Thinning dulcote

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A

AllenB

Member
I sprayed my undecorated shells molded in black with acrylic Floquil B&O blue. Thinned it with water almost 50/50. Turned out great! Sprayed with gloss coat, applied decals, then mixed my dulcote with water again close to 50/50, applied with airbrush and the color quickly went almost to black! It didn't run or streak mind you, just changed color! I'm so ticked. What did I do wrong? Mixture was too thin on either or both the paint and dulcote? Not sure why this happened.
:mad::mad:
 
As far as I know dullcoat is a laquer. ( I don't use or like acrylics so if there is an acrylic dullcoat I wouldn't know of it ) If that is what you were using it should only be thinned with laquer thinner. I've found Testors thinner for their Metal Master line of paints works the best. Laquers will also eat through other paints and attack most plastics if applied too wet so the trick is several light dust coats at first and let them dry overnight before a final wetter coat if you think it needs it.

Sounds like you had a chemical reaction between 2 or more types of paint and if that is what happened then the laquer will always win out and attack the undercoats.
 
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The stuff I'm using is from Microscale. It says to thin with either thinner or water. Since I'm using acrylic paints for the color (exact B&O color) I thinned with water. :confused:
 


I would use thinner. I have never heard of a product that you can use either or. That's kinda wierd.
 
quadk said:
Huh.......I have some of that and have never used it. I probably never will either. I'm sticking to Testor's and Floquil.
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Yeah, now I'm starting to have my doubts. I'm using their decals and for the life of me cannot get the haze out, even though I've used their prep stuff. Here is what I'm talking about though. The GP on the left is sprayed with Floquil B&O blue. GP on the right is the same with a spray of Microscale gloss coat. It's turned it almost a black color. Same thing happened when I applied the decals and sprayed a coat of their Dull on it. I guess I may have to search for another decal manufacturer and use testors dull coat.

:confused::confused::confused:
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I don't know what to tell ya other than I have never used there flat. I have used numerous Microscale decals and never had a probem. When I do there decals I spray whatever with Testors Gloss-Cote, put the decals on and use Walthers Solva-Set over the decals. Then when dry spray with either Testors Dull-Cote or Floquil Flat. I have never used it but others swear by using Future floor polish for there gloss coat before the decals. I guess I just have never had a reason to try Future.
 
i've had problems with the Testors Gloss-Cote:mad:
i sprayed the perfect black job for a NS unit smooth dust free
i let it dry for a week untill i had time to work on it again.
sprayed the Testors Gloss-Cote in 3 coats and when it dryed
it had a gritty finish to it:mad: i need a new gloss
 
I have issues with Dullcoat and weathering powders. I put he powders on and they look great the use the dullcoat to seal it and the weathering power all but disappears.
 


Im not planning to use Testors for dullcote. Not after I found out that Krylon makes makes the same product in a much bigger can for the same price and works exactly the same. They call it something like flat clear or gloss clear or semi gloss clear. Which ever type of finish you are after.

I would be willing to bet it is the exact same stuff in 2 different cans with a different label.
 
AllenB said:
I sprayed my undecorated shells molded in black with acrylic Floquil B&O blue. Thinned it with water almost 50/50. Turned out great! Sprayed with gloss coat, applied decals, then mixed my dulcote with water again close to 50/50, applied with airbrush and the color quickly went almost to black! It didn't run or streak mind you, just changed color! I'm so ticked. What did I do wrong? Mixture was too thin on either or both the paint and dulcote? Not sure why this happened.
:mad::mad:
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And the cause of the confusion is:

Dullcote is a product name used by Testors, and is a lacquer based product as mentioned above. You can't thin it with water, and if you try, you'll find that out right away. :D The Microscale flat finish is water based.

Not sure what you did, as i don't spray much water based stuff.
 
bigford said:
i've had problems with the Testors Gloss-Cote:mad:
i sprayed the perfect black job for a NS unit smooth dust free
i let it dry for a week untill i had time to work on it again.
sprayed the Testors Gloss-Cote in 3 coats and when it dryed
it had a gritty finish to it:mad: i need a new gloss
Click to expand...

Try Floquil's Crystal-Cote. It's never let me down
 
gfetters said:
I have issues with Dullcoat and weathering powders. I put he powders on and they look great the use the dullcoat to seal it and the weathering power all but disappears.
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This is the nature of the beast with powders. The air blasts them right off, and you have to do multiple layers. Try Bragdon's Weathering Powders. They have an adhesive in them, so when you scrub them into the surface of the model, they stick better. You'll still lose some, but not as much, and you still have to start with a flat finish.
 
Thin Dull-Cote with Laquer thinner..... 50/50 and spray it at about 15psi....very thin cotes. It is Laquer based.....adding water will create sludge and clog your airbrush. It will be dry in 10 minutes for handling. I also use Floquil Flat Finish thinned with paint thinner.
 
Also keep in mind that anytime you buy a "model railroad paint" in spray cans, you pay three times as much as you do when you buy the same paint in bottles and spray thru an airbrush.

Testor's gloss and dull coat can be thinned with xylol or tuolol as easily as with laquer thinner.

Ask Alan, (Espeefan). He'll confirm this.
 
Espeefan said:
And the cause of the confusion is:

Dullcote is a product name used by Testors, and is a lacquer based product as mentioned above. You can't thin it with water, and if you try, you'll find that out right away. :D The Microscale flat finish is water based.

Not sure what you did, as i don't spray much water based stuff.
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Sorry...I meant laquer thinnner. I think the problem is that I didn't let the original paint dry long enough. I also think I thinned the dulcote out too much. I tried it again letting the paint dry for a couple of days and no issues.
 
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