HAL

I'm not a high roller, so I usually splurge on a few dozen cans of 94 or Molotow a couple times a year and that usually lasts me for a while since I'm stingy with it. I buy specific stuff that I know will work with a wide variety of Rusto fills, and Molotow Aubergine works with pretty much anything. It's not quite black, sort of a purple/red/brown and a bit on the warmer side. It looks great with chrome. 94 Cherokee Red is somewhat similar, and seems to outline over chrome better without eating into it. Molotow Deep Black has a bit of a cool tone to it, but doesn't cover that great on bare masonry and tends to eat into silver. A sekt adapter with a NY fat or Rusto fat is what you want for filling. If you have smaller areas like bubbles or whatnot, pop a NY thin on there and it won't coat so heavy. It would take forever to fill in with that stock tip that comes on Rusto, in my opinion. Light coats are key. Come back and double it up and you won't wind up with half the can dripping off the car onto the ground. If possible, work on and rotate between 2-3 panels at a time to allow everything to dry somewhat. I'll take a smoke/beer break and check things out after I get my fills done, and things are usually dry enough to start outlining by the time I'm through with that. Rusto is terrific paint, but the valve system has always left a lot to be desired. I think you'll enjoy a can of 94 if you're used to Rusto. It's amazing with one of those yellow universals or a NY fat. The pigment content is very high, so be prepared to clog up a couple thin caps. For trains, I like shaving down the stem of a NY thin for 94. It's bold and clean, then clogs a bit to offer some small details when you're working on finishing touches. 94 is excellent paint. I did a school bus commission for a ski service in Denver using only 94, and it looks good as new 5 years later trucking up and down slushy Rocky Mountain roads all winter.

As far as I can tell, MTN has a limited edition artist series that they put out every so often. Personally, I'm not that into most of the artwork and the fact that its designed to be collectable (when has a collectable ever been worth anything?), but I can respect someone who put in the effort to get a complete collection. That particular can is one of the nicer designs, in my opinion. I'm much more interested in the old 90's-early 2000's Hardcore cans that said "MONTANA" rather than "MTNMTN", with the old Barcelona address, or the white, knock off cans made by Dupli, which is now German Montana. The few cans I did save I stupidly ruined by converting into pencil and brush holders. A pristine can has to be very rare nowadays, especially in North America. As far as their value, who knows? They're worth whatever someone is willing to pay, like any other collectable. The high value of certain Krylon, Rusto, etc colors is mainly driven by the fact that the cans were never intended to be collected, so some colors are extremely rare and/or desirable. I'm not sure how the multitude of graffiti-focused artist series cans will fare, given that every one made is likely tucked away, and whoever wants them probably buys them upon release. Its hard to say, but typically items designed to be hoarded as collectibles rarely appreciate in value much.

The new can looks way better.

It says it's for indoor use only. Does Mode have the old valve or something to make it interesting to writers? The color list is really limited, too. Granted, if I saw it at Home Depot for $1.99, you can bet I'd give it a shot. America's Finest was fantastic and I really miss it. Looking more closely, this looks like a UK-specific site.

Personally, I wouldn't trust the chinese brands. On walls here in Denver, they fade very quickly and its very easy to wipe off with a little acetone. That makes me nervous about longevity. I understand the Flame Blue is made in the EU, so it may be ok. I've also seen panels I've outlined with MTN Hardcore look pretty shabby when benched a couple years later. They may have reformulated it, but the old stuff from 2000-2005 wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. Sabotaz, at least the old formula, has serious issues with metal surfaces. It flakes off in sheets over the course of a month. I can't speak for the new "sigma" style cans, but the creeper shadow guy cans are no good on metal of any kind. I'm sure I must have painted a train with Gold, but nothing comes to mind. That stuff is too expensive, and I've never found a good source for discounted prices. Given how well it holds up on everything else, it can't be a bad bet. The pigments are very stable and it really is a high quality paint. Molotow on the other hand, is very good on trains. I believe they originally formulated it based on a car paint. I've also painted a school bus for a commission with MTN 94, and it looks great after 2-3 years. I see it around town every so often.

