Wicked colors

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Raidok

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Im having a bit of a struggle understanding the wicked color names. They have transparant white, but no transparant black? They have standard and detail. Now when you reduce them witch one gives me transparant black? I do now from an earlier post i saw on this forum that there is more fine pigment in the detail colors and that the w500 reducer is better then the w100 (tipdry). But i can only get the w100 around here. And do you have to use the reducer from wicked or can i use anything else to reduce the paint?
 
I was also confused about the colour names of the Wicked paints, I was told that the Wicked Detail paint names relate to the more traditional artist paint names (a particular shade of blue would be called "Cerulean Blue" for example); so the Wicked Detail paint simply refers to a particular shade, where as the basic Wicked Blue (for example) is just a generic blue.

Regarding the reducer, I have just started using the "Createx High Performance Reducer 4012" which is the same as the "Wicked Colors W500"; I was also told that the Createx Illustration Reducer can be used with Wicked Paints. The High Performance Reducer is, in my opinion, well worth the extra expense, it really does reduce 'tipdry'.

I believe the Wicked Detail Smoke Black is transparent and so is the Wicked Black.

Hope this helps, it is quite a steep learning curve isn't it?
 
In my opinion (and its only an opinion) I find all of the wicked detail colours to be semi transparent..a true transparent is just that.....you can see through it.and the more layers you put down the darker it gets, even yellow.....e.g. If you layer infinitely trans blue on top of trans blue you will eventually get a blue black, where as an opaque colour reaches its maximum value then stops getting darker, like an emulsion on your wall....detail are semi trans our semi opaque if you like....there is an element of transparency with just a few layers but ultimately they will reach maximum value like an opaque....you can increase the effect of transparency by over reducing ther paint like 1 paint:15 reducer, and/or you can add transparent base to a small amount of paint if you want to increase viscosity.....as I say, just my findings, not necessarily gospel
 
SM Designs - Online Shop These guys are in Northern Ireland and have the W500, if that's any help, I believe they will ship. The detail smoke black is just that, a smoky dark grey/black, so it depends what effect you want, it gives nice subtle greys depending on reduction, then as fezzles says, will build up with more layers, to a not quite black. For a truer black just over reduce the opaque black to get transparency, it is less subtle than the smoke so be careful not to go too dark too soon, as an opaque more layers will eventually cover up anything you might want to see underneath.
 
RE: Wicked

I've been using Wicked since it came out about 4 years ago I think.
Let me make this easy for you, because the 2 product lines are not well named.

Wicked Base Colors: are the opaques.
Very good fine detail, good coverage, quite versatile.

Wicked Detail Colors: are the transparents.
Very clean and transparent.
Crap fine detail - heaps more tip dry at small level, which shouldn't matter if you are doing a tonal painting with base colors and then coloring over the top with the transparents, which is a classic method but obviously won't cover all bases.

I think the system is a lot easier to use once you know this.
Although it took me about 2 years to learn how to get to where I wanted with Wicked by learning how to deal with tip-dry. I highly recommend you see The Airbrush Tutor's Videos regarding this, and save yourself a heap of headache.

RE: W500
I put up my thoughts on this a little earlier
I've given it a good whirl, and here's my .25 cents worth:

Pros:
- It addresses pigment pooling well
- It addresses tip dry on large and medium large jobs

Cons:
- It has shocking tip dry at tight detail, not worth the trouble
- It's loaded with ammonia, and for all money seems identical to Trident = bad asthma trigger
- You have to wear a cartridge mask, even if you don't have asthma

I think this is an objective assessment.
I can get waaaaaay better fine detail performance from the old reducer and my tip clean method.

What I like about it:
- good for spraying out large areas or panels, because it deals with pigment pooling

What I hate about it:
- It makes a really safe product hazardous.
 
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I've been using Wicked since it came out about 4 years ago I think.
Let me make this easy for you, because the 2 product lines are not well named.

Wicked Base Colors: are the opaques.
Very good fine detail, good coverage, quite versatile.

