Paint quantity for a full dresser

Discuss custom painting, artwork and airbrushing



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PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 am
Hi JoAnn, thankyou for your contribution to this forum, you are a very talented artist. I need some help determining the amount of paint to buy for my Harley Davidson Electraglide. I'm planning a base,mid,clear from Martin Senour with the mid a tangerine candy. I was hoping that since you do a lot of bikes that you may have a formula that works for this. My supplier and I have done some guessing but I would like to have enough so that during the shoot I don't have to run in and get more. Also don't want to have a large amount of leftover sitting on the shelf afterward. Any guidance here is greatly appreciated.
Harley,
"Takin' what their givin' cuz I'm workin' for a livin'"

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 9:45 am
Sorry for the delay in answering. I was out of town for a week.
Now to answer your question, determining the exact amount of material for a dresser paint job is on par with figuring out exactly how much a vacation to Daytona Bike week will cost, as the determining factors will always vary. But I will try.
Determening factors
1) How many parts? is it a full set of 19 parts, including trunk, lower fairings and inner fairing?
2) How many layers will each coat be?
3) How thick will each coat be?
4) What kind of gun will you use to spray it? If you use a mini gun you will use less paint, but if you use a full size gun the paint will go on more evenly but you will lose more paint to overspray. I recommend a full size gun for the candy and clear, and not an HVLP gun but a Reduced Pressure gun like a SATA 4000 RP.
5) What is the mix ratio on your urethane clear? 2-1 or 4-1?

If you start with a silver basecoat and spray 3 coats, then mix up your own candy by adding candy concentrate to urethane clear (which is what I do, I never use pre mixed candy) and apply 4-5 coats of candy, then 2-3 coats of urethane clear over the candy.
I'd say get a full quart of the silver base. Those bags take alot of paint and if you only get a half quart, you might run out. A gallon of clear urethane plus hardener and a pint of candy tangerine concentrate.
The one thing you DON'T want to happen is to run out of paint midway through the job. I say this as this has happened to me more than once, more than twice, thinking I had plenty of material during a job, only to be ready to trade my soul for one more pint of hardener.
Now one thing, spray a test piece the day BEFORE you spray the paint! You need to know how this paint sprays before you use it on all 19 pieces. Does it spray thin or does it cover well? How does the surface of the basecoat layout? Does it lay down nice and flat or is it grainy and need reduced more? You DO NOT want the basecoat surface to be grainy or rough. You want it nice and flat.

Also doing a test panel will help you see exactly how much paint it will take to get the color effect you want. TEST and TEST!!! Then as you are spraying the parts, spray a test card along with the parts, spray a layer on the test card first then spray the parts. This will help you see how the color is laying out before you spray the parts, to make sure you don't go too fat with a layer of color.
Crazy Horse Custom Paint
And Author of How to Custom Paint Your Car
http://www.crazyhorsepainting.com/



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 11:58 am
No need to apologize, your too kind. I am blessed to be the recipient of professional advise for no cost.
The only parts not there are the lowers, that leaves 13 peices, 14 if you count the inner as 2 (the inner fairing is only base and clear).
I wish I had talked to you before I pulled the trigger on the candy, I was real interested in the powder candy but my supplier said they aren't "true" candies. Timbo gave me some direction and basicly the same amount was recommended so I allready had it mixed. I just picked everything up yesterday. Base and candy 1 qt reduced 1-1, 2 qt clear, can't remember the ratio. All 2k urethane.
I have the old front fender to practice on so as you recommended, I'll do a complete practice on it.
Thank you for your reply, I know I couldn't do this without the help I get here.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! :worthy:
Harley,
"Takin' what their givin' cuz I'm workin' for a livin'"

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:33 pm
One more thing, did you get the product sheets for the products you bought? Make sure you have them. They will have all the relevant information like how thick to apply your coats, how long to wait in between coats, things like that.
I always refer to the product or tech sheets, even if I'm using a product I have used for years. Its too easy to remember a small detail incorrectly, so I never take the chance.
And it might be a good idea to post in the General Paint section and list the products you are using and try to find a painter here who uses whose products, they can give you advice that goes specifically with those products, little things that only someone who has used those products a bunch times, will know, like things to watch out for, little tips and trick to make the product work better for you.

So test, find out how those products spray, fine tune your color, learn how to use those products and good luck!
Crazy Horse Custom Paint
And Author of How to Custom Paint Your Car
http://www.crazyhorsepainting.com/

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 1:03 pm
One more thing, when you're spraying your grouping of parts, always start spraying on the front half of the rear fender. Why? Because if there's a problem, like the dog shook off and got something on the parts or the kids snunk into the shop and touched the parts or you mixed the paint incorrectly, its better to find the problem on a place that doesn't show as its under the seat.
i always start there, and every once in a while i am soooooooo glad i did.
And if you see a problem, STOP SPRAYING, even if your paint is all mixed up. Better to have to buy more paint, than buy more paint AND spend a week removing bad paint from the parts.
And remember, when spraying candy, spray all the parts at the SAME TIME. No matter what, even if you mix everything exactly the same way the second time, it may spray differently, maybe you're moving the gun slower that day, maybe its colder so the paint isn't flowing out as good and you tend to use more paint to get it to flow, save your sanity. Even if the booth is crammed full and you can't figure how to move around the parts to spray, figure it out.

And a few tips for spraying a boothful of parts, start at one end of the booth, spray a part, move the stand a little and create more room around the next part. I had to spray a dresser a candy orange last month, and I had to work my way around a totally crammed full booth, moving each stand before I would paint that part. I used every paint stand I had. For painting bags I have stands I have made out of 2 X 4's that fit up into the bag and they sit on milk crates. the trunk is set upside down on a box that is on milk crates. Sidecovers are taped to paint mixing cups on a table. Be innovative with how you secure the parts for painting. And carefully mask off all the stands. Blow everything off as it goes into the booth or start the booth fan and blow off the parts, then tack rag them.
But do whatever it takes to paint them all at the same time.
Crazy Horse Custom Paint
And Author of How to Custom Paint Your Car
http://www.crazyhorsepainting.com/



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 1:48 pm
I so appreciate these tips, I'll come back and read them again and again before shooting. I'm creating visuals of the process with every new tip. It gives me a sense of having some experience which I beleive is vital to good results. Yes, the product sheets are my bible. I'm studying them carefully and then keeping them at hand during the shoot. My supplier at Napa Paint is great help, he took a lot of time to answer my barrage of questions and treated me like a long time customer. I hope I can make everyone proud.
Harley,
"Takin' what their givin' cuz I'm workin' for a livin'"

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