I never used Nason paints before, but I just sprayed a truck with a white single stage Nason “Ful-thane”. I applied two good coats per mixed per instructions. Paint cured up very fast even at about 55-60 degrees with a medium temp reducer. It had slight orange peel, which bugged me, so I took some 600 to it the next day. Next I shot another coat reduced about 10percent more than the recommended amount and used a slower reducer. It laid out smooth as glass, but after it cured up it just doesn’t have the gloss I think it should. I mean, it’s still glossy, but it not like the acrylic enamel back in the day which would dry with a very nice “wet” glossy look to it. Is this normal for this type of paint? I guess I can take foam pad to it and buff if I want. Any advice or tips would be appreciated.

that whole "flow coat" thing everyone does by over reducing... yeah dont do it.

sand in 800 and mix paint normally then shoot it, the paint will lay down smooth.

over reducing makes paint look smooth any shiny when its wet but after all that extra reducer leaves youre left with a died back ugly mess

Dave was a little faster than me, so to add. two things that might be your problem, the 10% added reducer you probably would have been good with the correct ratio in the slower reducer. second you say you shot another coat, if only one and over reduced it might be some of the 600 profile coming through. I've used a lot of the Nasons Fullthane and always had good results. your mid temp reducer should have been right on at those temps maybe a little fast. what you can do in a situation like this is to mix the reducers 1/2 mid temp 1/2 slower temp but thats hard to do if you've already mixed. I have a log book that I write every mix down, I've used. like fullthane at 65 would be 1/2 and 1/2 this gets me real close I've done enough now that I don't use it any more I can just look at my temp and I know what I want. but the log book is a good thing for someone just starting out.
Jay D.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention is I was spraying in high humidity. It may have been about 80% humidity. Could this also have an effect? Thanks for the advice so far.

yes humidity is the enemy. and jay is correct in his info too

It should buff out ok shouldn't it?

i would think so, as long as it is a solid color. is this a OEM repair ? orange peel is needed on factory finishes.

Don't get hung up on a super flat finish; slight orange peel will show up to the eye as being glossier because of the different angles that light reflects from it. The auto industry figured this out long ago.

My experience has been that orange peel also tends to lessen over time as the paint cures.

PainterDave wrote:that whole "flow coat" thing everyone does by over reducing... yeah dont do it.

sand in 800 and mix paint normally then shoot it, the paint will lay down smooth.

over reducing makes paint look smooth any shiny when its wet but after all that extra reducer leaves youre left with a died back ugly mess

Dave, I do this regularly and don't have any problems with it. Do you think the quality of the clear being used could be part of his problem?

My process is to shoot the first couple coats of clear unreduced and allow proper flash time and then shoot a reduced coat over them.

I didn’t think it would matter at first, but now I’m concerned about the activator and reducer I was using. I’m working on a personal truck, and was willing to experiment with cheap paint, but I have to confess I bought some paint, activator and reducer online from a paint supplier. Now I hate to admit, but this is the stuff I sprayed. I assume the paint is Nason, but the activator and reducer are generic. This all came together in a "kit".


Anyways, I’m thinking about three options at this point:

1. buy some activator and reducer locally which is know is Nason and respray the truck.
2. Buff out what I already sprayed
3. Buy a quality clear and clear coat it.

I want to get this job done and move on. BTW, I’m only painting the cab (flat bed truck) What would you recommend?