Technical FOR THE PAINTERS

I am painting an American flag (a portion of one anyway) on the sides of one my cars (OT). The car is heavily metal flake blue (boat flakes) and I want to flake the flag mural as well. What color flakes on red, white and blue? I'm thinking silver? The car is blue with silver and red flakes. I don't want the flake to alter the color of my flag any more than necessary.

Also, the stars...yeah, not easy. I want the flag in motion, waving. The stripes are easy, the stars, not so much. I'm thinking painting the entire side panel white base, drawing and cutting out stars with an exacto knife and applying them, then spraying the flag blue over the top in that corner, peel off the masking and I have waving stars (just 4-6 of them, fairly large). Then masking off the red stripes (again, 4-5 red stripes) and shooting them, again waving. Perhaps a little black airbrushing in the recesses of the flag. Then flake it and clear it.

Other ideas on how to pull this off? I have never attempted anything like this. Rally stripes and such, but not this graphic. Better ideas? This is an area about 36" wide and 20" tall.

 

Dont do it .

 

You need to ask a guy that paints cars like this that question.

 

I was afraid of that response but it is appreciated. I am a newbie to the flake world but I like the finished product. I will do some research on flakes. It sounds worse than it is I think. I have some paint prep to do over the weekend before my paint store opens, then I will see what they have available. They sell Roth flakes, I should be able to come up with a plan. The 4th is coming up fast and I want this done by then. I have to move!

 

Well, where's the fun in that?

 

While not my style (at the moment) I totally appreciate the effort and time (and drugs) that were required to create that paint scheme. Groovy man! Should have bobbed those fenders though.

 

I remember in '80 dad did the b*** boat flake on my brothers camaro... used R-M lacquer and key was to get the flake to stand up on end for the shimmer. Took a lot of block sanding to build up clear and not take any color off the red flakes. (if using red flake) Base/clear might let the flake lay down flat and not have the brilliance. Simplest might be silver base, silver flake with candy red and candy blue, black shadows...

 

searched youtube, etc to see if there are pro painters to watch. as you know, flake/candy can go wrong fast. contacted Roth for their suggestions? ever done murals, etc before? a flag is such a structured design with specific measurements. add movement and measurements are all altered. ever done air brushing? please post a thread on what you learn and the products and process that you decide on

 

But what about the white?

 

Like most of what I do, I only have ambition. I have never airbrushed and actually gave my air brush to @anthony myrick for his students to play with since I hadn't used it. I have no idea what I am doing but I am driven by desire. This made my very popular in high school with the ladies.

 

Never done white... I wonder what white pearl over silver flake would show? This is a good thread.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/white-metal-flake-need-advice.560042/

 

I will just say that is a big task for even a pretty talented custom painter to make look right. I have done lots of custom stuff over the years and not sure I would try it to be honest. I wouldn’t be afraid of any of the flake stuff, just the overall layout and shading, etc. to get the effect it sounds like you are going for will be pretty tough.

 

Mask the flag off. Silver flake it all. Colors in Candy, leave the white parts, silver.

 

I have shot flake and transparent but never pearl. he effect sounds cool.

It is a daunting task to be sure, and I only have a week or so to pull it off before the nations 250th. I am planning a trip to the paint store in the morning and blowing up the paint booth in the back yard when I get back.

So silver in lieu of the white stripes and stars? That might look really cool. And there is a silver stripe (about 2 inches wide running down the hood in the center. It would tie the whole thing together...like a nice rug.

This is why I ask questions on here.

 

Here's the gun my dad used to flake my older brothers Camaro... now both my dad and brother are gone, these peices are in my display case and not used any more. Some guys hold on to pictures for memories, I tend to hold on to "things" for memories. Some of the silver flake left over from the "Z28" stripes.

 

I still finger paint so I won't be much help.

 

you’re gonna wanna talk to this guy.

 

Marbles! My wide said I lost mine a while back but I think I can come up with a few.

 

Naw, you’ll use chrome ball bearings

 

Speaking of marbles, crazy to think they used to use crushed gl*** for glitter.

 

That gun is an heirloom. Awesome.

Reminds me of Carnies, small hands, smell like cabbage.

A regal throne if there ever was one.

I hit the paint store this morning and left a lot lighter in the wallet than when I walked in. Paint is not cheap! I have a repair on my SIL's Toyota to do as well so I bought those supplies. Tri coat, pearl white...not cheap. Her hood I expect to strip with my pressure washer, the factory paint is falling off down to the primer. I need to shoot the front bumper cover as well as it is nicked up pretty bad for a newer car.

I got my flag paint, a silver base, a nice transparent blue and a dark candy red (not really dark on the paint sample but darker than ruby). I went through several of my "go-to" swears while scuffing the panels down yesterday. 3 hours for one side! The PO's "painter" just caked clear on, and the surface was far from level. Laying fine line tape and masking stars, you can't expect sharp lines with an uneven base. One side is now tight and ready for sealer, the other is waiting for me in the garage. All that sanding and I only cut through the clear a couple of times. Ridiculous.

90 degrees today, too hot to sand for another 3 hours. 77 high on Wednesday is my target paint day for sealer and base so tomorrow is sand and prep day. I prefer mid temp reducer, just because I know that stuff and what to expect. Pics soon and I will keep you in the loop.

 

You say that like it's a bad thing.

It would take a lot of clear to bury crushed gl***. @Moriarity suggested small flakes for that reason, less clear to bury the flakes. It may be why I am having to sand so aggressively on the panels, they are b*** boat flakes, and the painter likely put 85 coats of clear on there to bury them. I bought the same Roth flakes that I used on my flathead, Surfite Silver. I buried those with 3 coats of clear. I don't plan on wet sanding and polishing, I guess that depends on the painter. If it needs it, I'll add another p*** with the clear gun and get out "Buffy the dirt slayer" and clean it up.

 

I had a customer on an OT car want a white paint that "sparkled". He thought he wanted metallic mixed into or over the white, until I showed him what it looked like. Didn't want Big metalflake, either. After a bunch of research and testing, I finally use "reflective sign beads" over his white. It didn't dirty up the white too much, but gave reflective sparkle when the light hit it. Crushed gl*** was considered, but I couldn't find it for sale anywhere! Imagine breathing THAT in!

 

Wow that’s really sumpthin

 

Amazon, saw it while I was trying to figure out my palate.

I wouldn't have thought white would look that nice flaked. But that looks pretty cool and I am sure the pics don't do it justice. Flake is hard to capture in a still photo.

Just fired up the compressor, I am going to save my hands a bit and use the DA to get started this morning on the other side panel. I will have to finish by hand but this will save me an hour at least. Overcast day so I can sand outside and not make a mess of all the cleaning I have been doing in the shop (and still not done)!

 

Not exactly what you are doing but this is red and blue Kandies over silver flake. Silver flakes were sprayed over silver basecoat then cleared enough so I could sand them smooth. Then sprayed the kandies over the sanded clear. I like the silver instead of the white.

 

Hell yazzzz