Createx

[TransAmMike]

Wondering if anyone on here has sprayed the Createx Auto Air line of paint??

[stitchdup]

I havent myself but a friend gets some really nice results with it. I believe he thins it with washer fluid but I;m not certain on that

[TransAmMike]

Thanks Les, I'm just wondering now if the Wicked Color line would be just as good.  I'm looking at the Pearl Orange (for Tamiya 911GT2 Club Sport and  and the Gold for 70 Cutlass (to replicate a car I owned).

[Spruslayer]

I have used some of the Createx colors and have had no issues with them.I thin with a home brew thinner and the near by Hobby Lobby has a nice selection of their products too.

[TransAmMike]

Good to know and yes Hobby Lobby with the 40% off is a great money saver.

[Kit Basher]

I have sprayed a fair amount of Auto Air, with pretty good results. There is a bit of a learning curve, and I suggest you download the "Hard Surface Application Guide" from their website. Some of their colors require adding a "balancing clear" before thinning, and others do not. I also use their thinner. They have some amazing colors, especially in the pearls and metallics. Good luck and have fun!

This Ford was painted with one of their "Sparklescent" colors.

[TransAmMike]

Thanks Hugh, beautiful sparkely finish.  What clear did you use?

[Kit Basher]

27 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

Thanks Hugh, beautiful sparkely finish.  What clear did you use?

I think that one was Duplicolor "Perfect Match" clear, but almost any clear will work.

BTW, I think "Wicked" is also made by Createx, but might be easier to use since it is not intended for 1:1 automotive use.

Edited October 26, 2020 by Kit Basher

[CabDriver]

Yep!  Love all their paints!  Very forgiving to use, great price, great colors, and they mix easy as pie.  Hard to go wrong with them!  You can’t polish them like lacquers or enamels, so you’ll need a top coat, so bear that in mind but I love them!

All painted with Createx or Wicked Colors paints (mostly Createx):

[stinkybritches]

Createx has a great series of videos on YouTube. I've watched a lot of them lately. I haven't used their paint yet, but I have plenty of it waiting for me to get my paint area set up. 

[Jon Haigwood]

I used Createx / AutoAir Colors . I like the application but had a hard time getting a good clear due the roughness of the surface. I started off with Future but that seemed to turn out to thick. I have some Wicked colors but have never tried it.

What I like about it is you can lay down a coat and dry it with a hair dryer  and do the next coat shortly there after. And it is not effected by humidity after all you can thin it with water.

[TransAmMike]

Thanks guys, I have pretty well convinced myself I'm gonna go for it.  Hobby Lobby here I come.  

Still wondering what to clear coat with tho. Suggestions??

[Dave G.]

13 hours ago, Spruslayer said:

I have used some of the Createx colors and have had no issues with them.I thin with a home brew thinner and the near by Hobby Lobby has a nice selection of their products too.

Good to know the home brew thinner works, their proprietary thinner has maybe held me back from buying into them a little. But basically I'll use about any paint for my base color coat that will spray evenly anyway. I have craft paints, some hobby paints, artist acrylics all spraying nice with my home brew thinner, so I haven't exactly been chomping at the bit to get Createx. Maybe next time I'm near some I'll pick up a bottle of pearl something ( I have a T that might look good in frosted deep purple pearl).

[TransAmMike]

I don't know if I missed it but what is your "homebrew" thinner?

[TransAmMike]

Another thing I forgot to ask was what about priming before Wicked Color top coat???

[espo]

My question would also have to do with a type of thinner to use. I see it often mentioned using Washer Fluid, Windex perhaps ?.  I have Tamiya X-20A Acrylic and Model Master Lacquer Thinner, would these not be appropriate to use ?  

[Dave G.]

5 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

I don't know if I missed it but what is your "homebrew" thinner?

Not sure if spruslayers is the same as mine and I haven't used mine in Createx yet, where he has.

[Spruslayer]

The thinner i mix is about  2/3  distiled water, 1/3  99% isopropyl alcohol amd about 4 or five drops per ounce of  flow improver and fluid retarder.

The alcohol can be expensive but im still miles ahead of the premix brands.

[Dave G.]

58 minutes ago, Spruslayer said:

The thinner i mix is about  2/3  distiled water, 1/3  99% isopropyl alcohol amd about 4 or five drops per ounce of  flow improver and fluid retarder.

The alcohol can be expensive but im still miles ahead of the premix brands.

70% is (but more important available locally) cheaper, you just adjust the water so you end up with 30%-35% alcohol, so 60% iso to 40% distilled water using 70% drug store iso will give you 30% actual alcohol content in the blend.The 35% is fudge factor lol. Easier to find 70% for me.. I do my retarder and flow aid different than you, I mix 3oz batches at a time and 4-8 drops of Liquitex retarder to the 3 oz blend depending on time of year. I use a whisker of Dawn dish wash liquid for flow aid. It's way  less than a drop, I just get some on a mixing stick and wipe it in there ( stir). So the retarder stops tip dry and the flow aid to break surface tension. I have Liquitex flow aid, it's designed to mix either 10 or 20-1 according to the instructions then add that blend to your paint but I hit on the Dawn and like it. It just takes a trace amount of Dawn though.

