Rattle Can Silver Tests

[red4]

Ongoing...

These tests were done on clean styrene and rigid resin with no sanding, priming, or protective top coats. The lack of prep is meant to expedite production; I need a paint that does most of the work. The paint was applied between 70 to 78 degree heat, and below 60% humidity. The scratch and rub tests were done aggressively with my bare fingers and fingernails, since that's already more than I intend to abuse the items I paint. "Excellent" means I was unable to do any visible damage. "Adhesion" refers to whether the resin/plastic underneath became visible. "Scratch resistance" refers to whether the paint's texture changed due to the tests. "Rub resistance" refers to the paint's shine. Curing time was mininum 24 hours, with the exception of Bright Silver BCC0410, which cured with impressive strength after 5 hours. Tested items were closely inspected under bright light.

In order of most reflective, to least reflective:

Dupli-Color Chrome CS101 Chrome Spray
- No scratch resistance
- Poor rub resistance

Dupli-Color BGM0501 Galaxy Silver Met (12 WA519F)
- Excellent adhesion
"Very good adhesion, but somewhat grippy under fingernail. Visible dings caused by fingernail into paint; and paint can be chipped away. However, the rim of the chipped area does not peel up, meaning the paint continues to adhere very strongly where it has not received direct damage. These tests were done after 24 hours and 30 minutes of curing time. I suspect the surface may harden further with more curing time."
EDIT: After approximately 2 more hours of curing, the paint has hardened substantially more, increasing its adhesion and scratch resistance. It's getting to a point where it hurts my finger to cause visible damage.
- Excellent scratch resistance
- Excellent rub resistance

Dupli-Color Bright Silver (PS2) BCC0410
- Excellent adhesion
- Excellent scratch resistance
- Excellent rub resistance
- Poor coverage, spotty

Krylon Colormaster Brilliant Silver 3452 Silver Metallic
- Poor scratch resistance

Dupli-Color Stainless Steel SS100
- Excellent adhesion
- Excellent scratch resistance
- Excellent rub resistance

Dupli-Color Aluminum with Ceramic DE1650 Cast Coat Aluminum
- Excellent adhesion
- Excellent scratch resistance
- Excellent rub resistance

 

[Duncanator]

Thanks for the info. Any chance you can post some images so we can get an idea what they all look like?

 

[red4]

Thanks for the info. Any chance you can post some images so we can get an idea what they all look like?

Yes, in a while. Some things to note about the tests is that for flat surfaces, I either reused the same strip of plastic, or misplaced it. These tests have been carried out over several months. For dimensional tests, I sprayed onto resin domes. The resin turned out very porous, so it's hard to discern in photographs which aspects of the texture are due to the paint, and which are due to the pores of the resin. Lastly, I can't repeat the tests on better materials, or better-kept materials, because I take the cans back to the store when I'm dissatisfied by the results. Right now I still have the cans of Dupli-Color Cast Coat Aluminum, Dupli-Color Stainless Steel, and Dupli-Color Chrome. I kept the Chrome because it was an online purchase, and the vendor gave me a full refund, and told me to keep the can. I haven't used it beyond the tests; it's useless.

 

[red4]

After just over 48 hours of curing, Dupli-Color BGM0501 Galaxy Silver Met (12 WA519F) has reached "excellent" on all tests. This is my favorite silver so far, and for my projects, I won't be needing anything else for the foreseeable future. I don't need 100% realistic metallic colors like chrome or polished steel (something on a Starlord helmet, for example). I only need attractive silver colors, like what you might find on an action figure, such as the Walgreens Exclusive Marvel Legends Silver Surfer that was released in 2018.

 

[JediMichael]

After just over 48 hours of curing, Dupli-Color BGM0501 Galaxy Silver Met (12 WA519F) has reached "excellent" on all tests. This is my favorite silver so far, and for my projects, I won't be needing anything else for the foreseeable future. I don't need 100% realistic metallic colors like chrome or polished steel (something on a Starlord helmet, for example). I only need attractive silver colors, like what you might find on an action figure, such as the Walgreens Exclusive Marvel Legends Silver Surfer that was released in 2018.

So guess you never got around to posting any pics. Was wondering if you ever got the chance to take any.
So for the project I'm working on and the issues I've got going on, figure I'll add my findings to this post.

Of these 2 metallic paints pictured, so far I've used the thinner one of the right....and had some pretty bad issues.

After priming the styrene and letting it dry, I used the Krylon paint. I let it dry for 2 days and then using latex gloves, it still left a ton of marks and finger prints.

I tried sanding it down and all it did was make more a mess. So for the one panel, I used the end of a metal ruler and scrapped it all off. It was a rubbery mess. Maybe it needed more days to dry, but I would have thought 2 days was enough, as the can says 2 hours is enough....ha.

So before I continue my project and completely destroy it, figure I better do some tests, and the reason I'm posting here.
So I have these 4 scrap pieces of styrene that I primed for now. I then plan to wait til tomorrow and then 2 of them I'll spray with the metallic
Rust-oleum and the other 2 with the Krylon. Then after a day or even 2, I bought some Rust-oleum clear coat gloss that I will spray one of each. Since I know the Krylon without a clear coat rubs off very easily, I might wait a full week to even test it just to see. Each one I'll do a rub/scratch test to see how it goes.
Also, I'm not too familiar with using clear coats, so I'm hoping the Rust-oleum clear coat gloss is a good choice to even use for a test. Open to any suggestions before I get to that just incase, otherwise, I'll use it.

