I need advice guys. I painted half my El Camino (hood, front fenders, tailgate,and doors) one day, using Nason Acrylic Enamel with the gloss hardener catalyst, and it came out great. Very slick, shiny. I waited till the next day to paint the body, roof and rear fenders, as I didn't have room in my make-shift paint room. Anyway, I followed the exact same procedures as I did the day before, and the paint is blushed, and doesn't match. It looks totatly different, and doesn't even feel the same as the other paint. I live in a humid part of Texas, and it rains a lot, and is cold right now, so i'm guessing the humidity was more the next day when I shot it, just not sure. My question though, is there a way to fix this without shooting it again? THANKS in advance guys.
I'm thinking its more the temp and not humidity. My guess is that its not going to 'get any better'. You'll need to be SURE you're into the temp range for the product (and measure the temp of the metal, not just the air). And yes, you'll probably have to scuff and shoot the whole thing. If it requires two different setups, do the "damaged" part first maybe it'll match your "good" parts. Be sure you follow the "re-coat" time requirements. If you don't know the re-coat window, ask your distributor.
As for the blush, do you have a water seperator in the air supply from the compressor? High humidity in the air can cause blush, especially when temp is lower. Also, (as you have already figured out), unless you have a heated paint booth to help reduce it, paint when humidity is more moderate, I like it below 70%-relative......... I would skuff it with 500, wait a couple of days and skuff it again, then try to figure out a way to do it all in one day with the same mix. Matching acrylic enamel unless conditions/mix/temp/ are all exact is difficult to do.
pick up a small amount of retarder *small amount* or change reducer! and don't paint in the damp conditions ,and as an earlier post says try to shoot the blushed parts first.also you didn't mention the color , but it might just buff out very carefully , back in the early days of acrylic enamel we could even blend with control of reducers, but thats not what you're after ,