I used to use 91% iso before covid hit and could not find it locally any longer. 70 pops up here and there, right now I have plenty.......So with 91 I used 40% iso to 60% distilled water. Lately been playing with denatured alcohol but haven't gotten far in testing as yet. It works great straight up in Tamiya acrylic though ! Denatured is what's in washer fluid, since I never liked washer fluid for craft paint and my own thinner works heads and shoulder above washer fluid in craft paint, I'm not overly excited about jumping in head first. But I am thinking a blend of iso and dna might have potential.

[Spruslayer]

36 minutes ago, Dave G. said:

70% is (but more important available locally) cheaper, you just adjust the water so you end up with 30%-35% alcohol, so 60% iso to 40% distilled water using 70% drug store iso will give you 30% actual alcohol content in the blend.The 35% is fudge factor lol. Easier to find 70% for me.. I do my retarder and flow aid different than you, I mix 3oz batches at a time and 4-8 drops of Liquitex retarder to the 3 oz blend depending on time of year. I use a whisker of Dawn dish wash liquid for flow aid. It's way  less than a drop, I just get some on a mixing stick and wipe it in there ( stir). So the retarder stops tip dry and the flow aid to break surface tension. I have Liquitex flow aid, it's designed to mix either 10 or 20-1 according to the instructions then add that blend to your paint but I hit on the Dawn and like it. It just takes a trace amount of Dawn though.

I used to use 91% iso before covid hit and could not find it locally any longer. 70 pops up here and there, right now I have plenty.......So with 91 I used 40% iso to 60% distilled water. Lately been playing with denatured alcohol but haven't gotten far in testing as yet. It works great straight up in Tamiya acrylic though ! Denatured is what's in washer fluid, since I never liked washer fluid for craft paint and my own thinner works heads and shoulder above washer fluid in craft paint, I'm not overly excited about jumping in head first. But I am thinking a blend of iso and dna might have potential.

Thank you Dave,after reading this thread i looked at my supply and was needing alcohol and was about to drop 30 for a gallon!?

[Dave G.]

7 minutes ago, Spruslayer said:

Thank you Dave,after reading this thread i looked at my supply and was needing alcohol and was about to drop 30 for a gallon!?

Well I think you can save a few more bucks ! Just keep your ratios right. Never mind my other ingredients if yours works, we may not have the same brands or climate for that matter. The key being if they work. A fellow here tried my recipe and in the end it worked great for him, he really liked it especially for craft paints. But initially he tried Goldens retarder and it screwed everything up.

[Kit Basher]

3 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

Another thing I forgot to ask was what about priming before Wicked Color top coat???

Auto Air recommends priming with Auto Borne sealers. The advantage is that your primer can be a similar color to your paint. Since these colors are a bit transparent, that way you need less paint. Auto Borne comes in a variety of colors, as well as a set of primary colors with white and black, so you can mix any color you want.

For clear, just try out your favorite clear (on a test subject), I bet it will work.

For drying, they say do not use heat. I use a double action airbrush. Spray a mist coat of paint, then dry it with just air from the airbrush. The paint dries pretty fast, so you really don't have to put down the airbrush. Paint it, dry it, paint it, dry it, pretty soon you're done!

[TransAmMike]

Thats a lot for me to digest there and I can appreciate wanting perfection.  I'm sure those concoctions are an improvement over the off the shelf thinners and likely produce optimal results but don't y'all think I can achieve  pretty good results with say the Createx reducer??  Or even just washer fluid and/ or a  lower percentage alchohol and washer fluid mix.

[CabDriver]

I haven’t had luck with their primers/sealers - no matter what I tried I couldn’t get them to adhere to styrene well enough that I could safely mask over it.  If you’re not going to do any masking, you might get away with using them, but even that $1 Color Place primer you can get at Walmart works better than their stuff does on the plastic we like.

I use their sealers for other stuff, but ALWAYS over a ‘real’ primer base. 

For projects like that Impala I posted above there was a TONNE of masking, and I had about 0% confidence in their water-based based Auto Borne products for that job - I don’t see how a water-based paint can bite into styrene as well as regular primer can, and in my experience it just doesn’t work.

The Createx reducer however works great for me and isn’t expensive - I’ve used Rx 91% type alcohol too, like some others above, but their own brand stuff works great and a little goes a long way so I don’t mess with anything else very often.

For a clearcoat, I haven’t found much that DOESN’T work over Createx paint - I like gloss enamel cut with lacquer thinner right now, but there’s plenty of options in the flavor of your choice out there.

As always, opinions vary and mine’s only worth as much as you paid for it, but these have been my experiences with the stuff...

[TransAmMike]

Thanks Jim for your input.  I like the idea of using the Createx reducer with their line of paint and as you say, its pretty inexpensive.  

As for primer, I'm glad to know about any primer, I've always had good luck with Krylon enamel primer.  It really does seem to dry fast and smooth.

Truthfully, I have never used a clear over any of my paint jobs, most of which has also been Krylon.....but I suppose I will have to with the Createx.  A good suggestion????

I have a Badger and Paashe airbrush but really hav'nt used them much so this will be a pretty new endevor for me.