Painting my donor bodies (construction thread)

[Pariah Zero]

One of my other hobbies is airbrushing.

The fact that the donor bodies have huge branding all over the mic just won't do... and neither will the 'Model-T' paint ("Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants, so long as it is black" — Henry Ford)

I spent time this weekend stripping paint from three BM-800's and a BM-700. Three were easy - a red scotchbrite stripping pad and some acetone, and a touch of elbow grease. One cheeky 'lil devil, however, to its credit, had a very durable powder coat finish that took a lot 'o sanding.

Still, at the end, I've already got some much more attractive mic bodies.

Next up: I'll obviously remove the head basket, electronics, mask, and start painting.

The paints I'm using do DTM (direct to metal) well, and many of the effects require shiny metal underneath.

With any luck, I'll have something that looks like this:


That's one effect I want to try out... but then I need to figure out what else I want to do... minor things like choose a color...

 

[RuudNL]

This gives a whole new meaning to the term 'body painting'.

 

[PermO]

I like the orange and the brownish one, think those would look good on a mic.
Especially with brass screen.

 

[rogs]

I don't have the necessary kit - or expertise - to do a decent paint job.
It's not too bad when the logos on the NW700/BM800 bodies are just screen printed. Bit of isoprop alcohol and its gone.... leaving a reasonable (usually black) finish.
But sometimes (Neweer for example) the logo is etched, and that's a bit trickier to remove.
I just take all the paint - and the logo - off with a hot air gun and a scraper, and then just keep polishing! ... Looks OK ! (see attached) .
Downside is you need to keep polishing every few weeks, because the untreated aluminium keeps oxidising.
Maybe a lacquer coating of come sort?..... or maybe learn how to air brush? ...
Still just polishing at the moment !

 

[RuudNL]

I had very good results with Hammerite spraypaint.
It gives a 'vintage' texture if it is applied the right way.
Give the paint enough time to dry. Even if it 'feels' dry, it is still very vulnerable in the beginning.

 

[Pariah Zero]

But sometimes (Neweer for example) the logo is etched, and that's a bit trickier to remove.

That is definitely the case on a couple of them. One was etched all the way into the aluminum.

I don't know about the UK/EU, but, here in the 'States, it's pretty easy to get a decent non-yellowing clear lacquer/acrylic/enamel. It sprays & works just like paint, and is not a big deal to use. As I work through the thread, I'll show my steps (and clear will be among them). One big thing is keep the coatings out of the threads & joints. The big caveat is chemical resistance - most will melt in common solvents like petroleum products and acetone - which probably won't be a problem anyway.

As a warning/aside: For hobby use, stay away from "2K" (catalyzing urethane) clears. They're used for professional automotive clears, which are not friendly to the human body. They're best treated like nerve gas - absorption is through any exposed part of the body, passes through nitrile gloves like it's air - the stuff requires pricey spray booth exhaust filters and PPE.

It's great stuff for cars, but there's a reason for all the equipment & PPE - my father-in-law had to leave the profession because of sensitization to 2k clear (or rather, the isocyanates in them), and his daughter (who also worked and left the profession) gets a life-threatening reaction to the stuff. That's not counting the asthma, lung damage, cancers, etc. caused by other ingredients in them...

Seriously, 2K clear is practically liquid evil, don't use it unless you have the equipment and training.

 

[GeorgeToledo]

With hammerite or wrinkle paint, holding up a lamp to heat the surface right after spraying will help bring out more texture, or other low heat such as a suitable oven setup.

If anyone has info about recreating those old paints from scratch, I’d love to see it.

I’m very interested to see texturing pictured in the original post on a microphone. Very cool looking.

 

[Pariah Zero]

I’m very interested to see texturing pictured in the original post on a microphone. Very cool looking.

It's coming... it's just a matter of being somewhat at the whims of my 6-year old autistic son. He loves making stuff with me, but I choose to "go with the flow" and harness his excitement rather than work against it.

