It's time. Helmet or bike painters help

J

jaystacy

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OK I need info input guru knowledge.

I am buying a new fairing for my dyna and it says it will be gel coated. So what I need is this. How do I prep it for airbrushing?

And I also have a flat black helmet since it doesn't shine at all how would you clean and prep it?

Thanks for the input I'm a novice but I plan to do a step by step and if I keep what I do I will post it. If not I'll just show pics.
 
I had to look up what gelcoat was, but it seems to be the normal stuff those things are made of (I tend to just call it tupperwear :p). If it's new a thourough sanding (800 wet and scotch for hard to reach spots) followed by degreasing should be enough. You could apply primer but I never do that on a "ready to go" surface (bare metal is a different story)

Source: http://www.awlgrip.com/support-and-advice/gelcoat-and-fiberglass.aspx

As for the helmet if its a Rubatone coated helmet (bit soft, feels like a rubber coat), I wouldn't paint it. If it's just matt clear coat its 800 wet and degreasing again :)
 
Well it's fiberglass. I asked a friend he said gel coat is like the clear they use on boats. I have a couple weeks before it shows. So I can wait for more answers. Yours I already guesses but wanted to be sure.

Also what degreaser do you use? I don't have any so need to find some.
 
Jaystacy if you go to your local autobody paint supplier that should be able to hook you up with some prep cleaner/ autobody degreaser/ wax and grease remover. HOK have a post sanding product i think it is KC20 and a wax and grease remover Kc10 which is used before you commence body and paint work.
me i just use white spirts(equivalent to mineral spirt in the USA) as i use waterbase paints and its a mild cleaner which wont damage the waterbase base coat.

With the gel coat i would treat it like a clear coat and prep as Haasje said earlier.
 
Prep gel coat just like any fiberglass and you will be fine( I've painted Just a few boats in 20 years in the Coast guard:D)
 
I had to look up what gelcoat was, but it seems to be the normal stuff those things are made of (I tend to just call it tupperwear :p). If it's new a thourough sanding (800 wet and scotch for hard to reach spots) followed by degreasing should be enough. You could apply primer but I never do that on a "ready to go" surface (bare metal is a different story)

Source: http://www.awlgrip.com/support-and-advice/gelcoat-and-fiberglass.aspx

As for the helmet if its a Rubatone coated helmet (bit soft, feels like a rubber coat), I wouldn't paint it. If it's just matt clear coat its 800 wet and degreasing again :)

Nothing to do with the main question here but it says on that data sheet about half way down as a warning to keep the use "polyester" putties to a minimum, polyester products should not be used at all where epoxy has been used, one might get away with filling pinholes but polyester has absolutely no adhesion properties on top of epoxy.

And just a heads up over gel-coat, gel-coat is normally used when moulding items such as this fairing and small boats as I used to do from a purpose made mould, the process is to build the item from the outside in, so the process would be to cover the entire mould with with the gel-coat, usually two or three layers brighter colours would require more layers than darker colours, once the gel-coat dries as many layers of fibre glass weave or mat as are needed to reach design strength are applied with epoxy resin, we made small speed boats which required 6 layers of thick weave, I would imagine that this fairing required a minimum of three layers of medium weave, unless it has safety functionality in which case it would be more, the gel-coat is a finish and can be mixed to any standard colour, so when the item is pulled out out of it's mould it is a finished product with no need for painting or finishing, not even buffing, I have never gone over gel-coat with anything other than more gel-coat when the buggers who do the mould waxing don't do it properly and a part of the items remains stuck to mould and a repair is imminent, the reason it's called gel coat is because for around one week after drying it has a consistency of hard gel, the purpose of this is to ensure an impregnable bond with the subsequent epoxy fibreglass and epoxy layers.
 
As a side note i once took on a rubatone coated helmet...
Took 6 hours to remove it all the way back to plastic. You cannot paint rubatone.
 
OK next question.

Paint?

Is createx wicked color fast? Does it work with candy? And what's the steps to use for applying candy? Also I keep seeing candy pigment so do I have to prepare mix candy colors or do they go in straight? Also with candy will it spray out of .35 needle?
 
Sweet thanks what about candy colors? Will they go thru .35 needle and are they used out of the bottle or mixed?
 
Candy is thinner than paint (normaly :p) so that should go through a .35 without a problem.

You have waterbased (autoair) and urethane (Inspire / HOK)based candy.

The water based candy isn't a "real" candy and will probably influence your darks a bit, in general they come pretty close to urethane candy, though I think they miss a bit of the vibrance of those. Side note; there is a new candy (autoair Candy2O) which i havent used so no clue if that also applies to that waterbased candy

Urethane candy comes ready to spray (all Inspire candy is ready to spray) or as pigment. House of kolor candy comes either ready to spray or as pigment, with the pigment you'll need to add reducer and intercoat (paint without pigment) else you'll just be spraying wet dust.

urethane can (and probably will) affect waterbased paints so it's in general not advisable to apply a urethane candy over wicked unless you know very well what you are doing and what the effect will be.
 
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Thanks a lot that helps so much. Especially about the pigments I wasn't sure what they were.
 
I have a question regarding both helmets and motorcycles.

How should paint be layed down in layers? hopefully the list of layers below makes sense and you can correct me, start from the bottom and work up.


------ clear coat -------

------ some kind of top layer? ------

------ More AB'ing? ------

------ Intercoat ------

------- AB graphics layer -------

------- transparent base layer?------

------- base coat of paint -------

------- sealer? -------

------- Primer? ------

------- Fiber glass of helmet or race fairing ------
 
What I'm working on was a fairing I buffed the clear off with grey scotch Brite. Then I laid a light layer of base white. Then I layered peral. And my pearl I have intercoat mixed in. I will do a light intercoat only once all is finished then since I don't clear I'm taking it to a buddy for clear. That's how I've done it but I'm a complete beginner.
 
Ah, helmets....assuming they are a standard helmet, this is what I do.... (plain helmet), wet sand (if shinny clear coat), wash with soapy water, then degreaser. Then, ab graffics, then clear coat, wet sand, and buff out. *if its a matte clear?, I red scotch brite, then 800 grit sand paper., then 1000grit. Then ab graffics, clear coat.
**IF the helmet has factory graphics, that requires more. That requires a full sanding, then a (filler primer...have to look at can), sand again, and repeat process till all graphics are "burried" THEN paint desired color, ab graphics, then clear coat.
**same basically applies to motorcycle tins** If graphics over a paint, wet sand, wash, degrease, ab graphics, clear coat, wet sand, and buff out.
Seems like alot, and it is, but totally worth it.
 
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