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Wednesday, 18 March 2015

Airbrushing Process

What you will need:

1. The colors you want to use, in this case:
These colors need to be a Base Coat Paint it is a type of paint usually found with car metallic paints. The reason why we use it for our graphics is they harden and dry faster than a 2k Paint, in 30 Min you can apply tape on it and it would not affect the paint. As for 2k Paints it needs about 2 to 3 days to harden before you can tape over it.

White
Black
Silver 
Blue

2. a 2k clear coat:
We use a 2k clear coat, when we lay down the clear coat we can leave it to dry for a day or two we don't need to work over it again. And it gives the best durability and shine to your final project.

3. a 2k hardener
4. a 2k thinner
5. normal lacquer thinner
6. a Small cutting blade 
7. 6 mm fine liners tape (not sign writing tape)
8. Masking tape
9. a Airbrush
10. A spray gun
11. Compressor to use the airbrush and spray gun
12. Sanding paper 320 grit
  
Refer to the instruction of the supplier on how to mix the paints. 

As seen in the first image "the helmet" we are working with 3 colors and black for the airbrushing, further down I will explain the process on how to achieve the best result the quickest way possible.



Step 1 

First remove all the loose accessories on the helmet. accessories which cannot be removed we will cover with the masking tape. Sand down the old paint to create surface for the paint to adhere to. Use sanding paper anything from 320 grit to 800 grit.



Step 2 

When working on a project like this it is important to analyze what needs to be done first. In this instance it is easier to first lay down the silver for the tribal effect. By Painting the helmet a solid silver we can block out the graphics we need in silver then apply the second and third color. It is not necessary to lay down a base color such as white although it makes the color you apply over it appear bright and solid.  

Base color white

When our silver has harden and dry we can lay down our graphics with the 6mm fine liners tape. It is important to mask all parts which need to be silver in this case, The fine liners tape is only used to outline the graphics.


Silver for our tribal design (Blue lines are where the silver tribal design is going to appear)



Step 3 

Use your cutting blade to cut off the excess fine liners tape to create sharper points on the edge of the tribal design.
Use your masking tape to cover the insides of the tribal design.



Step 4

When your design is the way you want it decide where what color should go. In this case the blue goes on top and the white on the bottom part of the helmet. Next we going to lay down the blue, mask all the areas which is not going to be blue and spray your blue on the open areas.



Step 5 

First remove the masking tape from step 4, be careful to not remove the tape for the tribal design. Repeat step 4 only this time cover all areas which should not be white and lay down the white on the open areas.

Step 6 

Remove all the masking tape applied in Steps 2 to 5



Now we can add some detail with the airbrush using the black paint, or which ever color you desire. This is just to add some depth to our design.



Step 7

After all the detailing is done we can protect all the layers with a coat of 2k Clear to give even more depth, shine, and protect our graphics.


The same process was applied on the bike





Please Note! 
This is only a how to guide refer to a professional
Refer to a specialist on the mixing and applying of paint
Always where protective clothing and respirator
Paint in a well ventilated area 
First try it out on some scrap materials before attempting it on a expensive helmet 
After each step the paint needs to be dry 

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