Technical Has anyone used Duplicolor Paint Shop to paint their car?

Looks like some are winning the lacquer experience. For those who wish to give it a go you'd do well to listen to the old guys who've suffered it's heydays like chopolds. The last full lac job I did was in '08 because I could still get it reasonable and the car was already lacquered, which in turn provided plenty of colorful "primer" to recoat. Things to consider in today's modern refinish world, and I've offered this before so no I'm not senile (my story, I'll tell it my way)

New guns 1st. With the advent of the HVLP gig in spray gun tech the old "...30 coats of hand rubbed lacquer..." thing is null and void. As 'chop said above lacquer dries by solvent evap and too much locks those solvents in. At best it'll be thumbnail soft for weeks, at worst it's possible it stays muddy and shitty and full of little pinholes from trapped solvents trying to get out from under the next fresh coats. Not unlike pinholes in bondo when the mix and thickness are in excess. With new guns you need to be aware of the volume being applied with each coat. Reduced like old syphon guns you're piling on solvents too, ripe and ready for the above foibles. Conservative coats are key. If you laid on a dozen back in the day with the old Binks you will likely need only 7 or 8 with a new gravity HVLP. You also want lots of purge time, again because of the volume applied in paint and solvents. Used to be we could lay down a dozen coats of lacquer with the 1st few wait times as low as getting shit ready for the next ones, then as coats build you'd give it 5 or 10 min between depending on conditions. Be patient, wait it out, you'll see when it's ready for more. Likely again less time early, more as mil thickness builds, but anywhere from 5 to 15 min is good enough in a progressive manner. This is really an imperative in clear coats. Wait it out. If a "print" takes a little effort you're probably ready, if it's really easy to print give it some time. Doesn't have to be totally dry but no sticky allowed. As you progress a lot of that will make sense.

Solvents. Much is said about it and rightfully so. They get it outta the gun which is the primary objective. They also have specified purge times based on temp and conditions. A lot was shared above so I won't be redundant, but the best bet is experienced advice and due dilligence on the products and specs. Net searches for products can be helpful and for sure PPG has tech bulletins online to peruse as needed, so likely so do other suppliers. Do your homework before you take the test!

Compatability. Lacquer goes over any fully cured 2K-type or what I call "4 to 1" catalyzed primer systems. Maybe not on the same day, but cured and ready? No problem, don't 2nd guess, avoid wives tales and urban legends. Clear coats can be argued worse than politics or motor oil loyalties. Yes, clear lacquer was the standard and can still be. Can you put urethane over lacquer? Absolutely. Is it the best route? The only danger is that a spot repair might ghost out the old clear edge when the lacquer color goes down 1st. No guarantee that it will, or that it won't, and with conservative application of color and good dry times it'll work. There's polyurethane and acrylic urethane. Acrylic is tougher, cures harder, needs less solvent, would be a great clear coat for a bike tank where gas might drip a time or 10. If future repairs are a concern be aware of that. You can't go wrong with lacquer clear but it's work. It's also bloody fuckin expensive these days! Just know you're not stuck with it, you have options.

And yes, lacquer goes over just about any OEM or fully cured/catalyzed substrate, but that doesn't mean old enamels with hardeners. Best advice there is test 1st before you spend time or money on product.

Some broad strokes for y'all, and there's a lot of other grey old bastids like me that are on their 2nd time around the block, into their next rodeo, been there, done that and got the T-shirt. Maybe a dig here can be on that homework you should do. Good luck and enjoy the challenge.

 

Thanks for the input Highlander. I was taught to be prepared and be patient when painting cars so I prefer to allow significant “flash time” between coats. Our warm and dry California weather helps keep those times reasonable.
So far I’m enjoying this adventure and the Duplicolor materials are not giving me any grief as long as I work pretty close to the recommended temperature range. I’m not a fan of their direct to metal primer so I will be using a different catalyzed product. But their high build primer worked well and sanded well.


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I wanted to update my experience of painting a car. I used the TP Tools Turbine HLVP turbine system and Dupli Color Paint shop lacquer. It was a major learning experience.
The Turbine system has a screw compressor which puts out completely dry air. It also has a built in air heater to hold down on the overspray. The air coming out of the compressor is 103 degrees. It is mildly warm. This presents a learning situation because the lacquer coming out of the gun dries almost instantly. To the touch in 2 to 3 minutes. This also means the finish is a shit load less than desirable. After a couple of calls to Dupli Color we came up with a formula of 50 /50 paint from the can and acetone. It retarded the drying enough for the paint to flow out smoothly.
While this car is way off topic ( My daily driver is a 99 Miata ) this gives you an idea of the finished product.
My V8 Vair is the next project to paint. I plan on doing that in a typical 2 stage paint