 

[basementdweller]

Maybe it reacted with that primer.

 

[JediMichael]

Maybe it reacted with that primer.

Maybe that as well.....why can't things ever just be easy and work right......

 

[Riceball]

I recently did a project where I painted the entire thing in rattle can metallics and I can say that I was very happy with the results from using Rustoleum silver and gold and was sorely disappointed in Krylon's copper. The silver and gold came out nice and shiny and smooth while the copper came out looking like an old penny even the cap was a nice, bright copper. It also came out matte in some spots and shiny in other even everything had been first covered in a gloss black paint and primer, the Rustoleum silver, then the gold, so none of the original color of the underlying materials was exposed anymore.

As far as a clear coats go, I didn't like the results from the Rustoleum gloss coat that I used on this project. It caused the gold and silver to run in some spots while having no effect on the copper. While it did leave everything really shiny, it altered the silver so that instead of a near chrome like finish, it looked more it had been powder coated; I didn't notice anything different, except for the runny spots, on the gold. After touching everything up with some acrylic silvers, I hit it with a Krylon gloss coat and didn't get the same high gloss, powder coated look, but that was over acrylic silver and not the rattle can. Also, both brands of gloss coat sprays I've had for years now, so the results could be a result of age, hard to say without actually testing them.

 

[JediMichael]

With so many different types and brands of paints, primers and clear coats, its ridiculously hard to know the best and or right one to use. That can also depend on the project as well.


As for my tests, heres what I've gotten so far. Of course everything I'll be doing is with rattle cans.
Between the Rust-oleum and Krylon, the Rust-oleum looks far superior in every way. You can also see that I now have 6 pieces altogether.
As basementdweller pointed out today, that maybe the primer effected my results before. So, the 2 top (bigger scrap pieces) have NO primer at all.

Trying to get a good pic of metallic is a bit hard, so everything is basically upside down here. But this one is the Krylon. The 2 pieces with primer have a bit of bumpy texture. Nothing too major, but its there. Even the none primed one has a little bit of texture to it.

The Rust-oleum has a much more mirror shiny look to it. The primed ones still have a slight texture, but less than the other 3. The non primed is perfectly smooth other than some dust or whatever that was on the stryene. So now I'll probably wait til Saturday to be safe before I try to touch a little part of any of them. 1 of each of the primed ones I'll put some clear gloss coat and see how they do.
If anyone has other brands with pics to share, that would be great as well.

 

[JediMichael]

So after about 2 hours of drying, I just had to touch it. I lightly touched just a little part of each of the non primed pieces. The Krylon made a mark, which I figured it would. The Rust-oleum didn't until I pushed much harder. Thats already good news for that brand.....and by the way, the Krylon cost $7.50 at Michaels, where the Rust-oleum was $4.27 from Home Depot, and the can is bigger. Funny how the cheaper one is ending up being the better one.

 

[Riceball]

For the best results, I'd use a gloss black primer. I used a gloss black rattle can paint and primer that for my project and the paint came out nice and smooth. At least nice and smooth where there was no dust or anything else that shouldn't have been there.

 

[mrwax]

Using base coats / primers of the same brand as your primary coat can solve some curing issues sometimes. I appreciate the comparisons you're putting together!

 

[JediMichael]

I figured its been at least a day and a half, so went to coat 4 of the pieces (2 with primer, 2 without) with the gloss clear.
Also worth noting that the primer is Rust-oleum 2X ultra cover flat gray.

This is the Krylon Metallic with gloss clear still wet. Its ok, looks like the texture and color changed a bit. Top piece is the primed one and, while a bit hard to tell here, the right side actually turned out a bit darker. Flash was off.

Close up of the primed piece with flash on. Still hard to tell, but right side definitely darker.

Heres the Rust-oleum primer, metallic and gloss coat, which completely bubbled up. Didn't expect that at all. You can see where I touched it on the sides, which I did have to push hardish to make a mark.

I'll now let it dry and see how it does.

 

[Duncanator]

I've never had good results when spraying a clear coat over silver paint, with the exception of Alclad - (but I was using clear colors (red and blue) rather than a true clear coat on the Alclad, so maybe that's why it worked better)

 

[red4]

I never put clear coats over metallic paint. It always ruins the sheen.
Also the best "primer" for plastics that I've come across is Rust-Oleum Camouflage Flat Black. It's not meant to be a primer, but works incredibly well. I've also tried the other Rust-Oleum Camo colors, but Flat Black outperforms them by a mile.

Here is Dupli-Color Galaxy Silver applied over Rust-Oleum Camouflage Flat Black, which has been applied over ABS plastic:

The spearhead was customized from a Brickwarriors sword, made for Lego minifigures. I repurposed it as a spearhead for a 1/12 scale action figure. This silver paint is extremely resilient, and has no clear coat on top.

The lighting conditions of that photo may be deceptive, because below is another bladed toy painted in the exact same conditions and products:

It looks less reflective, but I assure that it's identical plastic, spray products, and temperature and humidity conditions. The only real difference is the lighting.

Here are the same treatments again on yet another weapon made of the same ABS from Brickwarriors:

 

[red4]

Here is Dupli-Color Cast Coat Aluminum with Ceramic applied over Rust-Oleum Camouflage Flat Black, applied over styrene. These are tiny nunchucks I made for Masters of the Universe vintage Ninjor:

Here is Dupli-Color Stainless Steel applied over Rust-Oleum Camouflage Flat Black, applied over expanded PVC. These 4-inch axes have been heavily weathered, so this is not the full original shine of the metallic paint: