[wbassett]

Another hearty welcome Fritz!

If lumens aren't a problem then you'll get decent whites with a gray screen and not just BW. It's when a white reference screen is thrown up as a comparison when they don't look as white, but people don't normally have a 'split screen' that's half white and half gray. Once the white reference is removed, the whites will once again look white.

Where the big problem comes in is if the gray isn't neutral or near neutral. Then a color push starts to happen and whites can take on a bluish, reddish, or green hue, depending which direction the gray pushes.

Platinum is a very nice balance, better than Fashion Grey. Paints will wear and show the stress of being exposed to the elements, especially flat paints. I'm not sure if you read the laminate thread here or at AVS but I put them through a torture test that no other screen DIY or commercial would survive. I soaked some Wilsonart laminate in water for 24 hours and there was no water damage whatsoever. I then took the sample while it was still wet and put it in the freezer, no cracks or any sign of damage. It will crack if enough pressure and stress is put on it, but again, the amount of force needed would have destroyed other screens long before the laminate would be destroyed. The only thing that will really damage it quickly is extreme heat or flames.

Over time being exposed to direct sunlight it will fade some, but everything does to some extent and you'd probably have to leave it outside in direct sunlight for at least a year before you noticed any fading.

I know a couple of people that used laminates for outdoor screens and they were very happy with them. One person made a pool side screen out of laminate because he knew it would be getting some water on it from time to time.

Size is really your only restriction. Max screensize is a 120" diagonal 16x9 screen. If you made a 2.35:1 screen you could get a bit larger diagonal image.