Basecoat under Pearl Purple paint?

[Dennis Lacy]

So this is the first model car project / painting I've done in 10 years and after months of off and on work I don't want to screw up! The base kit for my project is the AMT '32 Ford Roadster and I am going to paint the body, wheels and some other components with Testors Colors by Boyd "Kandy Purple Pearl." Just today I have primed everything in Testors flat white on my newly constructed "overkill" paint stand and after sufficient drying time I will wetsand and reaply primer if necessary to fill in any flaws that show up. Now, before applying the purple I am thinking that a silver basecoat should be applied as pearls and metallics are usually fairly transparant and coverage should be better over silver, rather than white especially on panel lines and sharp corners where paint tends to run away from. I'm also thinking that with the silver underneath the final color and shade will show and look better.

Is my "thinking" on the right track? Need some opinions please!

BTW, these colors are all aerosol cans.

[crispy]

I would certainly agree with that as well.

Just make sure with those aerosols to do a few light mist coats before you do any heavy wet coats. From experience if you apply to much to soon it will pull away from any panel lines. Especially those candy style paints.

Patience will be the key here.

Good Luck and I hope you'll show us a few shots!

By The Way, Welcome to the board!

Chris

Edited September 19, 2008 by crispy

[Jantrix]

Dennis, you absolutely have the right idea. Let us see how it comes out.

[MrObsessive]

Another tip for candy paint is to do your painting in a criss-cross pattern. A few strokes in one direction, a few strokes in the other direction.

Count your strokes each time per side so the coats will be even throughout.

This will minimize "zebra stripes" if done this way since candies are so transparent.

Hope this helps!

[MikeMc]

Your base is the most important part of your final color. In the HOK color chips they show the difference between bases.

White, black , gold, or silver will all work with kandys....BUT the end color will be diff depending on your base.

So get some spoons and shoot some tests....Note not all silvers and golds are the same.....I shot 4 diff silver bases till I got the

end color I wanted. The paint your using is a thin pearl......color with some flakes....Mr O is right ...you do not want tiger stripes!!!

[Dennis Lacy]

Thank you for the replies! It's good to know I was thinking along the right lines. I went to my LHS today and looked at my options for silver and there were about three that I liked. Going off the samples on the paint rack I chose plain-old Testors Silver. I'm not so concearned with the final hugh being slightly light or dark, I just want good coverage so the hugh will be what it will be. The spoon test is a great idea and I'll keep that in mind for a future paint job that may be more critical. Thanks also for the tips on spraying!

I will definately post the finished model in the "under glass" section when it's finished.

[evilone]

thats the best idea

if you cover the base white it will look like you did a pearl job on the white and it will run faster then an olmpic racer

but if you put it over a silver and wet sand it to get the the purple a foot hold then you should be able to get two coats on it depending apon how dark it is wet sand it to get rid of the orange peel clear it wet sand between each coat of clear and polish and boom your done

[Dragon7665]

Another tip for candy paint is to do your painting in a criss-cross pattern. A few strokes in one direction, a few strokes in the other direction.

Count your strokes each time per side so the coats will be even throughout.

This will minimize "zebra stripes" if done this way since candies are so transparent.

Hope this helps!

Well said Bill! Kandies and Pearls both benefit from being shot this way, as you stated, to minimize the possibility of Zebra (thick) or Tiger (Thinner) Stripes....

With a True Transparency Kandy or Pearl Kolor, the Base Kolor will give the majority of the effect of the over-all end Kolor, and a Tinted Kandy or Pearl will yield even more of a different effect.....

Tips for a Metallic Kolor for those who is interested, a One-Way Direction is preferred when spraying, to help the Flakes lay in one uniform direction (IE only go either Front to back or Back to front, and not back and forth, as that will cause irregularities in light refraction)..

[evilone]

Well said Bill! Kandies and Pearls both benefit from being shot this way, as you stated, to minimize the possibility of Zebra (thick) or Tiger (Thinner) Stripes....

With a True Transparency Kandy or Pearl Kolor, the Base Kolor will give the majority of the effect of the over-all end Kolor, and a Tinted Kandy or Pearl will yield even more of a different effect.....

Tips for a Metallic Kolor for those who is interested, a One-Way Direction is preferred when spraying, to help the Flakes lay in one uniform direction (IE only go either Front to back or Back to front, and not back and forth, as that will cause irregularities in light refraction)..

thats a good tip for the metallic paints

my suggestion is to spray it it an up and down pattern(from roof to rocker panel)

[Dragon7665]

thats a good tip for the metallic paints

my suggestion is to spray it it an up and down pattern(from roof to rocker panel)

Thanks Evil..... Would like to add a bit more clarity to yours though(A Very Good Suggestion, that even some of the most experienced will over look at times), as it might come across to some that you are saying to spray verticle right away.... It is true that you are doing verticle in a sence, but what you want to do, is start at the top of the body, and paint the roof from front to back, heading vertically down from which ever side you started with( Ie if you started spraying the body on it's side, with the passenger side at the top position, work front to back, vertically down towards the driver's side or vice versus)... Turning the body to whatever proper side you end up at, continue to spray front to back of the body, progressing down vertically towards the rockers..... Doing this not only allows for the paint to lay evenly, you are also keeping down the possibility of having a run or sag in the finish(Starting from the bottom, and working your way to the top, the finish will be fighting gravity during drying stages, so the end result will generally lead to a Run or a Sag in the finish), unless you were spraying Heavily towards the top......

That tip is not only for a Metallic Finish, but also a good rule of thumb whenever painting any general finishes....

Note: When ever painting a Metallic Finish, you always want to make sure you go in the same direction as the first side(Ie, if you started at the front of the car and worked towards the rear or vice-versus, do the same on the opposite side, otherwise you will have an Non-uniform Metallic Finish...... A traditional Non-Metallic Finish, you can easily get away with going in reverse on the other side, where as a Specialty Finish it will stick out like a sore thumb......

[Dennis Lacy]

Thanks for all the great advice, guys!

An update: I wet sanded the primer with 2000 then sprayed the silver base last Thursday and it went very good. I let it dry all weekend and tonight I'm gonna wet sand the silver with 2000 then hopefully spray the purple tomorrow night. I'll give an update on the outcome.

[evilone]

Thanks for all the great advice, guys!

An update: I wet sanded the primer with 2000 then sprayed the silver base last Thursday and it went very good. I let it dry all weekend and tonight I'm gonna wet sand the silver with 2000 then hopefully spray the purple tomorrow night. I'll give an update on the outcome.

uh bro if its flaked then dont even think about wet sanding it

it will sand the flake right off bro

[Dragon7665]

uh bro if its flaked then dont even think about wet sanding it

it will sand the flake right off bro

Well yes and no, you can color sand metallics, pearls, and Kandies, but you want to take more care with them....... Another words, I would recommend going to a finer grade or two, than what you would normally use (If not an even finer grade than the two above), and then just use more caution when sanding it..... Just be aware that wet sanding will remove imperfections, and layers faster than dry sanding will.....

When you finally get to the final clear or top coat, you would be better off Polishing as oppsed to color sanding.. As you will burn through the clear coat faster than a color coat, unless you have built up enough layers to safely cut down.....