Im having trouble with my HOK paint

Hey guys,

Has anyone here ever used House of Kolor "custom color" paints before?

I painted a Grand National in "black diamond" and it came out great, then I cleared it with testors "wet look" clear, buffed and waxed. Best looking finish imo.

http://i.ebayimg.com/19/!B5!BZuQB2k~$(KGrHqQOKioEyY2,4NRyBMr9rsotLw~~_1.JP G?set_id=880000500F

But now its acting up, I have a Supra in the booth and I went to mix up some red metallic and it seems that the paint reacts to the thinner. It spreads apart like water and oil. I used testors thinner in my last batch and it worked great but now its hell. The paint gets real thick and bunches up like gum and sticks to the sides of the bottle and wont spray out of the brush. Is this just the thinner thats causing this mess or is it a bad batch of paint? :screwy:

btw I'll post up pics of the GN later on

Are you using the enamel or acrylic laquer paints? It sounds like you are using the later. Check the label. If it is the acrylic laquer, enamel thinner sometimes works. Too often it reacts the way you are describing. The right thinner to use with acrylic laquer is urethane thinner. It's available at most auto paint stores. If you don't have one near you, you can also order from coast airbrush who sells it in smaller amounts.

Cool, thats what Im thinking. I was going to switch thinners but it worked well the first time so I said why not? But not now lol

I tried using this paint a LONG time ago. I was only ever able to use the pearl white over white base with boyd high gloss clear. I contacted Valspar (the makers of this paint) and they were very helpful and very informative. I would suggest you do the same and tell them the issues you are having. I do know that if you use the thinner that is provided under the Kustom Kolor label you will not have any problems with thinning the paint.

Incedentally,from what I recall, the rattle can version of this paint is enamel, where as the airbrush bottles are more of an acrylic urethane. But I would contact them to verify this information.

also, do a search and find the thread I started. there is a lot of information in it that may help you.

There's good reason this "Kustom Kolor" stuff isn't available any more!

First of all, it is NOT real HOK paint. That was just a marketing ploy by Valspar...the colors are nowhere near as vivid. Kustom Kolor is only "by the makers of HOK"...it is most certainly not real HOK.

Secondly, they used formulas that were different from bottles to spray cans and from other hobby paints. Lots of incompatibility issues. Lots of people get a good base coat, lay down clear, and have it all crack.

From what I saw when it was new, it was junk. I still believe that. From the colors to the formula, to the fact that it was dropped so quickly...but people still think it's "real" HOK...and honestly, this junk gave the real HOK paint a really bad rap. I would never be able to trust it on a model, unless you do a spoon test or similar...for all levels, from primer to color to clear.

You can order hobby size jars of real HOK paint. You can also get it from Black Gold. Nice, vivid colors....none of the nonsense.

if youre looking for real hok throw that stuff out and get some real HOK from the makers of HOK

www.coastairbrush.com

I thought HOK paints (the real ones) were made by DuPont anyway.

I've had great results with this paint, but it seems its hit or miss. I'll have to get pics of my GN it looks like a black mirror.

if youre looking for real hok throw that stuff out and get some real HOK from the makers of HOK

www.coastairbrush.com (http://www.coastairbrush.com)


If I use the paint from there should I get it in pre-reduced 1:1 or just get it straight? I've had automotive paint eat into the plastic before and dont feel like doing that again.:frown:

If I use the paint from there should I get it in pre-reduced 1:1 or just get it straight? I've had automotive paint eat into the plastic before and dont feel like doing that again.:frown:

youll need automotive grade primer for that stuff or primer your cars with tamiya. depends i buy mine straight i like my mix a certain way.