It's one reason I have a several of projects going, and they're all progressing, but usually only one or two evenings a week each.

Tonight he was fascinated with the Hot Air Rework Station that arrived from Amazon... that I had hoped to hide from him, but my wife decided it would be fun for him to open. <sigh>. Oh well. No painting tonight.

From there, You know how it goes: Don't turn it on, tear it apart!

 

[Pariah Zero]

Today, I thought about brightening the zinc and pot metal bodies. I tried a few things, like tarnish removers, sanding, etc. Ultimately, I couldn't get them to have the same shade.

So, it was time to admit defeat.

I started by removing the electronics, connectors, etc. then I masked everything likely to get painted. Now is a good time to use something like kabob skewers to use as holders while painting.



A useful technique for rattle can primers: fill a mixing bowl with hot water, and set the aerosol can in the hot water for 15-20 minutes before use. Just don't exceed the safety margins of the can!

This will *greatly* improve the quality of the aerosol, flow, leveling, reduce droplet size, etc.

I intentionally didn't do that tonight. Here's the result of the primer coat one:


Note the size and texture of the micronization. (Not great). Full coverage is not desirable at this point.

Next: Primer coat 2: full coverage. It's still textured, though. Normally, you'd wait for it to dry completely, and sand it smooth again. (This takes up to a week. Insufficient drying clogs sandpaper badly.)



Finally, I'll shoot a couple of coats of hardware store chrome paint. Part of the reason I'm using the cheaper paint: it'll do the job, and it's not water based. Most of the airbrush stuff I use is water based, and is incompatible with the Crystal FX, as it needs water.

Anyway, the paint: you'll note it is still a bit textured. Normally it's something to be avoided - but there are a couple of things to note here: the volatiles haven't fully dried off, and maybe textured will actually end up looking better with the crystal effect.



The irony is all of this work is less about looking like Chrome than being both shiny and the same shade (finally!)

I'll finish my other two so they are smooth.

 

[Pariah Zero]

My first attempt at crystals didn't work: too smooth, and even a light sanding stripped too much paint. So, I had to re-silver it and then shoot clear so there would be something I could sand.

This attempt was more successful, but not entirely: I was probably a bit too conservative this time, but it's a lot easier to fix! (I started with a 3000 grit wet foam pad - so it's pretty fine stuff to begin with)

This one looks pretty good: crystals formed quite well, but there are a few spots they didn't.



In contrast, the other side needs more roughening, to give the crystals a place to grow.



Once I get good crystal growth, I can shoot it with some black, and then I can remove the crystals underneath - which gives the first half of the effect.

 

[Pariah Zero]

This is more promising: better crystal growth, and a couple different base coats:


Each will be coated next in a Candy (Transparent colored glass-like paint) that will add a new color and depth. I'm thinking of putting a candy blue over the red (making it a purple & blue color) and then using a nightshade blue pearl over the black (over the silver, it should appear blue, and over the black, it looks green)

I haven't decided yet, though. Fortunately digital photo editing lets me try out combinations digitally before committing.

And I have at least two more bodies to go... there are a lot of variables to play with, and I'm just using rattle cans so far (I haven't even pulled out my HVLP gun which blows up the variables even further.)

 

[shabtek]

hammerite can be fun to experiment with; going wet-on-wet or wet on semi-dry with one color regular rattlecan paint and the other hammerite, and messing with temp either cold metal and/ or hot metal/heat source can achieve different textural effects

 

[Pariah Zero]

Hammerite uses pearl & metal flake to get some nice effects. Not what I'm going for here, though.

In this case, I'm going for some an effect using a crystal mask and candy colors.

What you do is make a saturated solution of distilled water, urea, and a small amount of detergent to provide better wetting. When it dries, it forms crystals. Get it wet, and they dissolve again -- easily.

So if you paint over the crystals, then get them wet, they dissolve - and a scotch brite pad lets you easily remove the paint stuck to thicker layers of the crystal, while other spots the paint sticks. That gives the crystal pattern.