I used to buy the metal quart cans of MEK for paint thinner and cleaner, because i could just use one chemical for basically everything. It cleaned off everything and evaporated really fast, so i liked it. i learned the habit as an industrial painter. On the down side, I noticed that I would get involuntary muscle twitches during a job where I had to prep large surfaces with MEK, almost always in my eyelid or pinkie, and it would last for days, or a week after the contract was finished. Evil shit.

MTN makes strange decisions. I never used the Alien paint much because I didn't feel like they were enough for a full outline. I also dislike their new valve on the Hardcore 2. Extremely dusty at higher elevations.

It behaves exactly like Ironlak, sprays exactly like Ironlak, but the price point is more reasonable for what you get. Even back when Rusto had a regular valve, it never had the juicy valve Krylon did. Krylon was really sharp, while Rusto was more of a "Lenny". It was kinda like a defensive tackle compared to a running back. For durability, Rusto is second to none, but it has always lacked in precision and control. That being said, the new system with an adapter is twice as precise as it used to be. Has anyone seen the new Ironlak Sugar paint? I'm wondering if it will be as unstable and reactive as standard Ironlak/Chinese paints? I have to assume the drying time will be fairly long. I've learned not to trust their marketing hype, so I'm curious as to how it performs in real life.

Its possible. If you're interested in keeping your cans as a collectable, keeping them in the garage is probably not the best idea for a variety of reasons. The most important, to me, is that you're not enjoying them. If you're concerned about safety, it might be best for you to drill a small hole in the bottom of the can and empty them out. That way you can display them without any worries and get full enjoyment out of your collection. I can't imagine a freeze/thaw cycle is ideal for their longevity, so emptying the cans might be your best option for keeping the collection intact. You can let out the gas, then seal it back up with a dab of epoxy, so the valve and paint within remains intact. Or just empty the contents entirely. I'm guessing the propellant is the real safety concern, not so much the paint. I'd expect that regular air replacing the propellant volume would turn the paint into a dense sludge at the bottom over time, and not really much of a fire hazard. I'm no expert, but I'm sure there's plenty of shit in my house I should be much more concerned with than a few old spray paint cans. If you plan on releasing the propellant but saving the paint, here's my suggestion. Use a 1/8 or 1/16 drill bit and hold the can upside down after it's been shaken up well. If you can, mask off the bottom and sides of the can with some painters tape and newspaper, to avoid fucking everything up. Let it sit upside down for a few minutes so you don't get a spray of paint and goop once you puncture through, which is also why I suggest masking off the rest of the can. If you've been storing it upright, chances are you have a good layer of paint solids stuck to the bottom, no matter how much you shake it up, and some of those are gonna come flying out if the can is fully pressurized. If the paint is sitting at the opposite end of the can with no dip tube, there is no way it's going to spontaneously fly out of the can. You just might get a bit of residuals still coating the bottom, especially if you drill into the edge, which is why I suggest shaking the can thoroughly to minimize mess. I'd either choose a spot in the center, or right on the outer rim, for aesthetic purposes. Drill slowly and allow the gas to escape slowly. If the can is at full pressure, try to get the smallest possible hole and let it bleed out on its own before widening it up. I wouldn't just blast through all at once. Pretend you're speeding up the process of slow leakage over time. (ever find a can that's totally flat with a solid mass of paint sitting at the bottom? that's the idea here) Leave it upside down for at least a couple days to allow all the gas to escape. A lot of it is trapped within the liquid, like carbonation in soda, and it has a very small hole through which to escape. Trust me, the paint inside isn't going to solidify on you in a couple days. After you feel like the gas is fully gone, dab a tiny bit of epoxy over the hole. If the epoxy bubbles out, there's positive pressure in the can and gas is still escaping. Maybe while it's sitting you can periodically cover the hole and shake it a little until there is no positive internal pressure. Alternately, you can drill two tiny holes and blow air through one to replace the gas volume with air. Once the epoxy cures, you should be good to go with displaying your collection. I'd expect that within a year, all the paint is going to congeal as a solid mass at the bottom. I've lost a few pristine, treasured cans to leakage, so emptying the contents may not be such a bad idea for preservation. My paint was once displayed in a "stadium seating" tiered arrangement, and one of the cans in the back (70's Rusto Chestnut Brown) developed a pinhole leak, and slowly dripped black goo all over the three in front of it. Now I have three beautiful, paper label Wet Paint cans that are permanently stuck together with black goo all over the back. I've also had a valve slowly fail (80's Krylon Mauve) and had similar gooey crap slowly leak out of the top, onto the shelf, and all over a wood floor. It leaked down the back of the shelf, so my wife and I got a nice surprise when we were moving out of that apartment. Both times I could vaguely smell paint in that room for a couple days, but had no idea where it was coming from until it was too late. If the idea is to save the cans for posterity or enjoyment, then you're not doing yourself any favors by keeping them in an uninsulated garage where they're more likely to deteriorate.

