For those of you that havent already seen.
im currently customizing a set of 08 tails.
we got them open and painted some stuff white.
then we went to paint all the red parts with VHT Nightshades.
It worked on all of the curved parts however when we tried to apply it to the flat parts it started to crack as soon as it dried.
we re-did them 5 times and the same thing just kept happening.
we cannot figure out why so i was wondering if any paint gurus on here have any suggestions.

YES, we did sand them first
YES, we did clean them after sanding and before painting.

so please, all hints, tips, pointers, suggestions, etc... are welcome,

 

POST PICE ...i just wanna see not sure why it would crack though...maybe its not sticking right

 

theres a huge thread on it.
just look in the aero exterior forum.
its on the first page.
and the links in my sig,

 

Maybe your making your coats to thick? Try spraying more thinner coats instead. Where's FLEA? He's the master of VHT tinting haha

 

Try another type of spray tint. Go to a hobby store and pick up some Tamiya (I believe that's the brand) smoke tint. The cans are tiny though.

 

What is the guesstimate temperature outside when spraying the VHT? You want a ventilated area...but if it's cold outside expect to run into problems. I have seen VHT tinted tails simply peel off almost by itself because of cold weather, like 65 degrees (these were not clear coated of course).

I am looking at your thread and can't find any cracked VHT photos. Am I overlooking them? If you do use the Testors transparent black spray cans just be aware that it will require an enamel clearcoat, whereas Duplicolor's paint are mostly lacquers. You can try lacquer clear coat on an enamel paint, but from past experiences a long time ago I couldn't get it to work together.

 

it can be the temps.........also contamination from manufacture.......they use Freecaot to release the parts from the molds and it will cause cracking even after sanding.......keytone will stop it.......but that leads to melting issues and hazing if not carefull.................my first guess is temps/humidity.......painting now is a pain to do.......to wet and cold.

 

it prob was the temp.
no time to run out and get testeors, ive also used that before.
we are pressed for time cuz we have a show tomm and its already 1 AM here and were still working.
we dont know what else to try so we are painting the reverse light lense with regular white house paint then sanding it and trying again.

 

o and flea.
the cracking pics arent there.
i will post them when i post the final pics.

 

How did the tails turn out? I was tinting a set of tails yesterday and today and I started to get the cracking as well. It's from cold weather. Got to go sand everything with 800 grit and hope it turns out ok. If not then I'll paint the tails used light coats of black auto paint.

 

we gave up until the waqrmer weather comes.
were just gonna wait it out instead of rushing them and having them look like isht.
if you check the thread in my sig i posted pics of the cracking.