METAL FLAKE: Colored VS Silver

I've done both and like both for different reasons. Using the intercoat helps speed up the process (which is long enough already! haha) by flashing off faster than using clear but I don't feel like it lays as flat as it does with clear because of the slower dry time lets the flake move a little more and lay flatter. The flip side to that is it's easier to run it with clear BECAUSE of the slower flash time and if you run or sag the flake your screwed even if your using silver.Plus the higher build using clear. That being said I've started using the intercoat to suspend the flake more and more and after I spray a coat I blow air over it to make sure there are no lose flake standing upright that might stick up through the clear coat.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Thanks alot guys!

 

Some folks use colored 'Flake so it takes less candy to get your color... Like metallic red base w/red 'flake followed with a little red candy for richness and depth. If you use just a little 'Flake so it doesn't stack or build, the mil thickness is a lot less.

I personally like using silver or gold, covered with sanded clear, then candy on top. This way the candy doesn't gather in the canyons between the 'Flakes and cause dark spots. I think the colors are much more vivid than with colored 'Flake, but then if you're re-creating an early paint style job, raw colored metalflake was used a LOT back then.

Oh, and don't waste your time with edible cake sparkles or arts and crafts glitter. They ain't light fast and will fade or dissolve immediately. Don't ask...

 

"...will fade or dissolve immediately. Don't ask... "
HAHAHA! Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?!

 

well, pretty soon Ill be done striping the fenders and tank and Ill post pictures. Yea I blew through the clear and have pin dots of silver, but now that its all equally spread over the paint, it looks kinda cool and uniform. I wouldnt call it rootbeer brown anymore, but maybe Id call it Pirate Treasure! Seems to sparkle a lot more with the extra silver in it.
So Im striping it with creamy tan and black. I think itll look pretty cool.
Well, back at it!

 

Now let me throw another dog in the fight here, what about pearls? Like an ice pearl is this like an ultra mini flake shot in clear or is this a differant animal completely than flake or candy?

 

I have a question that ,I hope, goes along these lines. I am building a '56 Chev 4-door station wagon and it has a decent paint job. It is red and white and I have purchased some SEM red flake and want to spray/flake the top. I have planned on mixing the flake with clear and spraying over the red for the flake coating and then several coats of plain clear for the final coat. The question I have, is this a good plan?
I have also planned to shoot the bottom a French Vanilla Shake and then, if it will work, do a red flake flame over the Vanilla base, just enough to see, not enough to cover the base.
Thanks for the thread and info.

 

Sounds good to me...as long as the red paint is in good shape once scuffed....

I personally don't think this will look good.....since the Vanilla base will show through and the red flake just won't "sparkle" quite as nice when there are large voids.....a little base showing through is no big deal IMO, as the brightness and intensity of the flake sparkling in the bright sun pretty much "hides" any small areas of base....

That and the fact you'll have a pretty thick "outline" that'll need pinstriped, as it will be jagged once the tape is pulled. You can minimize that "build-up" if you plan on clearing the whole car once the flake flames are unmasked however.

Hopefully Condor responds....he RULES this kinda stuff and I love seeing how he does it.

 

I did the same on my bike tins and it's spread kind of even so it looks fine, I couldn't even imagine how it would have looked if tried spraying candy! It was my first job also and I'll probably try candy after I do a couple of more flake jobs.

 

I used colored flake on my roof with candy. The flake didn't match the base, but it was closer than silver and it gave the car a more unique color and look

 

I am a Complete novice painter and did a flaked roof on my merc. Im not saying I did it the right way or even a good way, but it worked well and turned out great. I shot a black base with a **** ton of blue pearl mixed with it because I like the contrast between the black and the flake. If you want 100% coverage then go with the color base that matches your flake. I shot SEM blue medium flake through a 2.0 tip mixed with the DBC 500 binder.Ive seen some flake jobs where the flake was shot through the clear and migrated (sagged) into bodylines and steep drops. I put 10 coats of clear and still did not bury all of the flake that stood on end. However when I sanded those flakes down they were silver but not noticable without a magnifing gl***. I wet sanded with 800 grit to get most of the heavy orange peel better (but not flat) and then shot 3 more coats coats of clear.Overall I used about 3/4gallon of clear and worth every penny. After one more sanding session and and a good polishing it looks great. Dont have any pics in the sun yet so these willl have to do. Good Luck

 

You have to have a good gun with the tip size to take flake and the right mix for the temp and humidity conditions to get the flake to lay down when you spray it. I used to have a trouble light in one hand and the spray gun in the other so I could see what it was doing. I sprayed a metalic base coat first then the flake then the clear on a couple of cars I painted.

