In the late 1950s, Larry Watson painted scallops and flames on new car, factory fresh paint. Can this still be done on an old car painted with modern paint systems? Any special prep work needed? How about clear coats?
Do you mean if you have a car with a base coat and clear coat paint job can you add flames or scallops? Yes you can as long you scuff the surface and then re-clear the panels you painted on.
If it's a bc/cc paint, i prep the panels I'm gonna do my work on, with a gray scotchbrite pad, water, and blend prep compound. Rinse the panel, dry, and start taping. Paint your designs, untape, and clear. Serves 2 people
Thanks, Mopar Tony and Lloyd's Paint! Just the information I was looking for. Didn't know about the blend prep compound, thanks for that, too.
I might argue that some of this is actually easier with today's paints. Screwing up graphics on some of the older paints is a much bigger headache (or at least that is what I have experienced.)
The blend prep gives a good uniform scuff to the panel to paint over. You can use just the pad by itself, but the compound just makes a better job.
From what I’ve seen with some top notch detailers and painters is newer paint is much more forgiving and “workable” to get imperfections out and panels blended. like I said “top notch” I’ve seen guys take cars that look like they where washed with steel wool pads and bring the paint back to like new I’ve seen other guys try and the final result looks like the car was painted with a wool sweater!
Good to see you here again, Dave! You can even do the new stuff over existing. Tape off, scuff it up, being careful to get right up to the edges of the tape, then shoot. Unmask and pinstripe the edges later.
Thanks, Mark! I've mostly been contributing to the Photoshop thread here on the HAMB and my Neo Kustom Cars group on Facebook. But always keeping an eye on things.