Cooperfun wrote:...When it comes to candies, in your opinion, is there a brand of paint that is easier to use and get a good result? ...what brand is the easiest to get a nice smooth and even finish when dealing with a candy?

I use candy concentrates mixed mostly in IC (intercoat clears) which is just a clear basecoat. The IC that I have used so far are not a big brand name that I purchase online.
Coast Airbrush in SoCal is a great place to buy HOK stuff as they are a bunch of crazy talented artist types. I also pick up stuff at my local jobber.

Since, I use the ICs to apply my candies and usually not as an overall, rather parts of some panel art, smooth isn't really an issue.

I always end the day with some clear over everything, either a regular clear or a "speed" clear if I plan on shooting more the next day.

Learning to NOT sand through my clears and into the BC/IC layers was a HUGE learning point for me.

I am a beginner rookie weekender and don't have as much experience as some of these other guys, so take my suggestions with an open mind.

Anyways, for the candy concentrates, I use both HOK and Urekrem brands as I was able to get them for around the same monies. Tamco now has candies I believe and although I haven't used them (yet) I used their clear and really liked it. I would have no problem trying Tamco's candy concentrates.

Candies are not paint, they are transparent colors that need some kind of base color, flake, pearl etc under the candies.

The combination of base color, flakes and pearl basecoats along with how many coats of candy can vary and the combinations are unlimited, but that is what makes it fun to me.

Play around, ask questions and be prepared to sand it off and start over! (guess how I know that!)

As far as base paints (not candies), that Caddy trunk has ~$155/qt PPG Envirobase waterborne paint that once I learned to shoot it correctly, I ended up loving it - Do I love it $100 more than my $55/qt online paints? No. But I needed to match the rest of the car and I live in Northern California and the local shop could only make the match in the waterborne -why I have no idea.

I have a new jobber in a different town that given a week, can match or mix all kinds of custom colors for me in either waterborne (PPG Envirobase) or solvent (Omni Plus). But I have bought paint from all kinds of both online and local jobbers, depending on what I need.

If you are getting into candy work just a few minor suggestions along with everything else you are picking up. A candy is always going to be more prone to color shifting and fading than a pigmented color. I too put them in the intercoat clears to lock them in and then I bury, and I mean bury them in a premium clear that is known for maximum UV protection. I've done candy samples on metal plates and left them out in a wooded area next to my house over several years and you would be surprised how much they can shift. I did some samples once with Auto Air Colors and did top coats in low, medium, and top shelf clears. Coatings were all done to the same thickness. I would say the lower quality clear had let the colors fade by about 40% in just 12 months. The medium sample showed fading more like 20%. The premium clear had not really changed much at all.........hmmmm.....better clears= move UV protection.
Another thing I keep is a notebook with a computer back up copy. It lists all of "formulations" (good or bad) for my mixes. Why keep a bad mix recipe?....So you don't come even close to doing it again! I do also mark my samples with that information.

DarrelK wrote:...Another thing I keep is a notebook with a computer back up copy. It lists all of "formulations" (good or bad) for my mixes. Why keep a bad mix recipe?....So you don't come even close to doing it again! I do also mark my samples with that information.

Listen to Darrel, he is one of the guys that helped me out when I started this stuff in the last year or so. His point about writing down the different mixes - Well Write that down NOW! and as you are going along. It is real easy to say to yourself, "I'll get to that later" then the next day go out and look at your work going "uhhhh, which gold is that?"

DarrelK wrote:...I too put them in the intercoat clears to lock them in and then I bury, and I mean bury them in a premium clear that is known for maximum UV protection. I've done candy samples on metal plates and left them out in a wooded area next to my house over several years and you would be surprised how much they can shift. I did some samples once with Auto Air Colors and did top coats in low, medium, and top shelf clears. Coatings were all done to the same thickness. I would say the lower quality clear had let the colors fade by about 40% in just 12 months. The medium sample showed fading more like 20%. The premium clear had not really changed much at all.........hmmmm.....better clears= move UV protection.

Darrel, I'd like to hear your thoughts (among others, PD?, Anyone Else?) regarding the "quality" clears. The reason that I ask is that prior to my trunk lid I only used (relatively) inexpensive online ordered clears as I still sand off more than I leave on. My trunk lid is probably the first artwork that I plan on keeping for a while. I may redo it next year when I paint the entire car.

Do you think that it is more brand specific or solids content that makes for the quality UV protection?

That trunk lid that I did, I used a mail order MS clear or HOK Rokket for all my in-between coats which would get wet sanded, retaped, more graphics etc. Then my last clear session I used a HS Tamco that I really liked how it came out of the gun. I think (key word) that it was a 2:1:10% mix ratio

Yeah, you can tell you are learning when you ask questions like these..... Okay, so yeah, I don't think it is so much brand specific as it is indeed the higher priced high solids clears that are just "better" when it comes to UV absorption/blocking. Generally, higher solids indicate more resins, less reducer/thinners.

I think the Fiero I'm working on is a pretty good example. It was shot with a fairly budget base and clear about 4 years ago. I went through my pictures of my Bremen Sebring I shot with PPG 2021 clear 26 years ago and the gloss/clarity was night and day compared it. As I am redoing these panels the Tamco Euro clear makes a radical difference in depth and richness. I don't doubt that these newer high solids clear will indeed have good UV holdout.

So I'm just a good wood hack.....love to hear PainterDave's input on this as well as anybody else. Hey, Chris, you sell this stuff, what' the skinny from Tammy on UV and such?

Hey, just as aside....when I got into the wood finishing business almost 40 years ago a high solids lacquer coating was like 15% solids....ughhhh.... you had to hammer sealers and topcoats for like 3 days to get a decent build. Now, I was just looking at spec. sheets on a 52% solids hybridized lacquer which requires NO reduction and actually likes to be shot with our turbine systems. Clears have changed in just about any industry setting.

I purchased these little squirt bottles from CoastAirbrush to mix my candies in.

I mark on the side what color it is and I have two lines on the other side as a reference for when I need to mix up more.

I got these plastic Qt jars off of Amazon I think. The lids aren't the best and some of them get chucked right away but I have too many of them anyway.

I originally had some nice glass jars with metal lids that were SUPPOSED to be solvent proof. Well the glass jars certainly were but the material that they used as the gasket on the lids didn't like the reduced Intercoat and basecoat materials that I had mixed up some flake in for test panels. That is why I now use these plastic quart jars.

I mark on the jars what the mix components are. That one is marked I.C. RTS PWP Bronze Pearl which is Intercoat Ready to Spray (reduced) Paints With Pearl (brand) Bronze Pearl.

I use to mix lacquer and s/s primers in jars with the metal lids. they also had a paper or cardboard seal in the lid. most of them had wax on the cardboard to seal it away from what ever was in it. the solvent in the primer would dissolve the wax it was fish eye city for a while.
Jay D.