Here is a sneek peek of the paint work on Tim's 51 Merc. He orginally wanted us to paint it boring black but the kustom bug has bitten him and he has changed his mind . We based it all in gun metal black then coated that with a mix of blue, green and purpel pearls that will be top off with a few coats of blue candy but before we do the candy we needed to do the flame lay out. We painted the flames in metal flake with a mix of colors gun metal, blue and purpel & sizes sm and med. The flames will be a mild gost but they will just out at you in the sun light.
I had the same idea: paint my 51 Merc Black. After seeing this Blue, I have to consider some other color. Have always been a fan of the color Blue. Nice work!
Man! looks good! I just had a flash back! I did the flame job on steves 50 coupe back in the day and I remember counting 177 flame tips. Ha! my eyes were all crossed up! but the tape job you did just reminded me how we did it! Awesome work!
Got a few coats of inner candy and one coat of shinney candy to check for color evenness (dark or light spots. It came out great so we can now due a few more shinney candy top coats to add a little more depth to the candy affect.
Great Job Rick, it looks great.. IMO, I think ghost flames are cool, the reason being, personally I think the only thing that should have flames are Hot rods from the 20's and 30's, everything else looks tacky, but if you have to have them, subtly works. It shows, your old school cause anyone with flames is old school, but you dont want to over power the lines of the car with distracting flames. I think flames only work on the squarish cars from the 20's and 30's. Thos cars look similar to the front of the old fighter planes of that era. The flames were to emulate an airplane engine on fire, from what Ive been told. Just my 2 cents, but what do I know I'm new school.. hahaha...
Thats a hard one to answer but i will try. The base black is hoc the blue/purple pearl base is a blend of sem. The candy consetrate is also an blend mostly sem but also has some hoc. The metal flake is also a blend of the real stuff metal flake brand mixed with the new old school flake.
Thanks, HRod 50! Its my car. By the way this Tim. Flames can over power the lines of the merc. I don't consider these ghost flames. How many hod rods do you see with metal flake flames in a candy paint job. I want to see the lines of the car and when the sun hits the metal flake it will pop! Ghost flames don't pop! I also agree with phatcaddy because the pics are not color true nor the look. No offense bad bob but your flames are not my style. Too plain too ordinary! This merc is a KUSTOM, 1 off only. It will be driven, and be at local shows. If you don't like it's ok but I do!!!! When the paint gets screwed up maybe I'll change it who knows. It's a merc its all good!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"its a street rod", blah, blah, blah! Get over it! That is one sweet looking ride, I cant wait to see more pics of it when its outside in the sun. And the color is way cool! Its a fucking Merc, you almost CAN'T make it look bad if you wanted too! Now hurry up and post some more pics!
Ghost flames, tricky one.Flake flames, abso-frickin-lutely affirmative looks like it's going to be one hell of a Kustom Merc. Paul
Don't get me wrong.....I like the car,I like the color. I just don't care for ghost flames. When my Merc was all black,it blended in with the other 5-6 black Mercs at shows. That's why I wanted it to stand out. If your flames were any other color,it would ruin the look of the car. I went with all one color,so it wouldn't look like a 60's or 70's build. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person.
I did this to a set of harley tins a few years back. it was a negative mask, so there were NO flakes where the flames were. At dusk, it looked black. In bright sunlight, it popped out. I intend to do the same with my '51, in blue. I don't think it's "Street Rod" ish. (What the hell does that mean anyway?) Actual flames are a little to 'over the top' for my taste. I think they look AWESOME on other peoples cars. Just not on mine.
Great work, well thought out. should give you the "pop" you are after. For years I have explored the reinvention of the flames and this thought just washed across my mind.Here goes..... Small 3D water droplets painted within the tapeout of the flames on a black or dark car? Hmm...
Heres a little up date. Just layed down 2 coats of the outter shinney blue candy and one coat of clear. As you can see the flames are not a true ghost. You can definitly see them even in low light but i bet you will see them big time in direct sunlight
Mr. Bad Bob, Fair enough. Look forward to meeting you at a show. I just can't wait to finally get this merc on the road. My mind is already rollin into the next project (50 merc) Hopefully.
Just did the dash in metal flake with the flames in candy. Sorry the pics are not so good as its hard to get good pic's of flake especialy in the booth
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