LzREngineering

Hi, just trying to paint up a shell. Colours I'm using are hobbynox pearl orange/black/white. Just done the orange stripes and some coats of black backing, rest of car will be white.

The problem I'm having is that the first coat down is pooling on the polycarbonate like water spray. It's ok once it dries but obviously leaves a very uneven pattern which is particularly noticeable on the metallic colours.
Any ideas on what's causing this?
Spraying in a garage, ambient temperature is about 10c and it's fairly humid.

magnum_junior

Could it be droplets of condensate from your air source?

ETA: Can you find a warmer spot to test if it helps?

LzREngineering

Quite probably is condensate - I'm not using a filter. Hobbynox is water/ethyl glycol based anyway isn't it?
I don't have a warmer/dryer place to paint in, but have a warm dry space (above boiler) to dry the paint. I'm using a hot air gun to warm the shell a bit before painting.

magnum_junior

Yes that paint appears to be water based which is similar to what I use.
I don't use a filter either but my air system is a small airbrush compressor. I unhooked the air line while it was running the other day and was surprised at the amount of moisture coming out,
So I believe in small amounts the condensate can thin without noticing. If you are getting large amounts then you are basically spraying water.

ETA: I would consider the temperature of the paint as well.

LzREngineering

3rd coat of black just gone on ok. No way of fixing the blotchy metallic orange layer without starting from scratch, it looks kinda cool though. Definitely going to wait for warmer & dryer weather to do next shell!!
I'm just running the airbrush off a set of tyres, starting at 50psi then I swap them out at 30psi. Probably a lot of moisture in them.