i stopped using 1-shot about 10 years ago. Does'nt cover, takes too long to dry and fades.But i do remember having to add a couple drops of black and some "smoothy" or fish eye preventer to the white to make it flow nicely. I use Omni now, with a hardner. It covers great, drys fast and is bullet proof.
White is like my bad luck color. If anything can go wrong, the color white is involved somehow. I always add a drop of black and stick with the 1-shot high temp reducer. The other two reducers i don't care for much. As far as Sinistercustom, he's spot on. I like to try and talk the person into ivory as well. I've thought about giving up on 1-Shot and trying something else. Not sure what to go with though. I do wish it dried a whole lot faster. Brian
Ronan makes lettering enamel although the only color i've tried is the red because 1-Shot red seems to come with flattener added to it....Real garbage
Check the name on the back of the label. "Courtland Coatings" and "Consumer Paint Factory" were pre Spraylat. That stuff was usually pretty good, and contained Lead. Spraylat bought 1-Shot in '98, IIRC. To meet the proposed federal ban on Lead, they started reducing the amount of lead in their formulas. Some colors were Lead free by 2001, and they covered fine. But the labels still said "contains Lead". Things went to hell around 04. If the back of your can of paint says Spraylat, get a BIG magnifying glass. On the back, near the top, on the right hand side it says "Limitations: Drying time is best when blah blah blah... Varnishing is not necessary". At the end of that line, you will see some very SMALL numbers. They relate to the formula used. The last two number are the year. 98 is ok, 01 not bad, 04 is generally disappointing, I think Rev 4/07 is the latest, which is pretty good. Unfortunately, some retailers are stuck with some of the 04 stuff. If you get a can which is total crap, send it back to where you bought it. I sent back a quart of White last month, it wouldn't cover in two coats. Total junk, my local retailer replaced it no problem. 1-Shot has had some batches of Red that dried flat, Rollie got a couple cans. He sent them back, and the replacements are fine.
In the old days all paint companies that manufactured bulletin colors had to use the exact same standards. One shot, Ronan, Sherwin Williams, Glidden, and others all had bulletin colors. They were thicker than regular paint and were meant to be thinned to proper consistency for lettering. Most beginning letterers and stripers palette the brush to achieve proper consistency. When I apprenticed, I was taught to pour some paint into a cup from the can and mix it to the proper consistency. I would palette from the cup and didn't have to add thinner at all. it was always the right consistency until it began to set up a little then I would add just a touch of thinner to rewet my brush. Occassionaly I would add a drop of thinner to the cup to return it to proper consistency. If you mix your paint and thinner on your palette, you are constantly changing the mixture. All of this was with the old lead style paints. Bulletins are what the painted signs were called and billboards were the signs the had the pasted lithographs. I have a bulletin painters manual made in the forties by coca cola and most big advertisers required you uase the proper bulletin colors. They wou7ld actually give you the formulas for mixing colors and consistency.
Mikey - good to know there are a few good politicos left and glad that you could get some of your tax money back from source .
Glad to know that I'm not the only one to experience problems with black, white, and red. i too have switched to Ivory for most projects that would use white. I'd like to get away from 1-shot, but since I have so much of it, it's hard to just leave it alone. What other paints do ya'll suggest? Anything that's inline price-wise with 1-shot?
I've had black turn to a jelly about half way through the can???? don't know whats up with that but I've talked to others who have had the same problem. And, O ya, it wont cover and goes flat in a few weeks in the sun. On the other hand, dark blue takes 2 or more days to dry!!!! I'm going to Ronan, even though my work is on 1-Shots web site and catalog!!
From what I've heard from former Spraylat reps is that Spraylat just will not use quality resins in the paint. Resin is what replaced lead. Penetrol helps, working the paint more helps, thin with turps helps, use the 1Shot reducers helps. But, basically the paint just sucks nowadays! Heaven help us all.... Joel
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