Rattle Can Paint Smoothing

[boba87fett]

Hi everyone,

I rattle canned my sons b cast The Mandalorian helmet. Do you have any tricks for smoothing out the paint before I weather it and clear coat?

The surface is a little rough. See photo.

Thanks!
Steven

 

[MinaFett]

Generally I use varying grades of wet and dry sandpaper to smooth out.
So do first coat, sand and then next coat. May need to do that on a few layers but you end up with a nice smooth coat.

 

[Mythos Fenn]

Generally I use varying grades of wet and dry sandpaper to smooth out.
So do first coat, sand and then next coat. May need to do that on a few layers but you end up with a nice smooth coat.

Yep, this. Sometimes even just old school rub and buffing it with an old cotton t-shirt works too.

 

[Grimstuff]

Best practice is preventive, get your surface sanded to about 400 grit and wash it well to remove dust and grease. Also spray in as low humidity environment as you can get, under 60% at least, as the spray hitting a moist atmosphere can definitely cause that sandy look as the paint clobs up with the moisture it hits midair. Also too hot of an environment can be equally problematic with the paint drying some before it hits the target, though this is less common except for super quick paints like laquers. Also have a little bit of airflow from a fan or something, not so strong it blows your spray off course, but enough to evacuate the overspray cloud away from lingering around and dusting back on the helm. Also also, don't hold the can too far while spraying as it cause also lead to drying too much midair, 6-10 inches is usually good.

To salvage this though, yeah, just wet sand it, will probally need to respray after. Steel wool might work too letting you not need to respray.

 

[boba87fett]

Best practice is preventive, get your surface sanded to about 400 grit and wash it well to remove dust and grease. Also spray in as low humidity environment as you can get, under 60% at least, as the spray hitting a moist atmosphere can definitely cause that sandy look as the paint clobs up with the moisture it hits midair. Also too hot of an environment can be equally problematic with the paint drying some before it hits the target, though this is less common except for super quick paints like laquers. Also have a little bit of airflow from a fan or something, not so strong it blows your spray off course, but enough to evacuate the overspray cloud away from lingering around and dusting back on the helm. Also also, don't hold the can too far while spraying as it cause also lead to drying too much midair, 6-10 inches is usually good.

To salvage this though, yeah, just wet sand it, will probally need to respray after. Steel wool might work too letting you not need to respray.

Thanks for the tips!

I originally sprayed it in a garage while it was raining outside so the humidity was high... and temp was in the 60's, which means that those factors were probably most of the issue. It was wet sanded with 800 grit prior to painting it. I wet sanded it with 1000 grit since and resprayed it while heating the garage with a space heater and a door open. Came out better. Working on weathering it now. I'm happy for it being rattle canned. Will post some photos when it's all done.

 

[Grimstuff]

Yeah, humidity is brutal on spray paints, I live in florida too so it's always a thing I have to check constantly.

Glad you got it salvaged though! Good luck with the weathering.