dkennyken
United Kingdom
Asked
— Edited
I used a chrome spraypaint to change my robots colour, the one I used is normally used on cars.(I put a primer on first) I did a really good job, let them dry and stored the bits in a box individually wrapped in plastic to protect them.
I unwrapped them today to put some decals on and the paint is all scratched on certain parts, I rubbed it with my finger nail and it scratches easily... what have I done wrong?
Gutted, now I'm gonna have to remove all the paint and start again
right now my motivation has been destroyed, not looking forward to removing that paint!
Before
after
I'd leave it. Adds Character.
My experience is that first coat turns out fine, but if you put more than one coat, it all turns to carp.
Give it a quick sanding with some fine grit wet & dry, this will rough it up nicely for a new layer of paint.
Look at what you have as a nice base for the real top coat
If you put on a new coat of the chrome spray paint you might consider putting a coat of clear over the top of it.
I'm with @Lumpy. Leave it be. In fact when my bot is done I'm gonna dry brush it to look weathered/battle damaged.
But if you really want it pristine, get some 0000 steelwool, scrub it down, lay another coat.
to protect it, get some Castin' Craft Resin Spray.
Do not mess with crappy clear coats, they are finicky and may not be compatible with the chrome basecoat and may wrinkle your precious paint job. Resin spray dries in a few minutes, dries hard and crystal clear (applied properly of course), is chemical resistant, and wont care what the base coat is, as long as its dry. Plus it's cheap.
Thanks for all the responses. With it being my first build I would like him to look fresh and clean cut lol...
I will be rubbing him down and reapplying a fresh coat, not sure whether to use a more durable spray to finish him off yet or use a clear spray or a clear resin spray as a final coating yet, although the resin spray seems hard to find here in the UK.
But at least it doesn't seem as bad as it was earlier when I first discovered the scratches
will keep this thread updated and open until I've decided.
Rustoleum has a plastic specific line of spray paints. I used it when I repainted my omnibot white and red. I just scuffed the plastic with a scotch bright pad and started spraying. Obviously mine isn't chrome but I had really good results with very little work (and no scratching or chipping). I know they have tons of colors and metallics so maybe they'll have something that can work better for your robot!
If the base coat comes off then it doesn't really matter what you put on top of it, that'll come off too. The paint needs something to bind to and to be honest, rattle cans generally don't need a top coat.
The most important step when spraying anything is for the surface to be rough so the paint has something to stick to. I haven't started painting Melvin yet but when I do the process will be this;
It's pretty much the same way I've done any car repair. While it may be painting plastic rather than metal the basics are the same and the paint is the same. It will need that rough surface to bind to, it will probably need the wet sanding to remove any runs and blemishes and give that high quality finish.
A wet sand followed by another coat (or 2) should fix any problems. The sanding will remove any loose paint and key the areas that need the paint to bind to them, the next coat should cover the bad spots and a final coat followed by a very fine wet sand should even out the paint, remove runs, blemishes etc.