Inter clear, clear, bc, etc,etc??

[Driftwood]

Hi People,
I joined this site a couple of days ago & cant believe how helpful people are. I have trawled through the the Q & A's for two nights now & have learnt a lot but.........
I am still confused (maybe too much info!, maybe to old?)
I am about to start playing with my airbrush after a 20 year break. I have only sprayed inks in the past on paper for graphics. I would like to start doing some auto stuff. I have a couple of tanks & mudguards to practice on, so here are the questions;
Supposing I am doing a tank, & I've already primed it, is it;

1. Base coat,
2. Inter clear coat ( To protect my base)
3. In with my pearls or whatever I'm airbrushing
4. Clear top coat till I'm happy with depth of field.

Is inter clear the same clear as my top coat just a thinner layer, or is it a completely different product.
I have been trying to decide whether to buy HOK or Auto Air but cant make my mind up. I saw some where that Auto Air has a smaller build up on the edges against the mask?
It seems to be a minefield with HOK. every paint seems to need a different base, how the hell do you find out the prep for each finish.

I know you get asked the same Q's over & over but I really have tried to find out what I can before pestering anybody. I have never seen so many helpful people answer so many questions, & be so patient with us half witted beginners.
Thank you in advance.

 

[TAZ]

Welcome to the Custom Paint Forum. Glad you like what you see so far!

That's a good question about the interclear and the topcoat clear. Especially if you are airbrushing.

Interclear is basically a 'basecoat' clear that you could use if you want to protect the base before you go to your airbrushing. Or you could use it in between your steps of airbrushing, just so you have protection in case something goes wrong. This also helps keep the thickness down to a minumum, since your topclear clear is thicker than the base clear (or intercoat clear)

My suggestion would be to do the base color. Then use topcoat clear. Then you can resand it 'flat' before any airbrushing. This makes a nice flat surface to work on. If are doing some intricate airbrushing and you sprayed your basecoat and it was grainy or rough, then the edges of the artwork will be a little fuzzy.

Sometimes we'll use the topcoat clear before we do a graphic or flame job since it does make the edges of the flames or graphics more crisp.

So, yes, you could do it the way you have it listed, or you could just top clear your base, then resand before your airbrushing.


This is just my input. I'm sure others will throw in some thoughts to.
:bigokay:

 

[Driftwood]

Thanks mate, you are way too helpful, you seem to spend you life on here, it's a wonder you do any painting at all!
So I can assume "intcterclear" & top clear exactly the same product. It's just the stage you use it at that gives it it's name. I just had a play with my airbrush. What a disaster, looks like a chimp with no arms did it, ha ha. So there's my answer, I definitely need to protect my base, I'm going to have to spend a lot of time with this, but I'm going to enjoy it. it seems obvious this old Badger 150 single just isn't going to be fine enough, things have moved on since 1987, but it's all i have for the moment so press on I must. I have been left so far behind it's unbelievable. Thank you very much.

 

[Kong]

Driftwood,

No, intercoat clear and topcoat clear are not the same thing, not at all. What TAZ was explaining to you was a best practice way of doing it. Actually he answered your first question first but you may have missed it so let me give it a try. I'm going to say the same thing TAZ said, just in a little different way.

Base coat is made up of two components, a carrier and a pigment. The pigment can be any color of course but the carrier is clear and its the two mixed together that give you the paint, which you will further reduce (dilute with clear solvent) to a consistency suitable for spraying. Now here is the thing - Intercoat Clear is simply the carrier component of basecoat with no pigment added. So when you spray it over your basecoat in effect all you are doing is adding another coat of basecoat type paint, only this on has no color in it.

Topcoat, or "clear coat" as its often refered to, is a much different beast. Aside from being thicker its also activated by a catylist, otherwise it would never harden.

The purpose of intercoat clear, the carrier without a pigment, is simply to protect what you have under it and to a much smaller extent to act as a barrier to the migration of pigments from one color to another. Sometimes with candy colors (particularly some blues) you get bleed-back of the candy into the underlieing color. This makes artwork foggy and just muddies the living @#$% out of otherwise pretty colors. So you can use a coat or two of an intercoat clear to try to bloc that.

