Spraying Latex with HVLP Gun

Today I played around with my HVLP gun and latex paint that I had mixed up at my local Lowes store. I've read several articles on spraying latex paint and since I don't have the proper equipment to spray PPG I figured I'd give latex a try. Below is a what I found worked for me.

Mixing the Paint
1) I use exterior grade latex paint. Normally buy it by the quart for about $9. It can be custom mixed too.
2) Using a spoon from plastic ware, I spoon out 10 spoonfuls of latex paint into a 9oz plastic cup.
3) Use a small scale and weight out 1 oz of distilled water and poured that into the cup with paint.
4) Add 1 spoonful of Floetrol paint conditioner and stirred everything up.
5) Then I poured the contents into my gravity feed HVLP gun.

Spraying
1) It took just a few adjustments on the gun to get the paint to spray like I liked it.
2) I proceeded to spray a light to medium coat on my part.
3) I let that sit for about 5 to 10 minutes to allow the paint to settle out a bit.
4) I then sprayed a second coat that was medium to heavy coverage. Afterwards I allowed about 10 to 15 minutes for the paint to settle out again before spraying a 3rd coat.
5) My 3rd coat was more or less for touch ups and to make sure I had enough paint over the entire part.

Here is an article from Model Airplane News magazine which inspired me to try shooting latex as opposed to PPG or Krylon as I've done in the past. The author, Roy Vaillancourt, uses heat applied with a heat gun, but I found it settles out much better if you do not use heat. Plus using too much heat can cause the latex to develop crack lines.

Model Airplane News - Spraying Latex Article

I practiced on some sample pieces first and I'm happy to report that I've gotten some really good results. And clean up is a breeze considering water is all you need. Plus latex has no fumes to worry about. Recently I shot some latex on my Super Reaper turbine jet and captured some steps with pictures.

Latex Painting Session Pictures

Next time you need to paint a model give latex a try!