What paint to use on a mask

[cougar20th]

Toying with the idea of painting my old events mask.

What type of paint should I use. I know some work well and some dont.

[Alexndl]

Paint does not stick well on plastic, especially flexible plastic. Surface prep need to be perfect and even then it will flake over time.
From what I have heard, cerakote could work.

[Grendel]

I have used Krylon Fusion for plastics and Duracoat with reasonable success in the past but as stated the plastic used does not take paint well. I did some research on this a while ago and one of the best options I found was Cerakote and low temperature curing for longer periods of time but the expense was not worth it.

This is after years of hard use and the paint is fine but some of the epoxy I used is discoloring and separating from merging Old School Vents mask to Empire Vents Googles. This one is Krylon Fusion the Duracoat ones were no better and considerably more expensive.

[Drcemento]

while i have not tackled masks specifically i;ve painted allot of plastic over the years and a couple things i've learned:
Taking allot of time to carefully sand the surfaces goes miles to promoting adhesion. - at least 220-320 even on the more flexible masks (not the really flexy JT bottoms - not sure anything would stick to that_
Bulldog adhesion promoter is a pricey but very affective in getting paint to stick to plastic, but must be used on scuffed surface - its rated to fill in a 320 grit finish.
Clear coat! - goes al long way to increasing durability and flexibility of any paint job and is so often overlooked by DIY'ers

[Grendel]

Yup using an adhesion promoter definitely helps especially something that is going to flex. I used the Krylon branded promoter when I did mine on the plastic/epoxy parts. Was not needed for the foam ear/cheek pieces they soaked the paint up quite well . Cleaned everything with denatured alcohol then sanded IIRC most likely 220 grit then cleaned up again before spraying with adhesion promoter. Prep work is key with light coats and patients. I've been tempted to put new lenses in this mask and wear this weekend. It still is in pretty good shape I just stopped using it because some fields would give me crap about using a modified set of goggles.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I been thinking of trying my hand at Cerokote. Is a bit of an investment. But it’s about the same price to have it done as it is to buy the equipment. I have some of it already anyway and I have a hard time paying for something I can do myself. Let me know what you are thinking. Bearfoot use to do some really cool stuff with cerokote but the shop is no more. I think that’s the way to go for long term durability. I really want some royal purple proshields to match my J2.

[cougar20th]

Lets talk at Slims.

[Grendel]

Once I get my new shop built I will be investing in equipment to do Cerakote as well as anodizing but that is a little way out maybe this time next year. I have other hobbies and interest than paintball that will be making the investment worthwhile.

[Alexndl]

If you need couple of project to make it worth it to invest, I would be glad to send you some project to cerakote

[Psycho91]

As already stated the big thing with painting anything is prep prep prep and when you think your done prep another time or 2 and the clear coat you use and doing everything right and by the directions most people don't follow directions very well when it comes to paint, I had a 98 custom I must have painted 5 times when I was younger

[Chuck E Ducky]

Spray paint really don’t hold up all that well. Oil from the paint gets under it and lifts it off even the hard plastics. Cerokote remains flexible and has really good adhesion to plastic and even rubber. The H series requires lower temps to dry at longer time frames. Lots of cool color options to but it requires a good amount of prep work.

I already have the stuff I need to do it. But I really don’t want to run the stuff through my Sata HVLP. I will likely pick up a cheap Harbor Freight sprayer to process Cerokote.