Will high humidity cause paint finish to 'dull?

[Speedfreak]

I'm painting spoon outside with Dupli-color 'Perfect Match' (on my front porch) and everything is right with what I'm doing, (I think) but , the wet coats are turning dull after they start to set up, and, dry that way. The only thing I can think of that might be causing this is that the 'relative humidity' is about 65-70%, the humidity is 47%. This same thing happened a couple of days ago. Just want to know if humidity can cause this effect. Thanks.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Speedfreak

[Cato]

Yes it will. You're trapping moisture under paint.

Let it gas-out a couple of days and sand with 1200 to 3600 and reshoot on dryer days.

[Snake45]

It definitely CAN cause this effect. And I've had Dupli-Color look just as you describe shortly after painting (didn't make any particular note of humidity) but the stuff rubbed out just fine, very shiny.

[StevenGuthmiller]

The Duplicolor paint does that just about every time I use it. Whether it's the middle of summer, or the dead of winter. The humidity levels are in nearly "negative" territory in January in Minnesota & it still does it for me. Luckily, I use Testors clears over it & it shines it right up. Steve

[Speedfreak]

Ok, thanks you guys. It's beautiful paint Bahama Blue Metallic, so I can't wait to see it shine. I've been having some good luck with painting as of late so I thought it had to be the humidity. Man, once the sun goes down that humidity comes on like a herd of wild horses! lol

Wow, Steven, that's not what I wanted to hear! You're not kidding are you? I had Tamiya do the same thing a couple of days ago and it never does that when I use it.

I forgot to mention that I'm just painting on spoons, so , no big deal, just a learning experience.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Speedfreak

[StevenGuthmiller]

Ok, thanks you guys. It's beautiful paint Bahama Blue Metallic, so I can't wait to see it shine. I've been having some good luck with painting as of late so I thought it had to be the humidity. Man, once the sun goes down that humidity comes on like a herd of wild horses! lol

Wow, Steven, that's not what I wanted to hear! You're not kidding are you?

I wouldn't worry about it too much Gene. I usually don't polish metallic paints directly without a clear coat for fear of "smearing" the metal flakes, (not sure what the correct term would be) but I'm sure that the clouding will polish out just fine. I've just never tried it. The dewpoints can be in the 70s for a good portion of the summer here, & pretty much non-existant in the winter when it's 30 below, & I still get that clouding most of the time with Duplicolor. I think it has more to do with the formulation of the paint than the humidity. I use a lot of MCW lacquers as well, shot through an airbrush, & I never have that problem with it. Steve

[Speedfreak]

Thanks Steven, are you painting outside with the Dupli-Color?

[StevenGuthmiller]

Thanks Steven, are you painting outside with the Dupli-Color?

No. I paint inside. Which is another reason I think Humidity may not play a huge role in the problem. My shop is air conditioned in the summer & heated in the winter. Nice dry forced air heat. So dry in fact, I nearly electrocute myself all winter long everytime I touch a light switch! Steve

[Ace-Garageguy]

Duplicolor green. Shot outside. Approximately 60% humidity, 85 degrees F, in the late afternoon. No clear, no polishing, just exactly as shot. This is what I usually get from Duplicolor.

[MsDano85gt]

I want to say it may have to do with types of primers and plastics...... if i paint with duplicolor directly on the styrene it fogs really bad many times.... when i use promer first it lessens the effect If the particular color of duplicolor chosen fogs slightly i just clear over it and it comes out perfect and shiney!! could it be because it may be a "Hot" paint so to say?

[ChrisPflug]

For me it seems to depend on how heavy the coat as well and seems worse with dark metallic- always seems to polish right out though

[Snake45]

This is Duplicolor, from the can, had "frosty" appearance shortly after shooting. Rubbed out direct, no clear coat.

[ChrisPflug]

This one was almost completely clouded- no clear just polished out and no real noticable distortion to the metal flake

[Speedfreak]

When you guys say 'polish out' do you mean just using the polish (polish, not wax) in a polishing kit, or , do you mean going through the whole polishing routine with abrasive polishing clothes etc?

Edited October 1, 2014 by Speedfreak

[ChrisPflug]

I use the polishing cloths then wax- the grit I start with depends on how smooth the paint surface is- orange peel requires a little coarser start

Just using a polish should remove the cloudiness but wont make a "rough" surface glassy smooth like sanding

[Speedfreak]

Bill, to get the finish you got in the photo are you using Dupli-color primer? And, are you starting with any mist coats, or , are you pretty much shooting wet coats?

Chris, I'm not having, (well at least most of the time, lol) a problem with the surface being rough, it's very smooth, so I could get the cloudy effect out with just polish? I've never done, and , have this incredible fear of using the polishing clothes. I need to paint a practice body and then jump in that way, or , better yet do it with thes spoon that is the basis for this thread..

