I have a group of buddies that shy away from painting their rust buckets/rat rods with anything other than a rattle can due to the cost of materials (paint, clear coat, hardeners). Most of them have harbor freight hvlp guns and are not afraid to spray. So, I thought I’d try an experiment. The parameters were, the materials must be inexpensive, easy to get, relatively easy to use and have some reasonable durability.

Here’s what I came up with:

1. Primed a panel with Rustoleum auto primer. (“I know, it’s a rattle can. I wanted to keep this step simple”).

2. Shot three coats of Rustoluem enamel reduced with mineral spirits and then catalyzed with Majic Hardener (enamel hardener) . (Ratio 4:3:1). (Rustoleum from Home Depot and the hardener from Tractor supply)

3. Sat the panel in the sun (75-80 degrees) for 3 days.

For a quick and inexpensive rat rod paint job it sufficed. It’s nothing new and a 30 second google search would reveal the same info.

However, I thought I’d take it a step further to see what would happen. On top of the catalyzed Rustoleum I airbrushed some simple graphics using reduced 1 shot enamel. I’ve never airbrushed with 1 shot enamel and was curious as to how it would shoot. It actually sprayed fairly well…usual tip dry using white.

Because the 1 shot was reduced and not catalyzed it’s very weak. I’d like to bury it in a clear coat.

So, here is the question, “what clear coat would you suggest be used to spray over this test panel?” Remember, the 1 shot enamel has been reduced, not catalyzed, and it was sprayed on top of a catalyzed Rustoleum enamel.

Thanks,
Dave

P.S. “Yes, it would have been better to do a base coat, inter coat clear, graphics and then bury it all in a clear coat.”

Old post, but since no one answered, I will throw in my limited knowledge.

Since it is a test - and I have done a LOT of test panels - I would shoot it with whatever clear that I had (Tamco) laying around.

It will either work and you can move on or it will be a POS and then you will know what to sand back to metal and redo it correctly.

All test panels below

OFB, you do some nice work on your panels. You look like you're ready to do a low rider paint job after seeing your practice panels. You could try applying those skills on a pedal car just for fun. It would be interesting to see what you would come up with.

grump wrote:OFB, you do some nice work on your panels. You look like you're ready to do a low rider paint job after seeing your practice panels. You could try applying those skills on a pedal car just for fun. It would be interesting to see what you would come up with.

Thanks, below is the trunk of my Caddy, you could call it a lowrider.
The others are an 18" sub that I built for a good buddy that is a big sports guy.

Learned a whole lot from the guys on this site.

Came here originally because I wanted to do a true Piano Black on the subs that I used to build. Got out of hand quickly.

Apologies to the OP for going off topic.

nice work OFB. I can still see in my mind a pedal car with your paint on it. keep up the good work.