What TAZ suggested to you is really the best, though most labor intensive and expensive, way to go from a base color to artwork. Put simply you spray the color, spray it with catalyzed clear coat, then sand the clear coat back down flat (but not off) and do your artwork on top of that beautiful flat smooth surface, then come back and clear coat (catalyzed) it again to bury the artwork and bring back the luster to the underlying color(s).

Remember, that catalyzed clear coat is bullet proof. TAZ noted that because its been block sanded flat (1000p or so paper does a very nice job of this) it leave nice crisp lines, which is a very nice thing not only for free hand artwork but even more so when taped graphics are going on. It does something else too, it gives you a base you can sand back to if something goes wrong later, in effect you can - to a limited extent - use 1000 grit sandpaper as an eraser if you make a mistake. For me that has proved to be mighty handy more than once.

 

[Driftwood]

Ah! The penny has just dropped. That's great. There's no accounting for how far behind I am with all this. TAZ explained it very clearly but with both explanations together, I get it!
So once I've got a degree in Chemistry, a degree in Science & a degree in understanding plain written English, I can buy some paint!! Yeeehah!
I guess HOK is best to get used to as everybody seems to go with their gear.
Would anybody be nice enough to give me a shopping list to get me going with these practice pieces. I would like to try pearls & candies to start with. Lets say all based on or around orange. So more a paint list really I suppose!
Thanks again for the help. I am so glad to have found this forum.

 

[TAZ]

Thanks for the detailed follow-up Kong!
It was early morning, so I was probably just rambling a bit.

:cheers:

 

[nzgrip]

Ah! The penny has just dropped. That's great. There's no accounting for how far behind I am with all this. TAZ explained it very clearly but with both explanations together, I get it!
So once I've got a degree in Chemistry, a degree in Science & a degree in understanding plain written English, I can buy some paint!! Yeeehah!
I guess HOK is best to get used to as everybody seems to go with their gear.
Would anybody be nice enough to give me a shopping list to get me going with these practice pieces. I would like to try pearls & candies to start with. Lets say all based on or around orange. So more a paint list really I suppose!
Thanks again for the help. I am so glad to have found this forum.

Well there are so many options you can go for


SG100 intercoat clear
KK08 Tangerine , this is a candy concentrate that you use to tint SG100 or Clear Coat to create a candy color.

Pearls.......

You could go for the Shimrin PBC designer pearls which are a base coat with pearls mixed in,

or you could go with the Dry Pearl which are a powder that you mix into SG100 or SG150. You then spray the pearl over you base color.

You can check out the speed shapes to see what the colors look like here............ House of Kolor Speedshapes - Preperation & Undercoat

you will also need the appropriate temp reducer RU 310, RU311 or RU312

UC35 clear coat
KU150 Catalyst for the UC35

 

[Driftwood]

Thanks nzgrip,
I need to get used to my airbrush again before I blow too many ££s on paint but want to have a plan for when I'm ready. Which would you say is the more "idiot Proof" the PCB base with pearls in it or the dry pearl. Sounds to me like adding my own pearl has got disaster written all over it.
Thank you again for your help. I'm sure it's not the last time I'll be asking.

 

[Kong]

Driftwood,

Let me give you the short answer on this one. With the House of Kolor paints the BC and PBC (Base Coat and Pearl Base Coat) are by far the easiest to shoot. Just think of them as solid colors, much like any other solid color that you'd shoot - very easy. There is this about them, the color will remain the same no matter how many coats you shoot on.

"Real Kandy" and Kandies made by mixing Koncentrates with clear, and pearls and flakes made by mixing dry materials with clear are far harder to apply and will definitly change color depending on how many or how heavy coats are applied.

 

[Driftwood]

Thanks fella's, that's very helpful, I had another play with the airbrush yesterday and things were a litle better. I've got an old Harley tank that I just keep pinting the sanding then re-painting. I'm really enjoying it. But it's going to be a while till I'm happy. Fine lining is hard with this old Badger airbrush, but when I've got my hand back in It looks like an Iwata is on the cards. Is the "war office" finds out she'll leave I reckon! Still,,,,, no Mrs & a nice bit of kit to play with....... Everyone's a winner!