Quote:
Originally Posted by swirlnoob
Thanx swirltop  I will pick up some naptha, which kind of humbrols did u have to thin? I'm getting gloss. Also it says they come in 14ml cans?! That's only 3 tablespoons full, how much of it did u order to do a full guitar body dip? Is there a bigger quantity to choose from I couldn't find it. |
Order the colors you want and you'll probably have enough to do 4-5 guitars. So you'll have plenty of paint to experiment on.
Here's some info I came up with for you based on my experiences; hope it helps:
I have a 36 gallon rubbermaid storage tote with reenforced sides to prevent a blowout. I found one that was 20.5" deep, perfect...being much wider than a garbage pail helps make sure you don't run out of paint (If you put enough in...lol). I used 3.5 cups of Borox so slightly more than 1 cup of borax in every 10 galllons (filled with 30-32 gallons of water).
Water temp between 80-70 F works the best.
Mix the Borax up in hot water a little at a time to dissolve it better and add it to the tub as you're filling it.
I put a screw in the bottom guitar strap button hole so I can hit bottom without ruining the swirl. Helps when dunking alone because you can anchor the guitar to the bottom while wiping excess paint off the surface.
I plug all holes, routes, or otherwise bare wood with wax. I've heard that letting water get into those areas can warp the wood...I've always done this so I don't know if it does or not.
I spray a couple lightly misted coats of clear on the white primer. For me the paints stick better to the orange peel of the clear than to paint that's been sanded. The paints run less.
Clean the guitar with alcohol right before dunking, make sure it's dry before dipping...
I've only tried Humbrol paints, but so far with those I had to thin them out around 20-30% with naptha for the best results...white I've had to do around 40% to keep it from just dropping to the bottom.
Pour the paint in as close to the water as you can. It helps it disperse more even and some paint will just drop to the bottom if you launch it from above
I use a CLEAN 14" size plastic zip tie to swirl the paints. The paint doesn't seem to stick as much as it will to the same size piece of wood.
I've got the best results pouring black first, waiting for it to disperse, and then adding other colors on top of that usually in order from darker colors to light.
Keep the guitar moving downward at all times until it's submerged all the way.
Make sure you blow or wipe the excess paint on top to make a hole for the guitar to come back out!
I use a shop vac set on blow to dry off the excess water. This keeps the fish eyes away and won't blow the paint off like a compressor can...
After it's blow dried off I clamp it to the table face up to help prevent paint running.
Ohhh yeah....One of the most important lessons learned....If I don't like how it came out I wipe it off with a shop towel dipped in naptha...the sooner the better! It comes off really easy the first few hours so you can just keep experimenting on a real guitar without sanding/priming all over again!!!!!
I'm sure I missed a lot, but there are a few tips that work for me so far anyway, some I spent a lot of time and paint learning
