airbrush graphics on vehicle

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AntAnt

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How to add an auotomobile graphic on finished paint job?

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum and need some advice/help. I want to add airbrush graphics to an automobile that has already been painted and clear coated. The car was painted a little over two weeks ago. I was wondering a couple things about this project:
I know I have to wet sand but do I have to wet sand the whole panel? Or can I just wet sand the area of where the graphic is going and just clear over that area?, I heard I should sand the whole panel and reclear the whole panel as well, this way there will be no issue where the existing clear blends into the new clear. Is there any way to just "spot sand" and "spot clear" without any issues? Also, I have the regular createx airbrush colors, will these hold up to an automotive grade clear coat sprayed on top of them?
I appreciate any help and advice in advance with this subject
 
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Depends on where you want to spray the image. Door, some fenders and bonnets you can treat as separate objects - the rest of the car does not need to be clear coated, but if you spray on the main body work you will have to sand and clear coat a lot... (and hire a spraying booth).
 
Thanks ignis for fast response!, it's a graphic on the trunk, just wasn't sure if I would have to sand and spray the whole trunk or if I could sand and spray clear on just the areas of the trunk where image is? Also what about the paint question if you could? Thanks again!
 
Best bet sand and spray the trunk if you do have a problem you will be kicking yourself in the ass wishing you did. As far as cereatex it will accept clear coat and will be ok(have done this before when I first started ABing). But if you plan to do more automotive I would switch to wicked, etac or uro's. Uro's may be the most hazard but spray so well with a little intercoat clear and some ******er mixed in. I came from using all HOK to using wicked and it has been a little bit of a learning curve for me due to the fact uro's spray so so nice out of a AB.
 
Red scotchbrite pad to scuff the clearcoat(no need to wet sand unless the panel is messed up) in the area you want to paint, Tape off everything in that area you don't want to get paint on ,
After you give it a good scuffing , lay on your art work , Make sure to put a coat of intercoat clear on it prior to putting on the final clear coat.
Createx is NOT COLORFAST, It will fade in the sun ... Use Wicked by createx instead it is design for any surface and is colorfast.
How much time you have airbrushing? Being this is you 1st post and we have not seen your work. Automotive art is not for the beginner airbrusher being most have not spend the time learning everything that can go wrong and the different sounds an airbrush will make prior to messing up.
Just trying to help and all unknowns take away from the exact help you may really be needing.

As far as clear coating Tack coat with 1.4 nozzle HVLP @30PSI 75% overlay. Let stand for 10 to 20 minutes depending on the shop temp. Than one flow coat using the same setting as you did with tack coat.
Also if you can find out what clear coat was used on the original paint job and use the same brand life is easier.Also make sure you wipe the area down good with a wax and grease remover prior to starting your art work and tack it off between colors to cut down on over spray , Over spray can and will kill a paint job .
 
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Help

Thanks again everyone for the advice!!

strictly attitude- that was the route I was going to take, it's for my girlfriends sister, I was looking at the wicked but my GFs sister already had the regular createx paint so I figured I ask to see if it would work with a clear over it.

mr micron- the paint job that was just sprayed is really nice so the panel is in perfect condition (the guy who painted it was supposed to take care of this graphic for her but didn't want to be bothered with creating what she wanted so he just painted the car without any graphics) ive been messing around with the airbrush for a couple of months (I draw portraits in pastel really well) and I'm trying to get better with the AB. I've ran through a lot of control exercises, I have an Iwata eclipse hp-cs and have been using com-art paints. I bought a .5 needle and a .5 nozzle tip for the createx. For the clear, I have a 1.4 hvlp spray gun. The graphic is a really simplistic graphic and I practiced it a lot, originally I was just going to sand (scuff) the area for the graphic, lay down the graphic and clear that area, but then I was reading I should sand (scuff) the whole trunk and clear the whole trunk as well, they were saying that if I did not do it that way I may have problems in the future with where the edge of the pre-existing clear and new clear overlap (as that edge could breakdown over time)??? But then I wasn't sure if a clear would work well with the regular createx or even how it would work with the pre-existing clear coat?? I looked into the inter coat clear, how will that work in my scenario?, looks like it says to protect with artwork tape outs on top of the "shimrin" base coats?? Lol the more I research the more confused I get lol

