Technical Metal flake mix ratio

So as I get the 53 closer to what I consider road ready I'm beginning to get more curious about odd stuff for my 54 that's next at Bay as a serious project. First up is mixing flake into paint. I assume you can put it into paint and store it like you would any paint. But how many ounces per say quart of non reduced or hardened paint do you use? The white will be a nason ful-thane urethane single stage with an 8/1/2 mix ratio. The blue will be a single stage enamel withe a 4/1(i believe) mix ratio. Want the color to still be clearly identifiable but also want it to dazzle from all angles. Intend on gold flake in the white and silver flake in the blue. Never sprayed actual flake before that I remember so pointers would be helpful

 

Ah. So how much flake would I want to mix into a clear coat with a 4/1 mix ratio? Honestly did not know flake went into the clear

 

Sounds like I'll need to hit hobo freight then. And definitely have to do some test sprays as it's been at least twenty years since I used a siphon gun ....at least for paint. But as the flake will be in the clear and not the base I know of a half gallon of non metallic white I can get cheap that was leftover from a paint job on my boss's tool truck I did

 

Will all the crappy Ford farm trucks my boss has me redo there's a bunch of junk doors around the shop I can practice on. Guessing two coats for the flake stage? Or is it just a matter of spraying till the flake is how I want it?

 

Spray the flake till you get good even coverage. I used to reduce the clear a little more and wait a little longer between coats to keep from sagging the paint. Definitely takes practice and patience.

 

@hrm2k and @ClutchDumpinDan both sprayed some beautiful flake.

 

Somewhere I have a spray gun that has an agitator in the cup. Works on air. I was told it came from a boat maker. I always thought I would use it, never did.

 

www.youtube.com/results?search_query=spraying+metalflake

Lots of info, which you can judge as useful or BS.
I shot a pedal car, small project. It taught me that it's messy as heck. I've seen many guys shoot it outside so it doesn't require a level 7 cleanup of the booth.
Just when you think that's it, another coat makes it even better. I shot medium Blue over Viper Blue. It really needed another coat of 'flake, but it's good. Many will use a Black base and keep shooting until you can't see any black. I'd like to experiment with layers of different sizes, but that's getting into some time and money. Yes, there was a lot of sanding after.
I will also mention that in the picture, it shows a bit less than it looks like in real life. Indoor lighting, and not moving. Out in the sun, it dances!

 

The bigger the flake the more specialized equipment needed. If you're going big there's a gun that's almost like a "Shutz gun" as we used to call it. Spray down some clear, flake it, repeat til you're where you wanna be. And while you're saying "flake" is it metallic or pearl-like dry powder or big flakes like a bass boat or old helmet? Last but not least, there used to be products that were easier and went through a regular siphon gun with a big primer sized air cap and fluid nozzle. Already in a clear base or binder. It can be a pain in the ass or quite forgiving. Moriarity is giving good advice. Keep us informed.

 

It'll be whatever tropical glitz sells

 

That's actually fairly close to the blue I'll be using on the roof

 

On heavy metal flake I do the base coat, add metal flake to clear for intermediate coat like @Moriarity said, then a good couple coats of clear over the top that you will sand and polish. Agree on the syphon cup (1.8 to 2.5 tip) for the clear/flake coat then good HVLP clear gun for finish coats.

 

Here it is in the sun, just now.
For anything out in the elements, you want intercoat clear to hold the flake (quick drying time) but a quality clear on top with UV protection.
You've probably seen an old 'flake job that has faded.

 

So to revisit this with another question I had in relation to this. On this particular car like I've said it'll have a blue roof and white body. I'm wanting to do white scallops on the roof and blue on the body. So say I do the blue roof silver flake and white body gold. If I wanted to do the white roof scallops gold flake would I just do like two coat of plain clear over the silver flake over the plain blue before laying down the scallops and gold flake before quickly unmasking said scallops and doing a bunch of plain clear over the whole panel?

 

I love the look of the big metal flake (monster flake?). I can't give you advice on how to lay down flake, but I can post some flake porn to encourage you to have a crack at it. These are the cowl and side panels for my FED.



Cheers,
Harv

 

I did this one time, obtaining the material from a place called, Metalflake Co. located in Haverhill, MA. I obtain the largest flake they had and along with the plastic jars of flake, clear coat, and blue primer (to go along with the large blue flake. Now this was many years ago, the total was less than 100 bucks to do a whole 57 Chevy hardtop. I had to put marbles in the paint gun cup and was told to keep shaking it around whole spraying, I had to be a "Big Shot" as Billy Joel would say, and not have a test panel but rather the roof of the car itself. I use all of the clear they provided me with (should of been enough for the whole car) on the roof, between coats and sanding. It came out great, but it was to much work for me, and my Pop was crying about the smell of the paint in the house, so I only did the roof and the rest of the car in white. You I still have several plastic jars of the flake, in a box somewhere.

 

Local paint store sells this stuff, always wanted to try it out on somethin

 

Dad use to use an old Devilbiss with an #80 tip for big flake. In the early 80's Ditzler HP clear was common to use, and the flake would really stand on end with the quick lacquer flash time. Took lots of clear and block sanding to get flat, dam Camaro looked like a Ranger bass boat though. Like mentioned, test panel would need to be made. I don't remember ratios, I was in grade school. A tea/table spoon to quart of clear might be a good starting point, depend on the coverage you want. He used red base under red flake, and silver base under silver flake.

 

Don't build up too much material at one time. I like to get a close to the flake color base down first. Then flake with intercoat clear until I'm happy with coverage. I then shoot 3-4 coats of clear over the flake depending on how chunky it is. Let it kick a few days then sand it FLAT with 600-800 wet. If you're doing graphics, you can do them over the sanded clear. Once done, shoot 3-4 more coats of clear, it'll lay down like glass. Color sand and polish from there. I also clean and remask in between each clear coating. Good luck.

 

Back in the lacquer days we would flatten the flakes with a bare hand before shooting all the clear on it. On a big car your hands were raw.

 

Here's a Triumph tank I did. Base blue, flake in clear (original style graphics), a couple clear coats on top. All acrylic enamel. It probably should be sanded & buffed, but I don't care. Didn't even clean the shop first. Small jobs like this are easy, doing a whole car sounds daunting.

 

I have shot the Lil Daddy Roth flake with mixed results. I did it on my steering wheel for practice and by the time I had adequate flake coverage the paint was very thick.

Using their pearl powder mixed in flattened clear I got great results on an overall paint job.

I painted in the 70’s using lacquers from Metalflake Co. and I don’t remember it being that difficult to get great results, usually shooting five to seven coats of paint. Then top with three clear only coats so you could sand before adding a few more for a top coat.

I’m still trying to sort out custom painting with modern paints. I’m going to be painting my Chrysler for the third time because I don’t like how it has come out.

 

Watch a bunch of this guys videos and you will see how its done. https://www.youtube.com/@TimeWarpCustomPaint

Here is a basic one to start with.

 

Tropical Glitz has some nice products.

 

I'm new to this spray painting,one ? what size tip to you use on the gun?