Of everything involved with custom car building, one of the most fascinating aspects is paintwork. Despite all Big Brother has done to "bring the 'painter man' down," true artists with the spray gun have persevered and learned to adapt to today's more "ozone friendly" laws and materials. They have also learned how to deal with the fact that paints can harm them health-wise, which is why some painters have hung up their guns for good. Some have taken down their business signs just because they don't want to deal with the new paints and regulations...master painter Larry Watson pretty much called it quits when AQMD outlawed the sale and use of lacquers in Southern California. Well, like it or not, there's another new kid in paint town, and it just might make you look at automotive painting in a whole new way.

Some of you may already be familiar with the Createx line of graphic arts paints. Well, they've recently reintroduced their Auto Air Colors brand for use in automotive applications. Not too long ago a few folks from Createx stopped by our offices for a little demonstration. After watching them lay down pearls and metallics effortlessly, seeing the expansive color line, and then finding out that the product was non-toxic, Jason Walker and I just had to try the stuff out for ourselves to see if we'd just witnessed a snake oil medicine show.

First, let's get acquainted with the product. Auto Air Colors are a lightfast basecoat graphic paint utilizing modern developments in water-based/water-borne technology. The permanent pigmentations and colorants are designed for automotive applications (containing automotive-grade binders). Albeit a non-toxic (less than 0.01-percent VOC) water-based paint, there are no compatibility issues with major-brand urethane and polyurethane clearcoats. Auto Air Colors' porosity allows the clear to absorb directly into the paint, creating an incredible bond that will not lift or peel (providing the paint has been applied properly). Requiring no additional additives (reducers, hardeners, etc.), once mixed, the paint is sprayable directly from the bottle and dries to an incredibly uniform, flat finish--without orange peel. As far as working with multiple coats, there are no "time windows." Once the paint is dried (forced with a heat gun or naturally), additional coats may be applied immediately or several days later.

Basically, what we were looking at was a paint that even an inexperienced painter could do wonders with--we needed to give it a shot. Now, while Auto Air Colors are perfectly suited for large surfaces (read "complete car"), we wanted to get a little crazy, so we chose a smaller object that we could experiment with. As fate would have it, my Harley-Davidson's gas tank needed a little sprucing up! (We could have used something a little more car-oriented, but I was being selfish!) After Jason prepped the Sporty tank on a Friday afternoon, we spent the following day creating an elaborate graphic scheme--from base to lace. We wrapped the job up Sunday with Zeak laying down some House of Kolor striping and sealing it all off with PPG Concept clear. Basically, we have not a single complaint about Createx's Auto Air Colors. Though we learned from a few mistakes along the way (on our own behalf), the water-based paint is easy to work with and nets fantastic results. See for yourself.

Sacrilege? Depends on who...        read full caption Sacrilege? Depends on who you ask, but I personally hated to see the old AMF logo go. Nevertheless, the Sporty tank was about to get a complete makeover!

Prepwork is key to a successful...        read full caption Prepwork is key to a successful paint job. Jason whipped out the filler, priming (with PCL catalyzed primer), and guide-coating in no time.

The more time and effort you...        read full caption The more time and effort you put into prepping your job, the better the outcome.

Like any paint, you need to...        read full caption Like any paint, you need to make sure each bottle is stirred/shaken thoroughly, especially with the metallic colors. As recommended, we started off with a dark base (black), but lighter bases such as white, silver, etc. are also available.

We learned (after wasting...        read full caption We learned (after wasting an entire bottle of paint) that using an average siphon-feed gun uses too much material too fast; your best bet is a touch-up gun like this. For smaller parts, an airbrush works excellent. The paint goes on very evenly, and it shouldn't take more than two coats to get more than sufficient coverage. (Make sure your surface is always clean and free of dust particles, fingerprints, etc.)

Each coat needs to be thoroughly...        read full caption Each coat needs to be thoroughly dry before the next can be applied. The preferred method is force-drying with a heat gun (or lamp), as it reduces your job time considerably.

After wasting our initial...        read full caption After wasting our initial metallic copper base, Jason custom-mixed a very close metallic pearl orange that we were both satisfied with.

After the second coat was...        read full caption After the second coat was dried, 1/4-inch fineline tape was laid out for the scallops. (We learned at this stage, if the paint isn't completely dry, you'll know when you go to peel the tape up!)

Though the black-and-white...        read full caption Though the black-and-white photo won't show it, we put down a candy metallic gold over orange for the scallops.

Over that (and this was my...        read full caption Over that (and this was my favorite part), we fogged-in a little "lace" from the tips of the scallops up with a candy burnt orange.

Finally, we masked an old...        read full caption Finally, we masked an old Watson "crab-claw" flame layout, which was sprayed with a metallic candy green and then tipped with a darker blue-green.

And with that, we ended our...        read full caption And with that, we ended our day messing around with the Auto Air Colors; the tank was left to dry overnight.

The following day we dropped...        read full caption The following day we dropped in on Zeak for a little old-school striping before our handiwork could be sealed up in clear. Zeak used House of Kolor dark red for the flames and an orange-red on the scallops. The striping did a pretty good job of "concealing" some of our earlier hurry-ups!

For the clear, Zeak used PPG's...        read full caption For the clear, Zeak used PPG's Concept DCU2021, which he added a bit of accelerator to in order to decrease drying time.

Not only does clear intensify...        read full caption Not only does clear intensify and bring out the true colors of the underlying paint, but it reveals any "mess-ups" you may have overlooked. This all goes right back to the prepwork and care taken during the application of each layer of paint (masking, dirt, etc.). Despite a few minor flaws, the tank came out good, but the design and color schemes pretty much negate those troubled areas!

Unlike the Createx paint,...        read full caption Unlike the Createx paint, any urethane-based material contains toxins and needs to be applied in a controlled environment with the proper respiratory gear--in other words, spray your clear in a ventilated booth with, at the very least, a good respirator mask. Zeak put down nine coats, which, in the end, didn't really require a cut and buff.