Thread: AA paint question

I know this isn't (strictly speaking) an 'airbrush' question but I figured someone out there would likely know the answer. I have to base paint a motorcycle tank. I have to get it black and I have a meanie lookin cat to go on top of that together with some lettering. I've practiced the cat on some A4 card and it's turned out fine, so I'm happy with that side of it. I figured I would rub it down, prime it and then put three coats pf Auto air Sealer dark on it. Then, five coats of Auto Air semi opaque black over the top of that. I figure that way I'm getting an even and overall solid basecoat down on the tank.

Now, do I flat it between the sealer coat and the actual painting coat?
Do I flat the last paint coat? Once it has cured obviously.
I just want a nice flat base to work on. A local shop is clearing it for me since I dont have the premises to do that yet.

What's yer thoughts guys?

Many thanks,
Bren.

"I figured I would rub it down, prime it and then put three coats pf Auto air Sealer dark on it. Then, five coats of Auto Air semi opaque black over the top of that. I figure that way I'm getting an even and overall solid base coat down on the tank."

I guess it depends on what you mean by "coats" the way you described it sounds like a lot of paint to me.
If you check the Createx web site there is a tech sheet there that should help you.
Can't be a lot of help with this sorry I don't use much Auto Air

Thanks Don. Yeah, the AA 'coats' are really like dustings, you don't apply them overly wet or the colour particles tend to seperate and you get what look like fisheyes. My worry was that with such thin coats it would sand straight thru really easily.

HI
Not sure I'd be sanding AA it but than again I'm not fully up to speed using the AA as I haven't used it much lately.

AA looks a little grainy when applied but once clear coated it looks great has been my experience.

I pretty much always clear coat than add my artwork over the scuffed clear, nice smooth surface that you can ease (wipe the design off without hurting the base) on pretty easy to change the design if need be. That technique works for me.

Have you contacted the tech folks at createx? might want to e-mail or call them I'm sure they would be more than happy to help.

Yeah, I read their tech sheets and it seems that you don't sand the basecoats down. Am gonna go with what you said about it clearing nicely!
I may well try their intercoat clear to achieve that basecoat safety margin, I don't want to be doing the whole thing over if I mess up.

Thanks, it's much appreciated.

Cool
Personally I'd go with two part clear not intercoat clear but thats just the way I do it.
Keep us posted as to your progress please

Sorry for the delay guys, same old same old with me I'm afraid - my shift work gets in the way of continuity!
Well, I put two coats of their transparent clear over the basecoat black and to anyone who hasn't used AA and is concerned at the somewhat grainy finish, don't be. If you have an almost satin sheen to your base coat paint with a very fine grain finish, you are doing just fine. The tech guy at Createx told me that the transparent clear intercoats would make the surface kinder to airbrush on than the actual base paint layer, and guess what? He was right! It does. So aside from protecting your hard work in getting your base done it also helps you to do any artwork over the top of it. He also advised me against low tack masking media, suggesting that I might want to opt for a higher tack material. Again, I was a little worried about this, not from the perspective of pulling the base up when I removed it, but from it leaving any adhesive residue. In the end I used vinyl film, the sort that you might letter the side of a van with, and it was just perfect. Th elow tack stuff actually wouldn't adhere to the AA paint at all, although whther that was an anomaly of the paint or just because the tank was hopelessly round and irregular I don't know.
I'll hopefully (if this pooter works) put some finished pix up on the 'post your work' forum, so you can all critique it for me, but suffice to say that the guy who owns the Suzuki Hayabusa that it's now sitting on is very pleased. I feel that I've learned a heck of a lot from the project which was my first on actual steel. Let's face it, we never stop learning do we?

very cool thanks for the update

"Let's face it, we never stop learning do we?"

It won't be any fun if we did would it :-)

Noe that is true Don....