Really bad paint job

[JackBauer]

I don't know if you will be able to see that very well, but we just finished putting the first coat of spray on the car, and you might be able to see how it is all bubbly like. What causes that? We are using some sort of black lacquer that we picked up in the model car section at Hobby Lobby.

[sporty]

that's either fish eye's or orange peel.

I am leaning towards orange peel.

A few things cause that.

1. painting enamel over lacquer.

2. the primer coat not dry enough.

3. old paint, or not mixed / shaken well enough.

4. surface with oil finger residue on the surface.

5. to much paint applied at one time.

The only way to fix it, is to sand all the paint back off in the area of the bubbles or cracks.

and try again, if you do not get it all removed, guess what !

It will happen again.

Stickers make for good cover after wet sanding them down !!


Sporty

[JackBauer]

that's either fish eye's or orange peel.

I am leaning towards orange peel.

A few things cause that.

1. painting enamel over lacquer.

2. the primer coat not dry enough.

3. old paint, or not mixed / shaken well enough.

4. surface with oil finger residue on the surface.

5. to much paint applied at one time.

The only way to fix it, is to sand all the paint back off in the area of the bubbles or cracks.

and try again, if you do not get it all removed, guess what !

It will happen again.

Stickers make for good cover after wet sanding them down !!


Sporty

I've never heard of the terms fish eyes or orange peel before in reference to paint.

We didn't primer it. Didn't think about it, maybe we should try that.

One thing that I have been thinking about since posting, is... could that be caused by not getting all the dust off after sanding? In addition to the other causes you mentioned?

Thanks.

[Randy and Son]

I don't know if this is your problem, but without a doubt lacquer and enamel do NOT mix. If you put on some sort of enamel base coat or primer and then went over that with the lacquer, it will just create a gooey mess. Has to all be sanded off and try again.

Whatever the cause, sand it down smooth and try again. Don't go down to bare wood if you don't have to. That way you will already have a good base coat and it will be smooth and oil free now. A lot of really thin coats are better than one thick coat. Thin coats dry fast and thick ones seem to take forever and never look as good when they finally do dry.

We use a lot of acrylic brush-on paints from the craft store. The colors come in 79 cent bottles and look really nice under some clear gloss lacquer.

If you have the enamel/lacquer combo problem, that stuff never seems to ever dry, so just scrape as much of the goo off as you can and sand it down. Been there, done that.

Just remember - thin coats.

I would just take what you have now, sand it all nice and smooth, make sure everything is dry and dust free, and start painting again using a paint that is of a known good quality. Some of the bargain paints don't turn out to be much of a bargain in the end.

Randy

[Randy and Son]

If you think that the surface may have been contaminated with oils or something else, wipe it down with mineral spirits or rubbing alcohol or some other solvent (naptha) just before painting.

Randy

(Jack we used to live just up the road in Cedar Rapids)

[GravityRacer]

Hard to tell what you have going on there. Sand it all off, and seal with something like Zinsser shellac (dewaxed, if you can find it) or Minwax sanding sealer. The beauty of shellac is that it dries in seconds. I used it for all my Webelos Patrol Craftsman Activity Badge projects, because they can take them home with a dry finish that night. Leave the windows open if you use it- that alcohol solvent will knock you on your butt, if you aren't careful.

It might be easier to just get some paint thinner and paper towels, and just mop it all off. I usually use the Minwax brushed on, and paint with gray primer like you use for automobiles (in spray cans). You can pretty much put anything on top of that. You can see yourself in my avatar's paint, though you can't tell from the picture- I paint way better than I snap photos, even from spray cans.

[mbb]

In my experience I would say your surface was wet. Did you paint in a high humidity condition, or bring a cold car body our into moist conditions, or paint during a temp change time like right after dark.

[ah8tk]

To me it looks like someone painted lacquer paint over enamel primer. The lacquer is lifting the underlying primer from its base (I am NOT a painter but have a friend who is). If you purchase sandable primer it is usually lacquer primer (you can paint virtually any paint over lacquer primer but you can only spray enamel paint over enamel primer) the best thing to do is use paint and primer from the same manufacturer (but you will still have to read the instructions) Krylon is lacquer and Rust Oleum & Testors is enamel. Also you need to match clear (if you use clear) to the paint. You can sand it off (if you want to wait for it to dry) or you can use lacquer thinner to remove it.