Clears for Candy2o ?

[Jon Haigwood]

Painting is not my forte, and the thing I struggle with the most. I have been using Candy2o over a metallic base. The UVLS clear that I reduce it with doesn't get the results I want so I have been using Alclad Lacquer Gloss Klear coat and spraying several coats, wet sanding and applying additional coats and re-sand and polish. One of my problems is when I lightly wet sand I inadvertently sand thru to the base coat. I use a lot Createx products and watch their videos on how to use them so I contacted the person that did most of the videos on Candy2o paint. I told him what I was trying to do and what airbrush I was using. 

In his response he told me that airbrush with a .35 tip was to small for clears and I should use at least a .5 tip. I also stated that a 2k clear would probably work better for my application. He recommended I use SprayMax in aerosol cans. Any thoughts on this and any experience with SprayMax ?

thanks

[OldNYJim]

Never used Spraymax, but I have cleared over Createx with a 0.35 tip in my (cheapo Chinese eBay) airbrush dozens of times without issue.  Just need to make sure the paint is thinned sufficiently, but if you've ever shot any of Createx's opaque or metallic colors, and clear you shoot will likely be thinner and easier to spray than them.

I've found, with Createx, that some lacquers (Rustoleum, especially, but not exclusively) can be too hot for it, and especially so with the Candy colors.  Solutions are to gently mist of light coats and build up to a wet coat, or use an intercoat to protect the candy before shooting the clear.  Future is a good intercoat, as is Createx's own clear or balancing clear - I prefer Future because it's quick and easy and thin too.

I haven't ever tried 2K over Createx, but if I was going to I'd definitely consider shooting a coat of SOMETHING over top of it first to stop the clear dragging or damaging the candy underneath. 

[OldNYJim]

Also, if you're polishing through the clear then there simply aren't enough layers of clear on there - it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out and thought there was often something wrong with my polishing technique, but no, I just simply wasn't laying down enough clear coat.

For example, when shooting the Rustoleum rattle can clear (the stuff with the black chair on the can) I need to lay down a couple of mist coats and then probably 6-8 coats to get enough to safely polish out the paint job without fear of burn through.  Your problem might be as simple as not laying down enough paint to polish...

[Jon Haigwood]

18 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

Also, if you're polishing through the clear then there simply aren't enough layers of clear on there - it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out and thought there was often something wrong with my polishing technique, but no, I just simply wasn't laying down enough clear coat.

For example, when shooting the Rustoleum rattle can clear (the stuff with the black chair on the can) I need to lay down a couple of mist coats and then probably 6-8 coats to get enough to safely polish out the paint job without fear of burn through.  Your problem might be as simple as not laying down enough paint to polish...

I did discover that I wasn't getting enough on the edges and corners so now I make sure I give them equal amounts of coverage.  I don't like using rattle cans because they waste so much paint and apply the paint to heavy. Normally I decant them and apply them with an airbrush

[OldNYJim]

16 minutes ago, Jon Haigwood said:

I did discover that I wasn't getting enough on the edges and corners so now I make sure I give them equal amounts of coverage.  I don't like using rattle cans because they waste so much paint and apply the paint to heavy. Normally I decant them and apply them with an airbrush

That'll work too, same deal!  I learned the hard, slow way that I just wasn't laying down enough paint and almost ALWAYS burned through and couldn't figure out why. 

Of course, 2K likely lays down much thicker than lacquer (and is apparently MUCH tougher to polish) so that could be the magic bullet to get quick easy glossy paintjobs, but same thing applies - gotta have enough meat on the bones to be able to polish it out successfully ?

[xander custom paint]

my suggestion is get at least a 1.0 mini spray gun with a pancake compressor to spray clear coats. If your going to clear coat a small part than an airbrush will work no smaller than a .05 chris is correct in saying that it will take way to long to coat a big piece with an airbrush this is my 2 cents i use nothing but createx paints 

[mrm]

Just go buy yourself a good 2K clear and a nice respirator and it would solve all your problems. You can spray it literally over anything, including decals or bare plastic. Spray it over watercolor finger paint if you want to. It will cure to the touch in about 2 hours and you can buff it in 12 to 24 hours without a worry. You just have to make sure you clean your airbrush immediately after you're done. It works basically like an epoxy. Mix 4 parts clear with 1 part hardener and the chemical reaction starts the clock. No baking, no one week cure times, no worries. It will give you better shine than anything else out there and it will protect your model, as it is the same thing that's on your real car.