Wicked Detail Colors: are the transparents.
Very clean and transparent.
Crap fine detail - heaps more tip dry at small level, which shouldn't matter if you are doing a tonal painting with base colors and then coloring over the top with the transparents, which is a classic method but obviously won't cover all bases.

I think the system is a lot easier to use once you know this.
Although it took me about 2 years to learn how to get to where I wanted with Wicked by learning how to deal with tip-dry. I highly recommend you see The Airbrush Tutor's Videos regarding this, and save yourself a heap of headache.

RE: W500
I put up my thoughts on this a little earlier
I've given it a good whirl, and here's my .25 cents worth:

Pros:
- It addresses pigment pooling well
- It addresses tip dry on large and medium large jobs

Cons:
- It has shocking tip dry at tight detail, not worth the trouble
- It's loaded with ammonia, and for all money seems identical to Trident = bad asthma trigger
- You have to wear a cartridge mask, even if you don't have asthma

I think this is an objective assessment.
I can get waaaaaay better fine detail performance from the old reducer and my tip clean method.

What I like about it:
- good for spraying out large areas or panels, because it deals with pigment pooling

What I hate about it:
- It makes a really safe product hazardous.

Where did you find that info on Wicked and Wicked Detail? To my knowledge the difference is the Detail are smaller particles (less reduction needed) and they are also Matte, the Wicked dry to a semi-gloss. The color selection is also different. As far as Opaque/Transparent, I believe they are almost all transparent (and most airbrush paints in general) with the exception of Wicked Opaque White. But curiously there is a also a regular Wicked White, and a Wicked Detail White. Hmmm.
 
The Wicked Detail colors are ground finer than the regular Wicked colors. Also, Wicked Detail dries to a matte finish (which allows for more accurate color matching/mixing), while the regular Wicked dries to a semi-gloss/ gloss finish.

Basically, the Detail colors are designed more for use with illustration-type work, which is why they use the specific pigment names (for the most part) instead of a "marketing" name. The color palate is based off of the Holbien paints, per Dru Blairs request. The idea was basically to make a paint with the color accuracy and trueness of the Holbien paints, but with better spray characteristics, and a more durable base so it can be used on a wider variety of surfaces. The Detail white is the only true opaque, since the line was designed to be used with Dru's Color Buffer System.

The regular Wicked colors are meant as more of an all-purpose paint. It's actually the same as the "Auto-Borne" line, but more colors have been added. They marketed the Wicked separately because they wanted to be able to sell it as a paint that would work on anything from textiles to automotive. Also, rolling out a new paint line lets them pump up the marketing.

The AA 4011 reducer and the Wicked W100 are, according to Createx, the same thing. The W500 seems to work about the same to me. I haven't noticed any big improvement, nor did it set off any asthma attacks for me. But, if you're susceptable, it's probably better to go on the side of caution.

I actually prefer the AA 4010 "medium dry" reducer. The paint doesn't seem to take noticably longer to dry on the surface, but tip dry does seem to be cut down a bit. For some reason, it can be a little tricky to find, though.
 
I've never seen the 4010 anywhere. The one thing I like about the W500 it's that it makes the paint cure tougher. When painting a bike and using the W100, every once in a while I managed to accidently make a mark, or a tiny scratch on something I had already painted, but haven't since I started using the W500, I don't think it's any better for tip dry though. Having good reduction and air pressure seems to be the best solution to tip dry. I don't have an issue with it using Wicked, except for some reason opaque black, if anything will give me tip dry that's the one.
 
Squishy, I think you are right about the W500 making the paint tougher. That is probably why you can't store paint mixed with it for longer then 72hrs. With the w100 it does not matter.
 
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Cons:
- It has shocking tip dry at tight detail, not worth the trouble
- It's loaded with ammonia, and for all money seems identical to Trident = bad asthma trigger
- You have to wear a cartridge mask, even if you don't have asthma

I think this is an objective assessment.
I can get waaaaaay better fine detail performance from the old reducer and my tip clean method.


Hello, by old reducer do you mean the W100? Is this a healthier option? and curious could you share your tip clean method? Thank you.
Dan
 
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