I need some advice from an experienced painter on applying the card backed transfers supplied by VOC please.
I assumed these are standard waterslide transfers and I applied them the usual way by soaking and sliding into position, dabbing dry and getting air bubbles out with soft cloth. They dried overnight very nicely, nice and flat. I hit them with a couple of clear coats of House of Kolor urethane (light first coat and allowed to set up, followed by flow coat), which was fine initially - but after an hour or so they started to bubble, then after a while longer looked quite bad. After a few days, I decided I would see what's going on and found they had not stuck at all to the sanded paint underneath. A complete redo required.
I came up with two reasons against me succeeding
- I had used wax and grease remover to clean off my fingerprints from applying the gold leaf lines and I believe at this final step in the process is a no no - and should have used soap and water, or the HOK post sanding cleaner. The clear coat also was not properly adhered either and I could lift if off in small sections which leads me to believe that the W&G remover was the issue
- I applied the transfers to a sanded sealer surface - wet sanded 600-1000grit, rather than the unsanded black base coat.
I have taken the tank back to primer and will be redoing the gold leaf lines and transfers again. I have one more set of transfers and must nail it this time.
I read in the Whitakerpedia about using meths to apply the transfers- this seems drastic? That may be old advice for early decals.
I am an 25yr experienced hobby painter, with a small booth, air supplied mask and proper guns. I do about a dozen paint jobs a year typically for Norton's - mainly the dry metal flake of the 70's. I specifically use the House the Kolor products and have never had any issues like this. Thankfully this is my own tank.
I assumed these are standard waterslide transfers and I applied them the usual way by soaking and sliding into position, dabbing dry and getting air bubbles out with soft cloth. They dried overnight very nicely, nice and flat. I hit them with a couple of clear coats of House of Kolor urethane (light first coat and allowed to set up, followed by flow coat), which was fine initially - but after an hour or so they started to bubble, then after a while longer looked quite bad. After a few days, I decided I would see what's going on and found they had not stuck at all to the sanded paint underneath. A complete redo required.
I came up with two reasons against me succeeding
- I had used wax and grease remover to clean off my fingerprints from applying the gold leaf lines and I believe at this final step in the process is a no no - and should have used soap and water, or the HOK post sanding cleaner. The clear coat also was not properly adhered either and I could lift if off in small sections which leads me to believe that the W&G remover was the issue
- I applied the transfers to a sanded sealer surface - wet sanded 600-1000grit, rather than the unsanded black base coat.
I have taken the tank back to primer and will be redoing the gold leaf lines and transfers again. I have one more set of transfers and must nail it this time.
I read in the Whitakerpedia about using meths to apply the transfers- this seems drastic? That may be old advice for early decals.
I am an 25yr experienced hobby painter, with a small booth, air supplied mask and proper guns. I do about a dozen paint jobs a year typically for Norton's - mainly the dry metal flake of the 70's. I specifically use the House the Kolor products and have never had any issues like this. Thankfully this is my own tank.