEM, CHAOS, and HAVOC !

Oh yeah! I had forgotten about the new Krylon wrinkling! When we painted her Goblin, I sanded it down and reprimered three times before we gave up. We even tried not-primering to see if there was a problem. But it only made it worse.

But I really don't need 6 cans (per case) of the same color. For now, I'll stick with the cheap stuff that works. After a few launches in this nice weather my rockets aren't so sharp looking anyway...

Here's a direct link to the Krylon® (5-Ball) Interior-Exterior Paint page on MSC that Scott referenced. I had posted this in the "Is this the Old Formula Krylon?" thread a couple of weeks ago but you probably missed it .....

They do actually still sell this as I have picked it up at one of the MSC locations near my office.

http://tinyurl.com/amkgs2

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Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

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