Finishing and Airbrushing

[Riffmeister]

I want to airbrush a guitar, but I need to know what kind of work I need to do to get a basecoat on. Do I need to sand first( using a totally new unfinished body) and do I need to sand after laying the basecoat before starting to use the airbrush?

I'm using Auto Air paints. I haven't painted anything in about 2 years and when I did my sons hlemet, I thought I remembered that using AA's Base coat sealer didn't require any sanding, yet after the clear, it seemed liked it had peaks and Valleys in it.

I have done I guess what you would call artwork, but no experience basecoating stuff, other than the helmet once.

So if , the sanding is needed, how do you know what grit to use and do you wet or dry sand at this stage? Thanks for any help!

[Riffmeister]

Anyone ?

[warlok]

I AM NO PRO AT THIS...... But my take is it depends on what you's look for in the end. The wood will have to be sealed and flattened (sand and sealer) before the base coat. What you use will depend on what paint you are using. I assume the Auto Air is a poly paint so you'll want to use all poly everything. Like when I did the Model 6, I used nitro so everything I used was nitro. Make sure everything you use is compatible or bad things ensue...
As far as the process, It should be sand and sealer to seal and build up a flat surface. Then primer. Sand. Then base coat (however many it takes to cover). Sand. Airbrush. Clear. Wet sand. Buff and polish. Build. ROCK!!!

[dg]

Auto Air Colors are actually waterborne. You can use it over pretty much any basecoat or existing finish. I'm no expert, but I think it's like a poly that has already cured, then it's suspended in a water base so it's non-toxic (or way less toxic) to work with. You can heat-cure it, which supposedly strengthens it, but I don't think it's as durable as a 2-part poly. You can clear over it with something more durble after using it for the color coat or graphic, I think.

http://www.autoaircolors.com/

Like Warlock said, working with wood is going to be different from painting a helmet, since the wood is super porous and has grain that will show if you don't seal it. There are some good tutorials online, and plenty of guys here who know what you need to do. I've done a couple, but it's been a few years.

[Riffmeister]

Ok, thanks Guys!! The Auto Air is pretty durable if you use it right and as you said, you have to have a compatible clear with it.It ISN"T compatible with nitro, I can tell you that

I had some hockey masks painted with it, and after the 2 part clear, it took some serious shots without any problems.

I am wondering now, if Auto Airs base coat sealer can be used instead of using sealer AND Primer. I would imagine there would be no problems with the black basecoat sealer, but with the white , I don't know.
I also don't know exactly how much to sand and with what grit at the basecoat stage. Auto Airs paint is designed to be slightly rough so that it creates tooth to stick to itself, but I do need a pretty smooth surface to do the graphics on. Auto Airs reducer is suppoesed to level it out better than just spraying it straight.
I guess the first one is going to be an experiment

Now if I want to do some graphics over an existing finish, if I just scuff the area to be painted, do the artwork, can the whole thing be RECLEARED like that , or do I need to scuff the whole guitar before taking it to be cleared?

This is a pain, cause I can't do the clearing myself, and Auto Air is different than other paint, but at least it wont kill me