Hahaha. That's a big issue? There's more graffiti than that on the electric box near my house.

Bike flips are a pretty rad trick.

That's what I'm saying. The quality of german-made paint is head and shoulders above anything else on the market. I don't know if it's the valve, the quality of the paint, or a combination of both. It's so smooth and precise, like using a new inking pen when you grew up with an old, blown-out sharpie. Why more people don't use it is a mystery to me. I feel like writers who started less than 10 years ago are pretty unaware. It doesn't surprise me, but I always have to shake my head when I see how fast the local shops go through the chinese brands, and the Belton needs to be dusted off until me or a handful of other guys in the city buy some. I'm wondering if it's toys just going with brand recognition, or simply price? Given that the asian imports are only slightly less expensive than the european cans, I have to assume that people are buying based off of advertising and word of mouth. About ten years ago, you'd be painting and some teenagers would walk by and invariably ask if you had Montana. That seemed to be the only brand they knew. Nowadays, Ironlak seems to be the hip brand that casual fans are aware of. If someone talks to me while I'm painting, I can always be sure that Banksy will come up, but Ironlak is definitely second. Maybe its just that Ironlak has a good presence in Denver. Who knows.

That's such a sketchy way to do business.

Looks interesting. I honestly don't mind the chinese paint quality so much as the valve. The paint generally covers better than average, but the damn valve is so fussy and inconsistent. Sometimes all your caps work great, and other times even an astro fat will spray fine at first, then peter down to a spitty, half pressure line, like the valve isn't flowing properly. I have to keep twisting and removing the cap to get a proper line. Most times I can't get a Universal Thin to work better than a spitty, miniature leak. For a while I was using an xacto blade to shave off some of the oversized rubber gasket, but then the cans would leak half the time. It's annoying and drove me away from chinese brands a long time ago. When you couple that with the pigment instability and reactivity of the paint, I'd rather save myself the headache and buy something made in Europe or the US. I wish the brands were more transparent about which factories are producing their paint so we, as consumers, could get educated about what products are coming from where. I feel like All City and Fresh Paint are slightly better than Ironlak and Evolve, but I might have just gotten lucky batches. Quality seems to vary every few months. I bought a can of Molotow Light Shock Blue about a month ago, and it was the exact shade and finish of a can I'd had laying around for over 5 years. That was always the case when i started, where I could find a can of 80's era Rusto Glossy White, and it was identical to a brand new can. Something I just expected and took for granted. I'll never question whether Rusto or Molotow are going to work, because I've never had a problem in 20 years. MTN is also very consistent, but I notice that some cans of 94 don't like to work if they've been used, then had a chance to sit in a crate for several months. My guess is the high pigmentation congealing in the diptube.

I like these quite a bit.