LusterKote Paints by Top Flight, Black Baron too

I thought that with the recent questions posted to another part of the forum that it might be a good idea to pass on my experiences with this product.

Lusterkote paints were first seen in the early 90's if my memory is correct. Black Baron also released their line of color matching paints about the same time.

Both seem to adhere to plastic coverigs quite well, but I haven't done any tests as to compatiblility with each other.

At first, both companies products suffered from problems. Early examples of LusterKote had some drying problems, as did Black Baron This led to a short interval that LusterKote was removed from the market. Also, at this time, Black Baron released a really good spray nozzle on their line up. Still there today.

LusterKote seems to be very compatible to a dope substrate. I've personally used it over both Nitrate and butyrate bases. At one time, they had a great primer, but I haven't seen it locally for a while.

I usually use ~3 coats of nitrate or Butyrate dope, to seal the surface. If Nitrate was used, I often will apply 2 more coats of Butyrate after sanding and tacking the surface. Aparently LusterKote is able to be applied over automotive sandable primers, but, since I know that it is compatible to dope, I always use Brodak's white primer. 2 coats and then sand as much as you can without sanding through to the paper or into the nitrate.

Tack the surface well after sanding, and it's ready for the color.

I've used most of the colors at one time or another. They really do match the monokote perfectly, and paint out onto the Mono will be invisible with a little sanding to get rid of the paint line. It is a good idea to make sure, when applying over plastic coverings, that the surface be clean. Use prepsol, or alcoholand it wouldn't hurt to scuff the surface with a scothbrite pad or fine sand paper.

With some paints, the hardest colors to get good coverage with are white and yellow. It's often recommended to use a light gray undercoat to help even out the colors when applied. LusterKote has a lot of stregnth in it's pigments. As an example, On my latest project, It took 1 mist coat, folowed by a solid coat a few minutes later to achive a solid complete coverage in white.

One of the best things I like about this line of spray paints is how fast it dries. Good to touch after about 20 minutes. I usually wait 2 hours and start masking for the next color.

LusterKote has good resistance to fuel in my experience and cleans up well after a flight.

I have applied dope over it without a problem. You don't want to brush this overcoat though as the solvent in the dope softens the lusterKote, and colors will smear. Instead, use an airbrush. I am going to overcoat my Legacy fuse with dope to blend out the paint lines from the masking. Lusterkote makes 2 clear kotes, a flat and a high gloss, but I haven't used either yet, though I forsee no problems with it.

Compared to other choices in rattle can paints for our models, it is a bit more expensive than say Rustoleum or Krylon. Krylon usually dries fast, but suffers in the fuel proof dept. Rustoleum is reasonably fuel proof and shiney, but it takes a while to dry enough to start masking the next color, best done after a day or two wait. Poly Urethanes are reasonably good but also need the drying time. All these alternatives may, or may not,present a good match to the iron on coverings. I know that Krylon white does not match MonoKote white covering. Paint lines out onto the covering are noticable even when sanded smooth.

Nils Noreling, a professional auto body man,recommends heating rattle cans slightly before applying. He also says to shack the cans a lot before and while applying. Good advice.

John, Have you seen the blackening threads on the regular fourm part of this site? It seems that several of us have had our paint turn black or tarnished looking after bit using Lustercoat. Do you have any idea as to how to fix this short of repainting it? Phil

>John, Have you seen the blackening
>threads on the regular fourm
>part of this site? It
>seems that several of us
>have had our paint turn
>black or tarnished looking after
>bit using Lustercoat. Do you
>have any idea as to
>how to fix this short
>of repainting it? Phil

I've never run into this problem personally, and can only hazaed a guess as to why.

Since, those who have experienced this, report that it happens over time with exposure to sunlight, Iwould strongly suspect some kind of photosythisist (sp). Perhaps some of the formulations, (I know that there has been at least one re-formulation.) are more suseptible to this happening. I would suspect that if this is happening the darkening will permeat all the way through.

It could also be related to outgassing of solvents from whatever is under the LusterKote. I found from experience that it's not real compatible to Auto Body Putty that has only been in place a few hours. The paint when given a full coat, bubbled and blistered. Seems that a couple of coats of clear dope solved the problem the next time.

I'm guessing that it's either in the formulation of some batches, or a compatibility problem.

I'll be interested in what you find out from Top Flight.

John

I'm wondering why everything is spinning around?