At the risk of getting ripped and made fun of.... I have a '68 Merc that I'm getting ready to paint. I haven't shot a full paint job for about 15 years, back when my dad and I were rebuilding 60s Chevy pickups to sell. Back then, we used PPG Urethane. My problem is - I'm more and more aware that the Base/Clear stuff is not exactly home painter friendly, and frankly, I remember that the first few jobs I shot were acrylic lacquer and I liked the hell out of the process. Always thought I got better results. Now, I see that the "latest" in hobbyist paint is the Dupli-Color Paint Shop lacquers. After having a good laugh about how "everything old is new again," I'm seriously considering shooting my Merc with this stuff. And I'm also thinking of doing something I've never done but always wanted to - paint a true Candy Apple Red paint job. Dupli-Color has a genuine Candy lacquer available in Red, Tangerine, and Green. The stuff is relatively inexpensive and promises to be user-friendly. My question is - has anyone painted with the Paint Shop stuff, and has anyone tried the Candy? I'm serious enough about it that I'm going to go to the local Pick-A-Part for a couple of $15 fenders to do some practicing.
Real acrylic lacquer is still available from several of the major paint manufacturers. Don't waste you time and money on the Duplicolor stuff. It's a ripoff scheme where they sell you pre-thinned low quality lacquer for a price that's 2 to 3 times what the good stuff would cost you. The only thing about it that makes it the "latest" is that its one of the latest marketing gimmicks dreamed up to separate you from your money in exchange for a shit product. True candy colors are the most difficult of all automotive paints to lay down and end up with a satisfactory job. You have to be able to lay the metallic base (most commonly gold or silver) down with no striping from improper gun handling or incorrect overlap. Any stripes or mottling will show thru the candy. Then you have to be able to lay the candy down with even greater degree of perfection than the base, because its translucent properties demand near perfect application to avoid light and dark areas. Once all that's done, you need several coats of clear over the candy for color sanding since you can't color sand the candy itself without screwing up its appearance. If a person is lucky enough to do all the above perfectly, the fact that the final product is lacquer that's now really thick means it'll most likely start cracking within a couple years. Lacquer continues to dry and shrink indefinitely, even on a car that's garaged. The shrinkage eventually causes the paint to crack, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. The thicker the lacquer, the faster the cracking will begin. Most anyone who's gone thru the pains necessary to produce high quality lacquer paint work, and then shot BC/CC paint, will tell you they hope to never pull the trigger on a gun full of lacquer again. A good respirator and a paint suit will allow you to paint safely with 2K materials, and you can do it in the same sort of place where you'd shoot lacquer since the flash times, etc are similar. When you finish color sanding and buffing you'll have a result that'll last for years, and you can do it for no more money or effort than you'd spend on a Duplicolor job.
Buy a quart of the silver base and a quart of candy and do some pratice shots on scrap metal. Not long ago, the show Gearz was going over the new dupli color candies. Nothing bad, basically you need to pratice before you tackle your car.Don't forget you need shoot clear ontop of the candy.
Well, after I couldn't find anyone who had used it anywhere, I did what jcmarz suggested -bought a quart of primer, quart of silver base, quart of candy, quart of clear. Shot a couple of test panels tonight, and I have to say that first impressions are pretty damn good. The stuff lays down nicely, covers well, and is forgiving. Shot it with a Croix HLVP hot air turbine system. One coat of primer, the recommended three coats of silver base (VERY heavy metallic), three coats of the candy red, and two coats of clear. Color is nice and even (I even did a little corrective shooting of the candy to fix a little striping before the clear went on), has the "candy" depth, and other than some dust in it (due to my less than controlled environment), it's a pretty damn nice finish, especially considering it was the first time I'd ever painted candy with anything other than an aerosol can on a plastic model! Next step - try it on some trailer fenders and a spare air cleaner. Then maybe a test scallop or two on the Merc (it'll get sanded off anyway when the full paint job goes on). The best part is I don't have to wear a space suit. Still not completely sold, and I'll probably get a quart of HOK stuff to compare, but so far I like it. I'll post some pics in the next couple days after I rub out the clear.
I have used it several times for paint jobs for friends when they insisted that was want they wanted to use to try to save money. I have done several body pieces and a complete repaint on a pickup. The primer and base goes on nice actually..smooth and covers even....but the clear is complete shit. I've tried spraying it with 3 different kinds of guns...it's just plain shit. You can get it to look decent by laying down about 5 coats then wetsanding and buffing the hell out of it. What it costs for that stuff you can get regular Urethane base/clear or a single stage and do it right with better results. The House of Color candy basecoats with a clearcoat on top is the way to go now a days for a candy style job ..very user friendly and they look fantastic. Not cheap though..but you get what you pay for....I guess that's my whole point
Thanks for the info. I went down and looked at it again this morning, and the clear appeared to lay down OK, but again I'm shooting panels (one flat, one shaped) just to start the practice process. Once I rub them out, I'll probably see what you see. I do appreciate the post, though, it's good to hear from someone who has used it. Once I run out of practice paint with this stuff, I plan to get some HOK to try out. By that time, it'll be about time to paint the Merc and I'll have enough info to decide.
Did you use the dupli color right from the can like it says you can or did you thin it any? I was looking for something simple ,just paint, no candy and I wasnt sure if my limited brain power would let me figure out the reducers, thiners ,ect when mixing it myself.
That duplicolor auto body paint sucks ass! No matter how good you car it never comes out smooth and glossy. It looks worse than rusoleum with a roller and I know cuz I just did it and have do sand and buff that crap. But serioulsy just go and buy an off brand like nansco or anything, auto body sucks, also its hard to clean up. PLEASE DONT DO IT crap.... well I just saw that you did, but hey other people can still see this and get another opinion if they want to try it.
Great info to have.I am about to shoot the roof on my falcon and stumbled on this thread.The car will be sprayed with nason eurathane enamel and I have been contemplating what to do on the roof.It will be candt because of the look I want.I intend to lay down 3 coats and then tape off a "E" scallop going front to rear and lay down 2-3 more coats of the same color to kinda "ghost" the scallop into the roof.From what i am reading here looks like I need to work some overtime to save up for HOK.Thanks For the input guys.
Got a PPG rep or a PPG store? Start with DCA-468 Hi Performance Clear. It's exactly what you remember from back in the day. HOK Kandy Koncentrate mixes with it perfectly so you can make your own kandy outta materials you're already hip to. Cost difference? For all the effort you invest into a refinish, even if it was $500 more that's cheap for quality and longevity. PPG Global basecoat is lacquer formulation and will take the 468 well. Any OEM silver would make a nice base, so would some of those metallic golds on late model Mopars. Kandys? It's kool you wanna man up and go for it. The job demands quality materials and it should compliment your efforts, not insult them. There's lots of print media, perhaps dozens of posts about it here that cover dos and don'ts.
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