Thank you all in helping and taking the time for your advice
 
I have found using the SG100 intercoat clear over wicked and yes I will admit over createx too does give the clear coat a better tooth to bite on .
Yes I did say the panel you are going to put the graphic on is to be scuffed . means if it was a door the entire door.in this case the trunk.
Createx even with a good UV protective clear coat will fade. where the Wicked will not. Also you did not need to buy the .5 set up as createx will run great through the .35 of the cs.
reduction is the key to making the paint work for you, .5 set up is better for t-shirts .
 
Intercoat clear is great to protect your artwork and knock down tape edges making color or wet sanding the clear allot easier. it is not a must use!! But it does help. Avoid the createx if possible!!! Red scotch brite or 500-800 grit wet sand on the whole trunk. Blending the clear is a bad idea!! Especially when you are talking about just on a trunk. do your art work then intercoat over it if you want or if you have hard tape edges. Then clear coat over it.
 
Thanks STRICTLY ATTITUDE, MR MICRON and IGNIS, again it is really appreciated!, the "fog" is clearing up and I can start to see!! Lol. Do any of you use or like/dislike the comart paints? This may be for a different thread but since we are talking figured it couldn't hurt, and also what are they best used for?, if anything at all over the wicked, I like that they have a "portrait" set of colors and not a whole lot of mixing needs to be done to get all the different shades of flesh tones, just pour and spray!!, mixing is kind of intimidating and wanted your thoughts on the com-art line?, and they seem to be reduced to a perfect consistency right out the bottle!
 
Not sure where you're from, but if you're from the UK or Europe, you could perhaps consider Inspire which is a uro better suited than Createx for the purpose you have in mind. I used to spray HOK uros which I found to be fabulous paints (and candies which are a type of ink basically), but HOK is phasing out solvent based paints, while Inspire continues to produce and sell those. Inspire behaves a lot like HOK and when you live in the UK or Europe you find that they're cheaper than HOK because there is not a lot of transporation cost which is expensive since uros are dangerous goods.
 
Not sure where you're from, but if you're from the UK or Europe, you could perhaps consider Inspire which is a uro better suited than Createx for the purpose you have in mind. I used to spray HOK uros which I found to be fabulous paints (and candies which are a type of ink basically), but HOK is phasing out solvent based paints, while Inspire continues to produce and sell those. Inspire behaves a lot like HOK and when you live in the UK or Europe you find that they're cheaper than HOK because there is not a lot of transporation cost which is expensive since uros are dangerous goods.

HOK phasing out solvent??? they just released their Shimmer 2 line which is solvent base and great to use. Plus the VOC is lower than most waterborne according to Jon Kosmoski .
 
I heard that new regulations mean that a lot of solvents are going to be a thing of the past before too long (in the uk anyway), as they are too dangerous healthwise. I know companies have been putting a lot of money into improving waterbased paints, but I don't really know what will happen with clears.
 
I heard that new regulations mean that a lot of solvents are going to be a thing of the past before too long (in the uk anyway), as they are too dangerous healthwise. I know companies have been putting a lot of money into improving waterbased paints, but I don't really know what will happen with clears.

California is the strictest on the VOC laws. that is why HOK and even PPG have changed their solvent based paints to meet the VOC laws of California. Right now AutoAir's VOC is .001 higher than HOK if I remember correctly. But where I live you could shoot old lead based paint and no one would say anything...LOL
 
Have not used much comart but the wicked has allot of portrait colors and can be used for multiple surfaces thats why I have been using it you will never get away from mixing paint
 
Not really trying to get away with mixing but just figured as a beginner i know mixing paint in its own right is an art and I'm just trying to get used to the gun right now
 
Maybe buy like a piece of aluminum panel, and then do a practice piece, that way you can screw up a couple times a d learn from it. Because going from the practice material to a full color graphic is a huge step.

Not sure where you are from, but you can get an aluminum sheet from lowes or home depot for like 10 to 15$


Dylan
 
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