Urea is pretty ideal because you can dissolve nearly 500g in 1L of water. It takes time - hours - to dissolve. (The reaction is endothermic - it gets cold, and while it's tempting to warm it... well... If the name isn't a clue: urea is the primary non-water component of urine, at 2-3% by weight. This stuff is 50%. It's odorless because it's not warm enough. It starts to break down into ammonia at ~37 °C, and it'll start to smell bad, then get dangerous. Bonus: it's a great fertilizer.

I'd probably get a lot better result if I'd have used a normal HVLP paint rather than a rattle can black, as I can get better atomization - which would give finer details when sanding down the drop coat over the crystals.

Anyway, shooting candy over the red one looks like this:


The thing with Candies: they don't look right until they've been clear coated, and I am way too tired to drop clear on tonight. They also don't really look quite right in 2-D, somehow.

I did get a glimpse of what it looked like as the paint was wet and there was more gloss and contrast - assuming it looks the same as what I saw then, it's likely there will be a lot more depth that will appear due to the "candy effect".

I really hope it turns out that way. I am pretty disappointed that the red doesn't show through - I was hoping for more of a purple/violet and blue color.

Oh well. Live and learn. I've got a magenta and brown candy to try out as well.

 

[Pariah Zero]

Live and learn: I have a less great magenta - I tried an experiment and added some red pearl flake — having forgotten the flake is not transparent.



The Candy "Dirt Track Brown," however, really surprised me. As a candy, you can darken it as you lay down more coats, and it started out as more of a dark brass, then had a beautiful copper (where I should have stopped, IMO), and then can progress more into bronze.



Sadly, they weren't to be. It turns out that the rattle can clear explicitly said not to use over the chrome paint — which I did. Sadly, I missed the fine print.

The result: when I taped them up for graphics, the clear I had put on top of the chrome (so I could sand it down) had adhesion failure. Everything on top of it came off. So, there wasn't much to do except get a nice wide strip of tape, cover the body, and then peel the tape off.

All of the color, crystal pattern, etc peeled off effortlessly in one unbroken strip, leaving the chrome undercoat behind.

For all of them.

It's not a happy setback, but ultimately it's an opportunity to step back and begin again, this time with more experience for how the crystal masks work.

 

[Pariah Zero]

New weekend, new paint...

I'm recovering from a colonoscopy, so I'm not too ambitious... I have one experiment for paint adhesion over the chrome paint, one traditional mask & shoot, and a WGTCenter U87ish body:

The paint adhesion is boring, so no pictures.

The traditional mask & paint is off to a decent start: there's a bit of tape lift in a spot I'm covering anyway, so I'm not concerned. More colors to come.


Next up is the WGTCenter U87 body: before & after clearcoat: this one is fairly simple, with just a crystal mask.

 

[MicScharf]

looks good, but now we need some ideas for the head baskets

 

[Pariah Zero]

I get the feeling coatings are not a good idea for a head basket; they either won't adhere or will fill the voids. Surface tension is a harsh mistress. There's also the very real problem of failure - paint flakes eventually, and on a headbasket, it's going to wind up floating onto the one thing you don't want it: the capsule.

I think we're stuck with treatments to the metal itself. I've done crude electroplating - the problem is it's flaky and matte. Getting a nice gloss means somehow getting into the mesh, which I can't see being able to do after the metal mesh is woven.

Besides... mixing near-boiling solutions of acid and heavy metals, and then zapping them with high current electricity at home is not the way I want to achieve internet immortality.

 

[Pariah Zero]

A couple of new photos: finished bodies: you probably want to mute the audio if you play the video...

 

[Pariah Zero]

@PermO: this one is the closest to the Orange and brownish combination you mentioned.

 

[PermO]

I like it... it looks like it's old, exept, with a new mesh.

Seeing it like this, I think a chrome mesh would look better in combination with the chrome connector.

A rusty or dirty old mesh would probably look best.