The Master Series Coating Line: The History and Science

Welcome to the Mastercoat blog. My name is Pat Mastrincola and I founded The Master Series Coating Line in 1988. With this blog, I will be able to share my experience with moisture cured urethanes with you.

In this particular entry, I'll give offer some history about moisture cured urethanes and explain the science behind them and our Mastercoat Permanent Rust Sealer, which is our brand of moisture cured urethane. Originally formulated by the Mobay chemical company in the early 1970s, this coating system was designed for maximum corrosion resistance on bridges, structures along the sea front, and anti-corrosive environments. It worked on a simple principle that the resin being moisture activated and waterproof would be heavily impregnated with aluminum pigment, when applied in layers, would cut off the oxygen. It was first introduced in the mid-70s as POR-12 metal filler. After the owner died a new owner arrived and that marked the end of POR-12 metal filler. His logic was that customers who are painting the bottom of their cars don't want silver, but black instead. This black was coating was then created, but it was not the same as the silver--without the aluminum pigment to cut off the oxygen, it was not air tight. I had been working for that company, and that's when I left and started The Master Series Coating Line.

Since that time, a number of companies have appeared and sell the black coating the same way: they all claim that the black is air tight and will stop and prevent rust by itself. This is not true. Thr fact of the matter is that aluminum flake and metacious iron oxide cut off oxygen, and if a coating does not contain one of these, it is not air tight. For 30 years now, we’ve been using two coats of Mastercoat Permanent Rust Sealer and one coat of Mastercoat Chassis Black or AG111 Ultimate Chassis Finish with much success. The name of this coating system is the Three Coat Polyurethane System, which consists of two coats of the aluminum base primer and one color coat. This system provides a service life of up to 25 years, rust free.

Let’s go back once again to when PM Industries started.

My search started in 1988, when I was selling a popular rust product. I was at a show and had my displays out as usual, and noticed that the silver had a green tint. A man walked up to my stand, we talked for a moment, and he mentioned to me that this primer I was selling was similar to a primer that Mobay had developed. He claimed the Mobay material had little or no sunlight sensitivity and it would do an incredible 8000 hours salt spray. He was the owner of a paint factory in New York State and he attempted this formulation, but on the way home the can burst in the trunk of his car. After that, understandably, he shied away from it. I started asking a lot of questions, but he advised me just call Mobay chemical’s tech department with my questions. You can bet Monday morning I was on the phone with Mobay, where I spoke to an elderly gentleman. Every time I mentioned the black he got a little huffy—his exact words to me were, “It’s silver, like it or lump it.” These are highly technical terms. I asked him where I could get a can of this silver and he told me to call Steelcoat in St. Louis, which I did, and they sent me a bunch of  samples. The first thing I did was paint the front of the 38 Packard. It was stripped down to bare metal, and there was pitting on the top where the hood ornament went. Directions were to spray two coats, and I did exactly that. On the second coat the pitting disappeared...I couldn't believe it! Needless to say, I was happy as a little boy on Christmas.

So that’s how I discovered a way to level pitting without having to use Nitro stain—and this is when our tag line “Get rid of the Pits” was born. In addition to that, we had an airtight seal so the rust couldn't come back, AND we could use any kind of paint over it. The reason for this is it’s completely solvent proof when it dries. So in my first experiment I discovered that it worked well on clean, steel, it sealed the rust airtight, didn't turn green in the sun, and dried nice and toothy for paint to adhere to it. I started doing all kinds of experiments with body fillers and glazing putties, and have had great success for many years with these techniques. Check back here periodically for some of those techniques or contact me if you have a question.