I've used Kustom Kolor with some success. Compatibility is the key. As Zoom Zoom said there are some substantial compatibility issues. Kustom Kolors makes a product called a "Reducer" and product called a "Thinner" for the Kustom Kolor line. The Thinner drys slower than the Reducer and makes the paint behave sort of like an enamel in terms of gloss and drying time, although it still drys much faster than an enamel. The "Reducer" makes it behave more like a lacquer. It can also be thinned with lacquer thinner. Kustom Kolors Acrylic Clear does not work well over their paint and will definitely cause it to crack. I use Crystal Clear, an acrylic, over either thinned or reduced Kustom Kolors paint and I've had no bad reactions. My paint samples are over a year old. Here is a picture of a custom mix of Kustom Kolors over duplicolor silver. The body was cleared after I took this picture.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x130/pharr7226/1964%20GTO%20Convertible%20Model/Painted64GTO038.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x130/pharr7226/1964%20GTO%20Convertible%20Model/Painted64GTO039.jpg

I used testors lacquer "wet look" clear over Kustom Kolor and it came out great. I just did a little wet sanding and polished with Scratch X and waxed, you can see your face in it.

So I can just use any lacquer thinner?

I used cheap hardware store lacquer thinner in my tests with no problems.

I really wish they would have labeled them as lacquer, acrylic, enamel, etc. That may be the entire issue to begin with. ...and smelling paint isn't really a good way to tell what its chemical properties are.

I think it's supposed to be some sort of hybrid.

ya, It a love hate type of thing for me. Some I get great finishes out of and some wont even spray.

I think it's supposed to be some sort of hybrid.

I know we have used acrylic-enamels and acrylic-lacquers at the body shop, and most of them used their own specific reducers and hardeners as well as clean up solvents on the guns and such. We didn't like them as most of the paint we shoot is lacquer based or urethane which uses lacquer thinner to clean and lacquer type reducers. they spray really well when mixed properly.

These pseudo HOK paints are really a troublesome enigma of beautiful colors. I really wish they would have done a better job of making everything compatible and more user friendly. They just wanted to make a buck, and they did, I bought like 10 bottles of the crap and only one paintjob turned out nice enough to show (see my Infinity/Nissan Leopard/J30)

I know we have used acrylic-enamels and acrylic-lacquers at the body shop, and most of them used their own specific reducers and hardeners as well as clean up solvents on the guns and such. We didn't like them as most of the paint we shoot is lacquer based or urethane which uses lacquer thinner to clean and lacquer type reducers. they spray really well when mixed properly.

These pseudo HOK paints are really a troublesome enigma of beautiful colors. I really wish they would have done a better job of making everything compatible and more user friendly. They just wanted to make a buck, and they did, I bought like 10 bottles of the crap and only one paintjob turned out nice enough to show (see my Infinity/Nissan Leopard/J30)

I agree that the marketing sucked. I bought at least 25 bottles, which partially explains my research and testing. I'm determined to explore every avenue to make the stuff work. I've also found that the thickness of the paint varies dramatically from color to color. Some colors, like silver, require as much as a 1:4 paint to thinner ratio while others require much less. You really can't use a formula to thin this paint. I thin it until I have the consistency of 2% milk. I've shot spoon tests with: candy red over various base colors; silver; black; and, custom combinations of silver and black. Some of my tests are over a year old and, so far, the paint is holding up.

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x130/pharr7226/Paint%20Tests/006.jpg

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x130/pharr7226/Paint%20Tests/007.jpg

Damn those Red's look sick, thats the color Im after for my Supra build. What did you thin those down to? Im in the same boat as you, I was given 25 bottles of them and I want to make them work.

Damn those Red's look sick, thats the color Im after for my Supra build. What did you thin those down to? I'm in the same boat as you, I was given 25 bottles of them and I want to make them work.

Thanks Rye 21. The orange looking color is actually candy red over a brass metalizer base. I just stopped shooting the red when I got the shade I wanted. The more traditional red is candy red over a duplicolor brilliant silver base. I don't have a precise ratio for thinning either color. The Kustom Kolor candies are much more reduced out of the bottle than the silvers that I referred to previously. I thin it to the consistency of 2% milk and test it. You only get one shot to get the candies right. In other words, you can't spray more paint to hide a mistake. The more coats the darker the color. In your tests make sure that it's not so thin that you get the spider legs effect. I hope this helps.