 

Lots of good stuff. I knew I could count on the H.A.M.B.
It looks like I have the right idea on the top. I want the top to "pop" and the base coat is sound. Didn't know about the DBC 500 binder.
Another idea I am going to try is I will be dark tinting the windows and thinking about painting the window areas the black the new cars use, to make the window area look like a solid area, at least from a few feet away.
Keep up the good info and I don't mind suggestions/criticism if done nicely.
timothale Do you picts? I will try to post a before of mine.

 

Uh oh.....and here I've been using a cheapie HF gun with a drilled out tip to spray my flake.
You can "manipulate" how the flake "lays" by how "dry" you spray it....at least that's how I do 'em.

I save my good guns for candy coats and final clear.

 

The DBC 500 is for BC/CC only.

 

Here are the before shots.

 

Different... but the same. Most pearls that you would buy "aftermarket" come dry as a powder. They need to be mixed into an intercoat clear or topcaot clear depending on how you use it. So yes, like flake, it is a 3rd stage. It also needs be put on as evenly as possible. Its a bit more forgiving than candy, but still shows your bad spots. Especially if the pearl contrasts the base alot.

Sinister has you covered on here. The roof idea will be fine as long as everything is compatible. Do you know what kind of paint is up there now?

For the flames, I think you'll be much happier using a red pearl instead of flake. Dust it on and remember, a little goes a long way. Whenever I add flames to an exsisting paint job, I always totally re-clear every panel the flames touch. That way I minimize my edge, just like Sinister said.

 

Excellent point....some paints definitely don't "like" each other...haha!

Ooooohhhh yeah.....red pearl flames would work oh so much nicer than flake...good call Bill!! Man, I love this kinda stuff....

 

Not sure about roof, pretty sure it is single stage. The car was painted when I bought it.
The red pearl is not a bad idea. I hope to do roof in the not distant future and the rest of the paint this winter, I want to get it on the road and drive the wheels off of it.
I had planned to clear the paint and was aware of the different "tape" lines.
Thanks

 

Ok so I wanted to show the end results since I started this thread. I think it came out pretty killer. There were somethings I learned along the way for sure.
Like, The clear I was using was an acrylic lacquer. Worked fine for the under coat and flake layering. Once it was all dry with a bunch on layers of clear, I striped it. Well, without thinking, I cleared over that with the same stuff. Acrylic lacquer over enamel! Started to wrinkle it up. Then as it dried it smoothed back out.
I then bought enamel clear and everyone played nice after that.
Anyways, yea, I blew through the clear and shined up my brown flakes pretty good, but it all works out in the wash.
And I knew brown wouldnt POP as much as, say, lime green flake, but it does ok. Also, my camera settings are not doing it justice. I was going to show the difference between lime green and brown, and the lime green is dissapointing as a picture. When in reality, you almost need to squint to look at this disc.
Anyways I had fun, and its a blast riding it around watching all the flakes dance in the sun. Already had a little kid hanging his cell phone out of the rear window of his moms surburban taking a video of me riding.
We exchanged "thumbs up!"





















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Looks good! The colors on the tins look nice together. The enamel clear over the lacquer clear won't be too good for the long haul. The lacquer expands and contrasts at different rates than the enamel and will most likely crack it. Just a heads up.

 

These are very good comments and observations. Many varied ideas
and most are individual ways to master a tough way to paint. Be sure to closely examine daddyo54 post. He's got the right designs and painting technique approaches perfection. Take a close look it ain't easy. Good job.

 

No, you do.

But imagine you are spraying a car. You need to start at one end and walk your way, still having perfect gun control, ALL THE WAY ON to the other end to get it right from what I gather.

 

I've heard things like this before, but it always confuses me. I thought the idea of spraying 'flake was to get it to stand up, at different angles, so it'd catch the light and reflect it more radically? Yes? No?

 

Yeah thats the idea Dan But standing up sticks through clear. Clear runs from sharp edges. Makes for a pain in the *** later.

 

Thanks Mark!

 

I need to apprentice under some of you guys!!

 

good job man!
But doing a bike or small parts is no determination of a sprayers skills,try a complete on a car,that's what seperates the painters from the novices.

 

I always use dbc500 as a carrier for flake and candies,I can't see how u burned through with 10 coats(did I read that right),I usually shoot 4-5 and sand flat with 600 grit on a palm sander.(even with the chunkiest b*** boat flake,I haven't had any trouble with burn through)