Help!!! Paint touch up problem

[Jeremy Farny]

Hi, I just painted my 95 Harley fatboy. I painted the base prowler metallic purple with prowler yellow flames with orange tips. This is my first base - clear paint job let alone flames. I am what you call an enamel pro from the old school but this system was new to me. I thought it would be piece of cake but it was a bit challenging. Anyway the problem is that when I painted my base and cleared it, I broke through the clear when wetsanding for the flames. So I went ahead and painted the flames and before clearing again I took my air brush and shot a little of the purple on the spot that I broke through. After clearing the flames I noticed that the purple spot I touched up looks like crap, it isn't the same color purple and it looks burndt around the edges. What did I do wrong? Did I put it on to wet and penetrate the clear or is the airbrush not appropritate to do this with or what? I am disgusted because the paint job and flames are immaculate except for the eye sore. What can I do to touch this up correctly? Please help.
Also can you blend clear so I don't have to clear the whole tank again? I am using Martin Seniour Paint. I used this site for steps on flame painting and am really happy this is here, it gave me insight that I used and really needed for a first time flame job. Thanks Jeremy

 

[rex]

Welcome to the site.The airbrush is what did it unfortunately.They don't put out the material flow a normal gun does so not only does it put it on thinner per coat to affect coverage but it lays metalics and pearls in a different arrangement.To make it look right you'll probably need to start over.You could tape off the flames and respray the base color with the original gun and blend it out over a larger area but it'll probably look odd at the tapelines.Sorry to be the bearer of bad news

 

[Jeremy Farny]

hey rex, I kind of figured it was the air brush but why can't I just sand the bad area tape around it, paint with the big gun then clear it and buff? The bad part is on the purple base and not near the flames anywhere. Will it blend ok with the big gun versus the air brush? Does painting wet vs. dry with the base coat change things when blending metallic? Let me know. Jeremy

 

[TAZ]

Jeremy,
Basecoats are effected quite a bit with air-pressure. The lower the pressure, the darker the color, the higher the pressure, the lighter the color will come out. This also holds true with how wet you put on the paint.
So you will need a bigger area to do a blend. If you try a real small area, usually the metallic color will come out lighter because you are trying to keep the area small, thus blowing more air then paint.

You can blend your paint without any problems, but you need the proper techniques and materials to do so. I'd hate to see you blend the spot, then blend the clear, then you "burn" through the edge and have to redo the area. Blending is almost an art within itself.

My suggestion would be to mask off any flames that are around about a 5" area of this spot (like Rex said), do your basecoat blend, then reclearing the parts. Since you have a '95, you will only have to do one half of the split tank. It does sound like quite a bit more work then just blending a small area...but in the long run, it will pay off.
Been there done that!

 

[rex]

As Scott said definately reclear the whole tank 1/2.You can blend clear and buff it out to be invisible but eventually the edge will frost and show.Clear has to be a certain thickness to retain it's protective qualities and when you blend it the edge gets thin and breaks down with time.I'm sure you've seen cars around that have milky looking spots in them or the clear is actually coming off and all around it it's milky looking.Chrysler and Ford were bad about it years ago.Some are adhesion problems from the start but some are from the clear being thin from the factory and wear on the surface thins it more to the point it turns milky.Your clear blend will look like this later on.

 

[Jeremy Farny]

Thanks Scott and Rex for the insight. Just a couple questions to ask. Do you suggest waiting a little while to blend the color and reclear the 1/2 tank or will it be alright to do it anytime soon? It's been about a week since I painted and buffed. Also how should I put the color on with the BIG paint gun. Dry, wet, mist it on, paint it the same as original, etc. Give me the steps how you would go about it. Also how do i add a picture to show my first flame job and jet you critique on it? I plan on painting it every winter so I think I got a new bike!! Also to practice.

 

[rex]

It should be cured out well enough but if you have any doubts wait another week.Sand the whole thing down with 6 or 800 and tape offf the flames pretty much completely to be safe.Then respray the base just like you did the first time.Untape the flames and reclear it.If you leveled out the tape edge the first time do it again but hold this 1/2 up to the other,if there's a depth difference scuff the other 1/2 and reclear it so it looks closer.Shouldn't be necessary but some colors really change with the millage of the clear.

 

[kevin n]

Hi!! My name is Kevin:
I just painted my 1996 Harley Davidson RoadKing...DuPont Electric Blue.....I taped my flames off with Foto Frisket film(because the paint stores don't sell masking paper around here) The Foto Frisket Film was all we could get. I shot my flames...they turned out beautiful.....when I took up my masking tape and Foto Frisket film...the Foto

Frisket film removed quite a bit of my electric blue...I am sick....Can I tape off the flames reshoot my silver undercoat then shoot my blue again? I'm very new at this and don't know what I'm doing...Please help!!!

 

[ezrider]

welcome Kevin. you probibly dont wanna hear this but you would be better starting over again, by time you feather out wherer the paint pulled off it might make more of a mess then it would be worth and sacrafising your quality. i have tried the friscket and its got too much adhesive and if it dosent pull paint off the adhesive is difficult to remove from the paint. go old school use a GOOD masking tape (3m brand) which is what i still use another product to try is automask(plenty of posts on this topic, just do a search) which is simular to frisket but comes on a roll in various widths and has the correct adhesive for this type of an application so it wont pull the paint off. hope this helps