Duplicolor Paint Shop?

Anyone use this stuff? Sure makes it sound easy.

I have a Toyota hood and fender from the junk yard to replace the really, really bad replacement panels. The fender may have had a bit of a run in with a Hoosier, and unlike many of these stories, the Hoosier won. Yeah. Tin foil.

Not looking for a car show paint job, but would like it to look decent. I bought a HF HVLP gun and will use the old panels to practice on. Probably won't actually paint 'till spring. Hope to do the little bit of body work over the winter. This Paint Shop stuff sounds like it was aimed right at someone like me. Curious to hear any real-life experience.

Take care,

Ed

I dunno, but a good buddy just painted his Jeep CJ project with it (Gloss White), looks great. I'm looking into it for the Javelin...

I'm considering white, or one of the two metallic grays. I thought the white might be easier since it's not metallic.

I had to look it up

http://www.duplicolor.com/products/psFinishSystem/

I've seen this stuff used on the regular car shows on TV where they promote it heavily and it looks like orange peel in a can. I've wondered about using it too, but it's lacquer.

How is it different than any other lacquer?

Seems ok, but being a lacquer, you can't spill any solvents (such as brake cleaner) on it or it will come right off. Enamels hold up much better and are just as cheap.

I used this stuff (Trinity Acrylic Enamel) on my dirt track car this spring, and it worked awesome. Shot easy, laid down without orange peel out of my cheap purple HF HVLP, and stood up pretty well to getting chunks of clay shot at it every week from the back tires of another car.

http://www.paintforcars.com/acrylic_enamel_paint.html

You can even get the kit with hardener, reducer, stirrers, and strainers for about another $20.

http://www.paintforcars.com/enamel_paint_kits.html

Looks like the advantage of the Duplicolor stuff is that it's ready-to-spray right out of the can. For a novice like me, that's a nice feature.

Acrylic enamel is super easy to mix though, just get a paint mixing cup from lowesdepot. 8 oz paint, 2 oz reducer, 1 oz hardener, stir, pour in gun, shoot.

i've bought some to do my F-250 with it.

then the engine let go.

Tom_Spangler wrote: Looks like the advantage of the Duplicolor stuff is that it's ready-to-spray right out of the can. For a novice like me, that's a nice feature.

And being lacquer, anybody can have a nice finish, no matter how dry or orange peely your application is.

or runny! don't forget runny.

which stinks less? so that my neighbors don't complain....

alfadriver wrote: which stinks less? so that my neighbors don't complain....

Related: which is less dangerous to use? If I don't have to put on a respirator to spray it, that's an advantage, as well.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

You should use a respirator for anything you spray. And they both stink, it's just a different stink.

Thanks for the info so far. It sounds like someone like me, who knows nothing about this stuff, would do well to do what I kinda thought all along- go to a decent paint store and get some advice from someone who knows. The lack of durability with any solvent spillage could be an issue on a car like Tom Celica.

Dinger, that car looks fantastic!

I was attracted to the idea of not having to mix anything, but as is often the case, sounds like it's "easier" in the long run to learn to do the simple job than to avoid it.

While we're on the topic, am I right that a non-metallic paint will be a lot easier than a metallic?

fast_eddie_72 wrote: While we're on the topic, am I right that a non-metallic paint will be a lot easier than a metallic?

You bet! Failing to get the flakes floating good in the paint and tiger striping are two big negative points with metallics.

In reply to Ranger50:

Although metallic is much easier when using two stage paint, as you can spray the color on dryer than you can with a single stage.

I was thinking about painting a car, and now I realize I have a ton o' research to do.

Brett_Murphy wrote: I was thinking about painting a car, and now I realize I have a ton o' research to do.

Yes you do. And a word of caution, paint technology and environmetal requirements change constantly. I have some "how to paint a car" books that I bought year ago that are now laughable.

Brett_Murphy wrote: I was thinking about painting a car, and now I realize I have a ton o' research to do.

Yeah, every time I look into it, I think the same thing. I don't think it's "hard" really, just have to know enough to do it right. There's an auto paint supply shop close to my neighborhood. I went in once and asked them for some good compound to polish my MR2. They were super helpful. I'm pretty sure they can set me down the right path. I don't really need to understand how it all works, so long as I walk out with the right stuff and have the steps figured out.

Not to mention the wealth of knowledge here and folks who are willing to share it. I never could have done the stuff I've done with cars in the days before the internet.

Tom Celica isn't "fast" yet, but I figured out some things since Nationals this year. Next year I'll be faster, and I'd like to get the car looking nice. I've been researching vinyl repair too, so I can get the interior looking it's best. Even I can see how silly it is, but I love that car. I really, really want to trophy at Nationals in it. I think I've covered about half the ground to that goal since September. Rear suspension work will take another good bite out of it.

That's assuming FSP doesn't become an old VW with 16 valve engine spec class before next year. I'm glad they realize that the class needs some attention (man, there weren't many folks this year). I just hope my window of opportunity for this car hasn't already passed.

I also used the trinity paint to do my rx-7 a couple years back. No problems mixing it all up since, as mentioned, I just got some paint cups from Lowes and went to town, but using an entry-level DeVilbiss gun from Eastwood instead of the patented Harbor Freight paint hammer. My result was orange-peel-a-rama, so I think it's more about skill than the paint...

The trinity stuff looks great in the spots that I had it thick enough to wet sand smooth. It was a metallic that went on with no tiger stripes or anything like that. Just lots and lots of orange peel.

I found this. Kid looks like he's 11 and he has a backward cap on, but he sure seems to know his stuff. Goes through the causes of orang peel. I felt like I understood it a little better after I watched.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkrToVGXLPY

I looked at the video and it was helpful. When I painted my car, all I had was books and no experience. This was before all the cars shows like American Hotrod, Musclecar etc so i was pretty much on my own. One day the paint would just flow out perfectly and the next it was orange peel city. I pretty much attributed it to temp, humidity, ignorance and stupidity.

Its a great feeling when you paint something and it looks good.