First TL build need paint advice please

Hi There guys,
Just awaiting delivery of my TL-1 kit and I want to get my paint products in advance
I've been digesting as much info as my brain will allow regarding prep and painting with rattle cans
I have a specific colour in mind, having been in the printing/graphic arts industry previously, I have a Pantone colour in mind to match the green/blue colour choice I've made
I see that SCA mix paint colours in store in their Colour Spec range, does anyone know is they can match a Pantone PMS number?
Also has anyone used these paints, primers and clear coats before, I know plenty of you use the SCA branded cans?

Cheers

Yeah the Supercheap auto stuff is fine to use. I've done a few different guitars that way. Unfortunately paint mixing is done using a paint code, so they key that in and it shows them the mix for what ever car colour you are after. To match to PMS you might want to take the book to a specialist paint place to do a visual match. I wouldn't trust Supercheap with that, but people who really know what they are doing should be able to sort you out.

Welcome Andrew. What Sonic said is sound advice, and FWIW, my local SCA has a swatch booklet (for lack of a better word) that I used to compare colours with. Like SM mentioned, you could use that to do a visual comparison to your PMS book.

I don't know if all SCA stores have these or not old school books or not.

Attachment 37475

Thanks Sonic
Where is it that they do colour matching and can they do rattle cans?

Thanks McCreed, problem is that I'm in Melbourne and stores are closed so it's only click and collect ATM

You could always try emailing SCA’s main office (as they are more likely to have the reference books) and ask them what their closest match is to the Pantone colour. I’m sure they will have done this before with Pantone and RAL colours. Then when you have the SCA paint number, you can get that from your local outlet.

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Where is it that they do colour matching and can they do rattle cans?

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SCA will do it mixed rattle cans in their Color Spec range. It's not cheap, but if you don't have a compressor & spray gun, it a viable alternative.

SCA ColorSpec Rattle Cans

my local panel supply shop said they can mix from Pantone numbers, def worth asking at Supercheap

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Originally Posted by Andrew Maizels

Thanks Sonic
Where is it that they do colour matching and can they do rattle cans?

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Depends on where you are. There are paint places everywhere, you just need one that does automotive lacquer. As Dedman says the local panel supply place is a good start.

My reservation with SCA is that the people on the floor, in my experience, don't really have the best handle on the products they are selling. It might vary from outlet to outlet, but here they are useless. Following a paint code recipe is one thing, experience with mixing to the point where you can colour match is a different ball game. PMS is also more for ink printing, so the mix is defined by CMYK. Paint mixing works differently as there are different components to the paint (pigment/suspension medium/solvents/hardener) whereas ink is generally solvent and pigment.

Your best bet is to take a chip sample (or your pms book) somewhere to get the colour you want matched.

Otherwise, the SCA patch up rattle can inventory is pretty big. You might find something close enough in there.

Out of interest what PMS colour do you want? Can you give us the code?

The PMS number is 320.
This particular colour (in printing) is made up from 8 parts process blue and 8 parts pantone green
Thanks everyone by the way who is contributing to the conversation
As I said the frustrating part at the moment is not being able to go to paint or panel shops to show the colour swatch for matching
Even though I have a heap of prep ahead of me it will be frustrating to not be able to attack the paint process ASAP once I receive the kit next week

Hi Simon,
I actually did e-mail them so hopefully get an answer on Monday

Hope you have a good weekend.

Thanks, this is a great supportive community
Appreciate all the advice from everyone

Nice shade of teal. There are a couple of standard car colours pretty close to that. I’m on my phone atm so a pain to add pics, but if you google Ford Mettalic Teal you will see a bunch of examples. Nissan do a lighter version of it as well and I’m sure there is a Mazda variant. These would available in the existing Supercheap range. I can’t off the top of my head think of a car with a solid teal finish, so that would more than likely be a custom mix if you don’t want mettalic. I know it’s difficult atm due to lockdown but the best way is to take a physical sample of what you want to a paint place. Print, pms and cmyk mixes don’t translate directly to paint. A couple of manufacturers (such as dulux) have a limited chart of pms matches to their paints, but that’s largely for commercial buildings to match signage.(my main job is graphic designer for a sign company and I have beat my head against this very wall trying to match paint to pms, it’s not always straight forward)

It looks to be a slightly darker variant of Seafoam Green (the old Seafoam vs Surf debate).

Both of these stock "Fender" colours have varied within themselves over the past 60 years to the point that (almost) no two are alike.
That's an exaggeration of course, but you get my point. Traditionally they have mostly been non-metallic, solid colours.
Definitely a classic.

Ford Teal looks a bit more blue than green but can't be sure with only an image on a monitor to compare with.
I used to be in printing and graphic art as well so I know the limitations of matching ink to paint.
Love to get reasonably close, so unfortunately I may have to wait until shops re-open and I can take my swatch to either a paint store SCA.
Would the panel supply stores do a rattle can colour match?
Also, is one can of colour coat enough for the guitar?

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Would the panel supply stores do a rattle can colour match?

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There are some, but I think most paint panel shops won't have the capabilities to put the paint into a pressurised can.

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Also, is one can of colour coat enough for the guitar?

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Theoretically yes, but it's not necessarily that straight forward.
Firstly, cans come in different volumes depending on brand (eg: 150g, 311g, 340g, 400g). It also depends on if you're doing just a gloss base coat or base coat plus clear coat.
If doing a single gloss base coat only, I would be concerned about potential for sand-through even with a single 340g can. I have most always done base + clear and I always go with extra clear just to be sure. When I was still using rattle cans as a primary method, I always used 2 - 150g cans at least for the base coat. Results vary between basic solid colours and metallics also.

With aerosol paints, they work out to be (roughly) 33% paint (1/3) 16-25% solvent, and the remainder is propellant (basically compressed air) so, not a whole lot of paint in reality.

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Originally Posted by Andrew Maizels

Would the panel supply stores do a rattle can colour match?
Also, is one can of colour coat enough for the guitar?

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Yes almost every paint supply place can do rattle cans these days, particularly places that specialise in automotive finishing.Not especially cheap mind you.

A 400g can is plenty for the colour coats. If you happen to find a Dulpicolour in the smaller 125g cans, it is enough, but I always seem to end up buying a second one to tidy up boo-boos.

Just did a quick google and here is a place in Melbourne that does it. Looks like they'll even ship it so you might not need to wait for lockdown to lift. I'd contact them with what you are after and see what they say.

https://autopaints.com.au/index.php?...t&product_id=6

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Yes almost every paint supply place can do rattle cans these days, particularly places that specialise in automotive finishing. Not especially cheap mind you.

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There ya go. I did not know this was so common nowadays.
And yes, not cheap. Even the SCA ones are 35 bucks for 300g.

Yeah I was thinking upwards of $50. Last time I got paint mixed for spraying a car it was around $90 for a litre.

I do not miss painting cars.

From what I have researched, I intended to use primer, then base coat followed by clear coat.
Hopefully this is the correct process, of course with appropriate sanding between costs of colour and clear

Yep that’s correct. If you have prepared well it will only need a very light rub back between coats. Then lots of clears so you can cut it back flat and polish it up.

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Yeah I was thinking upwards of $50. Last time I got paint mixed for spraying a car it was around $90 for a litre.

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I got 2K acrylic lacquer put into spray cans about 10 years ago, and they were $55 each. I used about 1-1/2 cans.

I've paid between $28 to $39 for 250ml of mixed 1K ac lac. (not to mention about a grand for a compressor and spray guns :o)
The clear is pretty cheap though.