High Speed Plaid

Putting finishing touches on a few rockets. Curtis, named after Curtis the Caveman on a show Em has told me about, I did cave painting decals for his fins.



He's painted with that stone texture paint. I tried a bit of matte-finish clear coat because the texture felt pretty fragile, like it'd wear off pretty fast. But I'm about to give up clear coating shit altogether.

I thought maybe sticking with like-brands was the ticket. I tend to buy whatever brand has the color I want. Rustoleum and Krylon are the best rattle-can paints I've found for the most part. Kilz makes some good stuff, too. Kilz makes a clear coat that I've had better than average luck with, but I've had checking, wrinkling and all kinds of troubles with it, too.



So in Wal-Mart today I spotted a Krylon Fusion with a clear lid. This is a line of paints that is bragged on for its ability to bond to plastic, and Fusion Red and Black are the colors I used for Hellboy.

So I bought it thinking maybe it'd be less likely to wreck the finish on Hellboy.

Just so you know, Krylon Fusion clear coat does not exist. Some merry prankster, Cacophony Society wannabe shithead, swapped the caps on a can of clear coat with a can of black paint. Luckily for me the cap wasn't fitting so well and the black paint was accidentally discharged before I could spray it all over a project and say, 'Wait a minute, that's not clear coat!' Pity the poor guy who is right this minute wondering how he ever found a can of black spray paint that has no color to it at all.

And Rustoleum's 'Crystal Clear Enamel' is not compatible with Rustoleum's Painter's Choice paints. I have the wrinkled up purple Rustoleum Grape on the Hulk to prove it.



I'd successfully sealed the Rustoleum Real Orange nose cone on Otis with the 'clear enamel' stuff and was about to spray it all over the plaid body when I thought to do a test. Sure enough, this clear coat and all the others I have dissolve the ink from a Docucolor 240 on clear label stock. So if I'd sprayed it all over Otis, instead of protecting the finish and enhancing it with a glossy surface, I'd have ruined the whole thing.



I guess I should learn to like my color a little duller. Or get that airbrush I've been thinking about. A friend swears by floor wax through an air brush as a sealing coat.



I am generally tickled with Otis. The plaid worked better than I expected. I had to cut it in pieces to get it successfully on the body and work around the fins, so there's a few places where seams aren't quite perfect, but isn't that the way with a plaid suit? Now all that is required of me is to get this rocket to the BossTones show Saturday and get the band to sign the fins.



I will try and get it flown earlier in the day Saturday so I can say I've flown it. Because if the band signs Otis, he's probably retired from Lobster Fleet at that point.