Edited October 1, 2014 by Speedfreak

[Snake45]

On this one, and others where I only need a "light polish" on a smooth metallic paint, I polished directly with Weiman's Silver Cream, available at Walmart. Good stuff!

On solid colors or where I've use a clearcoat, I found I can save a LOT of polishing time by knocking down orange peel with #1000, #1500,and/or #2000 3M Wetordry sandpaper (available at most auto parts stores), followed by the Weiman's. I've never owned any specialty polishing cloths or polishing "kits" and feel no need to.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Every body will have their own technique for painting & polishing. You pretty much have to take what you hear & develop your own. Whatever works for you. Personally I use clear coats & "Micro-Mesh" polishing pads, starting with the lightest grit possible. Then finish with "Novus" liquid polishes. Steve

[Speedfreak]

That's cool that you've found an alternative to the pre-packaged polishing kits Snake. I have one of the older, hard to find, LMG polishing kits, which I've never used. Looks like I'll be using it soon.

[ChrisPflug]

Just polishing with a compound or polish can leave a slight "waviness" to the paint even if it seems fairly smooth- all depends on how smooth the paint lays down and that seems to vary from paint job to paint job

The smoother the paint the less work to make it smooth and shiny of course

The less sanding and/or polishing the less chance of burning through the paint especially around edges

Search the internet and there are people repainting 1:1 vehicles in their driveways with rollers then spending lots of time and effort sanding to make it look like a "normal" paint job

Edited October 1, 2014 by ChrisPflug

[Snake45]

Just polishing with a compound or polish can leave a slight "waviness" to the paint even if it seems fairly smooth- all depends on how smooth the paint lays down and that seems to vary from paint job to paint job

The smoother the paint the less work to make it smooth and shiny of course

Agree completely. Every paint job is a law unto itself, and all you can do is work from your own experience (and that of others whom you trust). I've learned that SOME metallic colors in the Model Master (enamel) line can be polished directly, while others will change colors and get "blotchy" if you try to rub them out.

Once you've learned how, it's not that difficult (just a certain amount of careful work) to get a very high gloss, "show car shine" on a model. Lately I've been trying in some cases to get more of a factory finish. If you really look at a factory paint job, no matter how shiny it is, it will have a certain amount of orange peel or "eggshell" effect in the surface. I've been working on trying to get something that approaches that effect on a model. What I've been doing is going for as smooth a finish as possible on the final color coat, and then just lightly polishing that to a good shine. Those who don't understand what I'm doing would probably consider such a finish "second rate paint" but it's actually what I'm going for in some cases.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Agree completely. Every paint job is a law unto itself, and all you can do is work from your own experience (and that of others whom you trust). I've learned that SOME metallic colors in the Model Master (enamel) line can be polished directly, while others will change colors and get "blotchy" if you try to rub them out.

Once you've learned how, it's not that difficult (just a certain amount of careful work) to get a very high gloss, "show car shine" on a model. Lately I've been trying in some cases to get more of a factory finish. If you really look at a factory paint job, no matter how shiny it is, it will have a certain amount of orange peel or "eggshell" effect in the surface. I've been working on trying to get something that approaches that effect on a model. What I've been doing is going for as smooth a finish as possible on the final color coat, and then just lightly polishing that to a good shine. Those who don't understand what I'm doing would probably consider such a finish "second rate paint" but it's actually what I'm going for in some cases.

I understand what you're trying to do there. If you look at most cars, you'll see some orange peel in the paint. The only problem is, just like everything else when you're working with 1/25th scale, Is scale. How to keep you're orange peel in scale..... You don't want your "bumps" to be the actual size of oranges. Steve

[Bernard Kron]

I live in the Pacific Northwest which must rate up there in terms of hostile environments for painting model cars outdoors. While it never freezes, except for about 8-10 weeks in the summer months when the weather is ideally warm and dry, we have relatively high humidity and cool temperatures and extremely frequent and lengthy bouts of drizzle and rain. Yechhhh!!!!

Anyway, I shoot Dupli-Color paints a lot and am quite happy with them. In the winter time it's necessary for me to pre-heat the paint by warming the can in hot water. This helps eliminate some of the blushing. I'm also careful to get the model indoors immediately into a heated environment. This also helps. In the summer months when conditions are warm and dry I can get perfectly smooth and even applications with a high initial gloss, just as shown by Bill above. But in the winter, despite all my efforts blushing is always a threat. Fortunately, I have found that Dupli-Color paints dry hard and respond to color sanding and polishing very well. I have tried various clears and keep returning to Krylon Crystal Clear Gloss which does not blush, even in the winter time. But I still heat the can to get good flow and set up.