T
Twisted
Hey guys, been a member for a while but never posted, and was wondering if anyone could help me out. I'll jump right to the questions and make an into below in case anyone wants to skip it.
Is the Euro clear alot harder than the universal? How long is the activator good for once opened? Can you clear the base, wetsand, then airbrush graphics, and final clear? Ive used an intercoat before to do this but with the price of the euro i would think it would work better for a barrier before airbrush instead. And also can you use House of Kolor reducers with Euro? Only because I have a few different temp HOK reducers and hate to buy a full gallon of spi when I don't paint often.
So a little background, I'm 43, been into cars and bikes all my life. Only painted one full car, my 72 Duster with single stage, my old Softail, and now my Chopper, I do all my one fab and bodywork and the end results are always great, but Id still consider myself a novice. I picked up an airbrush a little over 2 years ago and self taught myself to paint fire. After about 8 months of occasionally painting i decieded to paint my bike, still improving on the fire, just need to practice more, dont get to often. The reason for the questions? I painted my 05 Big Dog Chopper a year and a half ago with House of Kolor epoxy, base, intercoat, graphics, then cleared with SPI Universal clear. It went on like glass and if I wasn't painting in my garage and got dirt in the paint I would have even needed to wetsand. I was highly impressed with how it went on especially not having alot of painting under my belt. I let it cure for a month and reassembled. Even though I love how it sprays, it came out way too soft, 6 months later I put on a suction cup rear seat on the rear fender to take the kids for a ride and it left marks, they cam out but I wasn't happy. Then I noticed where the struts bolt to the fender was causing the clear to mushroom out on the edges, I followed all flash times, and had the right temp, maybe too thick, was 3 coats.
So I'm painting some new parts cause I'm changing out the rear fender and would like a harder clear. I was leaning towards HOK UC35 as it is said to dry really hard but I have a hard time paying $100 for a quart and activator which will give me a half gallon spray able when I can get a gull gallon of the 4:1:1 Euro with activator for just a little more and I end up with 1.5 gallons sprayable. But I want to make sure it's going to be hard enough that I don't run into the same problem. And the left overs I could use for cups and signs I like to airbrush for practice.
So that's my story, sorry it's so long, that's why I posted the questions first. I'll try to upload a few picks of some of the stuff I've done below. Not professional like some of you guys but I'm having fun doing it. Any help would be great. Thanks
Butch
Is the Euro clear alot harder than the universal? How long is the activator good for once opened? Can you clear the base, wetsand, then airbrush graphics, and final clear? Ive used an intercoat before to do this but with the price of the euro i would think it would work better for a barrier before airbrush instead. And also can you use House of Kolor reducers with Euro? Only because I have a few different temp HOK reducers and hate to buy a full gallon of spi when I don't paint often.
So a little background, I'm 43, been into cars and bikes all my life. Only painted one full car, my 72 Duster with single stage, my old Softail, and now my Chopper, I do all my one fab and bodywork and the end results are always great, but Id still consider myself a novice. I picked up an airbrush a little over 2 years ago and self taught myself to paint fire. After about 8 months of occasionally painting i decieded to paint my bike, still improving on the fire, just need to practice more, dont get to often. The reason for the questions? I painted my 05 Big Dog Chopper a year and a half ago with House of Kolor epoxy, base, intercoat, graphics, then cleared with SPI Universal clear. It went on like glass and if I wasn't painting in my garage and got dirt in the paint I would have even needed to wetsand. I was highly impressed with how it went on especially not having alot of painting under my belt. I let it cure for a month and reassembled. Even though I love how it sprays, it came out way too soft, 6 months later I put on a suction cup rear seat on the rear fender to take the kids for a ride and it left marks, they cam out but I wasn't happy. Then I noticed where the struts bolt to the fender was causing the clear to mushroom out on the edges, I followed all flash times, and had the right temp, maybe too thick, was 3 coats.
So I'm painting some new parts cause I'm changing out the rear fender and would like a harder clear. I was leaning towards HOK UC35 as it is said to dry really hard but I have a hard time paying $100 for a quart and activator which will give me a half gallon spray able when I can get a gull gallon of the 4:1:1 Euro with activator for just a little more and I end up with 1.5 gallons sprayable. But I want to make sure it's going to be hard enough that I don't run into the same problem. And the left overs I could use for cups and signs I like to airbrush for practice.
So that's my story, sorry it's so long, that's why I posted the questions first. I'll try to upload a few picks of some of the stuff I've done below. Not professional like some of you guys but I'm having fun doing it. Any help would be great. Thanks
Butch