Originally Posted by
scratchpc7
Thanks again Pat.
OK, time for more questions.
On the painting with the HOK colors. How bad are they for you and do you, use a respirator, paint outside, have a paint booth, or anything else that I should know about these. And if I wanted to use other paints like the Auto Air Colors, since they are water-based and less dangerous to health, would they mix ok with the HOK. Thinking of doing the HOK black pearl and metalume for the 3D highlights but the other paints for the base colors, etc. I looked at the auto air aluminum fine and it looks like it would work, except for the fact that it is very delicate to touch; masking over it doesn't sound like an option. So that means that I would most likely have to clear-coat over every layer of the aluminum paint, or just skip it all together.
on the cutting of the masking on the corners, on the post right above, how do you make the first cut against the surface of what you are painting, so as not to damage, slice, leave a mark, etc.
Otherwise, seems easy to follow, probably hard to duplicate. Also, if I am going to learn to use an airbrush correctly anyways, think I will go with the dual action and sell my single action kit. no sense learning to do something twice.
Cheers,
Doug
Doug,
OK let's take them in order. Yes the HOK stuff is pretty stinky stuff. I just paint in my garage with no both. Now do as I say and not as I do. You should really wear a respirator with any of this stuff, even water base. I always wear one when I shoot with a HVLP gun, but don't always with an airbrush. The really bad stuff is clear coats. The catalyst will pickle your brain so never shoot it without a respirator.
You should be fine with using Auto Air. There are tons of custom painters using it and they don't have a problem with it lifting. I have shot some of it and the trick with any water base is to put down a bunch of thin coats and let it dry. You can force it with a hair dryer or a heat gun, but if you try to dry a thick coat it will skim over on the surface and not dry and then it will lift. I have shot their pearl and it is really nice. I haven't used their silver. You should be able to intermix them fine, but I don't think you need to. The key to water base is just take a little more time with it. I would just buy a few of their little bottles and experiment. TCP carries it in small bottles. There should be no need to clear between coats as long as you let it dry.
OK on cutting the tape. Good question. I am testing you guys to see if you are reading this stuff!
What I do is use a new number 11 or a razor blade and just score the surface of the tape very lightly two or three times. Then you just hold the blade in place and pull up the tape into the blade if that makes sense? In other words don't slice all the way trough the tape. Do the same on the other cut.
That being said, we are working on very fragile surface and we are going to get flaws and dings. The car and motor cycle guys don't have the same issues. I may be working over a bipe wing for fifteen to twenty hours total and stuff happens. I am kind of at the point now, that if it's a big ding or it bugs me too much I fix it, but the little micro stuff, no way. The reality is, you are going to be the only one that sees it. I have said it before, you better do this stuff for you, because, no one else cares (or very few do). I probably spend about thee to four hours fixing little stuff on a bipe wing and I could probably spend twice that and still have flaws.
I agree, get a good double action and it will serve you well.