The metallic effect acrylic colors for car and motorcycle model making are high performance products deriving from research in the professional airbrushing sector of custom painting. The color range is very extensive and contains basic colors as well as all the original car, motorcycle, truck, earth-moving vehicles, military and civilian forces such as Red Cross, Firefighters, Police Forces, Racing Cars and Motorcycles, Contemporary Formula 1 and historical and much more.
TOOLS FOR APPLICATION
Airbrush preferably with 0.3 or 0.4mm. Using smaller needles doesn't make much sense and you only risk getting a rough surface effect as well as clogging the airbrush tip. These problems do not change even if the color is diluted.
If, on the other hand, you want to create shades between various metallic colors, you can dilute the colors we are interested in using with the color blender in the following proportion: 10 parts of color with 5 parts of color blender.
Brush: we know that there are modelers who apply it with a brush but we don't do it so any use not with an airbrush is discretionary and it doesn't necessarily work well. We leave the tests and the results to you.
BASIC COLOR ON WHICH TO APPLY THIS SHADE
MAXIMUM EFFECT: pure black
LIGHT EFFECT: white, yellow
IRIDESCENT TYPE EFFECTS: bright orange, bright red, green, acid green
USE THE METALLIZED SERIES AS THE BASE FOR CANDY COLORS
The metallic series and in particular the SILVER and GOLD shades are the ideal bases for candy colors. Changing the size of the grain size Fine, Medium, Big also changes the final effect of the candy. On the fine base the candy will be flatter while if we have a Medium or Big Silver base the depth of the candy will increase considerably.
In general, all metallized colors are perfect bases for candy, remember to apply the colors by contrast or by assonance. For example, if we have a metallized blue as a base and above it we apply a candy red we will get a candy color that tends to purple, if we have a rich Gold as a base and above we apply a green candy we will have as a result a candy acid green because the gold color it is technically a yellow and therefore it will lighten the classic green by bringing it into the acid green tone which is precisely a green with a lot of yellow inside.
GET NEW COLORS
All the colors of the metallized series can be mixed together to obtain different and new colors.
By mixing the thin, medium and large silver colors of this range with the basic classic colors you can create your own new colored metallized colors. For example, mixing 50 parts of medium metallized silver and 50 parts of cobalt blue results in a beautiful shade of Metallized Blue. If instead of using the basic colors you mix metallized with candy colors, the final result will be incredibly deep.
APPLICATION METHOD
We suggest a method but it is not mandatory and the technique may vary according to your experience:
1 - Apply a light coat, blow air with the airbrush until completely dry, we understand that the color is dry when it becomes opaque and homogeneous. If you don't want to force drying you can wait for it to dry by itself. The secret to a successful job is to start the application with light coats and make sure to dry each coat. In this way we obtain a surface that will give us the correct adhesion to then be able to apply more charged coats.
2 - Now we can apply we can apply a full coat or apply a half coat (it means not completely charged nor too light) and wait for the correct drying.
NOTE: remember that forcing the color to dry means that it will become dry to the touch but not deeply, so you will not be able to apply masking tape right away but you will have to wait at least 30 minutes before proceeding with the masks.
We must therefore apply a sufficient number of coats to cover the substrate and the best way we can use is to try to apply medium coats. In this way the color dries well because the thickness is not excessive. This will help you to be able to mask the pieces in less time and thus to get on with the work more quickly.
Once this application has been completed, we decide whether to apply a new color on it or apply the transparent to protect the work done so far
HOW DO YOU CLEAN THE AIRBRUSH?
With our water-based paint cleaner, if you don't have the cleaner, you can adjust with tap water. Other additives not recognized by us can be used but at the discretion of the modeler.
The colors for airbrushing are technically called OPAQUE BASES and are used in bodywork to paint real cars and motorbikes, these colors do not have resistance like catalyzed colors and therefore you always need a protective clear coat to be able to make them manageable without having to worry about them being damaged. So at the end of each job or if we deem it necessary at the end of the application of a color we can apply the protective clear coat to fix the color and continue our work.
COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER COLORS OF OTHER BRANDS
The Kustom Service colors are on average compatible with all the colors on the market, obviously and as always we do not know the colors of other brands and therefore our opinions are only theoretical, we recommend applying the colors in a veiled way, only in this way can we be more or less certain that nothing will happen.
HUMIDITY AND EXTERNAL TEMPERATURE
Water-based colors compared to solvent-based ones are more delicate and slower products. So don't expect them to dry out as fast in winter as their solvent-based cousins. If the humidity is high this is not a real problem. The real problem is only if you have a very cold temperature.
DRY COLORS WITH FORCED AIR
Be careful to always use cold air and never hot. Many think that a color can be dried with hot air because the heat accelerates the evaporation of water. Well that's not the case. The hot air does nothing but dry the surface film of the color but what is underneath will remain wet and full of water that cannot evaporate because it finds a rigid patina that blocks it. This is why water colors must always be dried by blowing air diagonally with respect to the base and with cold air or at least at room temperature. Only in this way will the air force the evaporation of water from the paint substrate.
LOSS OF DETAILS
Unlike common water-based acrylic colors, i.e. the simple ones without effects, the metallized ones cover a little more and therefore you may lose some negative details, while the positive ones you will never lose. The problem is in the metallic flakes contained in the color which are obviously thicker than a normal pigment. In any case, just proceed slowly and gradually, making each hand dry well and the result is guaranteed.
