Problem: Alclad II Lacquer Gray Primer and Microfiller

[Dukat, S.G.]

All,

I've used Alclad's gray primer with almost magical results for months now. The stuff usually went on idiot-proof: no thinning required, incredibly smooth finish and, since I spray it at ~15 PSI, a bottle lasts forever.

... That is, until my last bottle ran out. I bought a new one and have struggled with it mightily.

Part of the problem seems to be thickness, but I'm not sure. When I bought the bottle, I made sure to mix the thick stuff at the bottom of the bottle very thoroughly.

I tried thinning my last application with a little lacquer thinner ... the paint still came out rather grainy and, sometimes, splattered out of the airbrush.

Does it sound like the paint's still far too thick? If so, will regular old lacquer thinner do a good enough job thinning it out?

[tetsujin]

Hm, don't know how much help I can be but I'll take a crack at it...

I'm assuming this is hardware store lacquer thinner... that stuff can be pretty harsh, so I usually reserve it for cleanup rather than thinning paints. I don't know if Alclad has their own thinner - if not maybe you should try Mr. Color thinner...

[Dukat, S.G.]

Hm, don't know how much help I can be but I'll take a crack at it...

I'm assuming this is hardware store lacquer thinner... that stuff can be pretty harsh, so I usually reserve it for cleanup rather than thinning paints. I don't know if Alclad has their own thinner - if not maybe you should try Mr. Color thinner...

*nods* It is indeed a hardware store-type thinner. I usually only use it for clean-up myself, but you make a good point: a hobby thinner's a good idea. (Alclad does have their own thinner, IIRC; I've just never bought any because, up 'til this bottle of primer at least, I didn't need to thin any of their colors.)

[Dukat, S.G.]

Quick update:

I tried mixing a little Alclad gray 50/50 with regular lacquer thinner, mostly as an experiment. I wanted to see if it'd craze bare plastic but, most of all, I wanted to be sure my problem was due to overly-thick paint.

I was right. The thinned Alclad went on beautifully and, surprisingly enough, even though the stuff is VERY hot, it didn't hurt plastic this time.

I'm gonna see if I can find a milder lacquer thinner per your advice, Tetsujin. My favorite hobby shop doesn't carry Mr. Color Thinner (though it does have Mr. Dissolved Putty and a host of other neat GS goodies), unfortunately; and it seems I'm wrong about Alclad offering its own thinner. If they do, my 'shop doesn't carry it -- just some airbrush cleaner. I might pick up a bottle sometime, but for the time being I'll just [carefully] use the hardware store thinner.

[starmanmm]

Late on this... maybe you can use the airbrush cleaner as a thinner?

How have you made out so far on this??

[Dukat, S.G.]

Late on this... maybe you can use the airbrush cleaner as a thinner?

How have you made out so far on this??

I've not tried the airbrush cleaner as a thinner yet, but I might.

I'll say this, though: mixing the Alclad II gray primer roughly 50/50 with good ole' Home Depot lacquer thinner recaptured the magic of old I enjoyed with Alclad primer. I sprayed on AMT plastic, heavily sanded no less; and surprisingly, that plastic wasn't damaged at all.

I would like to get a friendlier/less hot lacquer thinner but, to date, I think I've solved the problem. We'll see how it does when I tackle my JT Graphics parts-enhanced AMT K'T'inga