Hey guys, I scored some freebie gloss white and clear and want to paint my roof on my pickup with it. Id like to mix in some roth bad azz blue in it in either the lil .008 size or the baby in .004 size. Should I mix it in my base or the clear? Im not looking for show room professional but I would like to do it the best I can.
Mix in with clear. Make sure you have a big enough tip. Then you have to clear over that with more clear to build up past the flake...
When we did the roof of my Caddy we used a mid-coat clear to suspend the flake and a regular clearcoat on top of that.
i used heavy flake on a model a years ago. takes a hellava lot of clear and even more sanding to smooth. i still find flake in the garage years later.
I too was told to use a mid coat clear. Never did found out what that was. I think it may just be a lesser grade clear? I put the flake in the first coat of clear. Than put a good bit more clear on it. However, it still really wasn't enough. You must really need to load it up. And I used small flake. I think it turned out O.K. The first car I painted since the 80's. And my first time with metalflake. Don't be afraid, I tried it on a big piece of cardboard first. Also small flake seems to go thru any tip primer will. I also mixed dark gold and orange flake over an orange base.
lil bit of info to save ya a headache... take the filter out esp. if spraying with a gravity gun! also put something clean in it like a couple marbles or what ever to keep the flake mixed up!
Md coat clear is just that; a clear that is in the MIDdle of the base color and final clear. It has properties that will allow the flake to suspend in it that in turn lets the flake reflect in every way possible. I ended up with about 6 coats of final clear to bury the flake. Be ready to wet sand your arms off! It's a tough job but well worth the effort.
So shoot color, mix flake and clear and shoot it right away and then blow 5 or more coats of regular clear on it. Then cut and buff once fully cured. How long should i wait from the white to the mid clear? How many mid clear coats with flake should i do and then how long until i hit it with regular clear?
I know you've already got the white, but that isn't really the best choice for a colored flake. You'll proabably have to use a LOT more flake to get good coverage. Standard practice is to use the same color as the flake, or black. Mid coat clear is actually a base coat formula clear, dries fast, freezes flakes in suspension, doesn't settle out like a slow dry final clear. Also known as a "jamb" clear, as in, door jambs, or cut-in clear.
I figured using a full jar will work. I just want to experiment since I have the paint and would just be out the time and few bucks for flake if it turns out like crap.
So is one jar enough for a roof? Should i color sand the white before clear? Can i get a basic play by play?
I used four plastic teaspoons per gun full of clear. 2-gold and 2-orange. Seemed to me to be a good ratio. That being said, I did not use the two full jars and painted the whole car except the hood so far. You can see that there is a lot of base orange comming thru, but that is what I wanted. If you want more flake and less base, I guess you would just use more flake. I only wet sanded after the metalflake coat. I have not wet sanded or buffed yet, but it seems two wet coats of clear on top is enough. At least in my case. I am not lookig for a show car finish. Last but not least I DID get a lot of help from guys on here!
Shooting colored flake over a white base will look like spilled pepper on a paper plate....a quart blue basecoat, a couple shades darker than your flake would actually make it look like you knew what you were doing, and isn't all that expensive.
there is a new synthetic metal flake that sprays great and doesn't take all that much clear on the final clear. the effect is the same and its cheap i did a bass boat repair and it was way easy! i'll post the name when i get to work...Dave
Others already said white is bad base for flake. I agree, I have painted alot of bikes and lowriders with metalflake... the last one I did was over a white base, and that was the worst flake I ever did. I had to tell everyone to look harder... even in bright sun, the white itself reflects too much light and the flakes were hard to see unless you are close and look at it very close. I have many pics of this bike, and this is the only pic that you can even tell there's any flake-
looks like im changing gears then. Now I need to research what blue to get that will work with that roth blue flake.
My old daily driver wagon had a blue flaked roof. Same recipe. 3 different colors of flake over a cobalt blue base. I don't even think I have any pics of that pile anymore.....
Before you dump the entire jar of flake, do a spray out with a small amount first. I recently did a complete flake job, I mixed 4% of PPG Ditzler Big Flake and 1% of House of Color mini flake in a mid coat. I didn't use an entire jar of either on the entire car. After I shot the mid coat I covered it with 4 coats of clear, wet sanded that flat with 800 and shot another 4 coats, which was then wet sanded and rubbed. My advice is do a test panel with a small amount of material before you go at your car. Good luck!
Any blue that's close in color, but a darker shade will be easier to cover. Don't fuss over that one too much.
Jumping in here to see if I can help out any. White base? Don't use white as a base. Like others said, just won't be good unless you plan doing more then three coats of HEAVY flake mix to cover all the white. Even then, there will be white showing through and you could have gotten similar looking coverage with a matching base. White base is only good for pearl mixins, not flake. Stick with something that is close to the color flake you are using. If you are going to use silver flake and plan on putting kandy over top of it to change the color of the flake, then use a silver base. If you are using blue flake . . . then use a blue base. Intercoat clear? As for the mid-coat/inter-coat clears: these are really good for protecting kandies from tape line pull and shooting mixins (flake/pearl). Why use intercoat rather than just clear? Well . . . what I surmise is that the intercoat is thinner and less solids than standard clear. This means when you shoot the flake, it will lay down flatter and have less of a chance to lay standing up or half standing up. Using clear allows for a more wavy flake lay down, which is not fun when it comes to sanding . Then when you clear over top the flake, your clear will be more level and easier to final sand/buff. So, if you can afford it I would recommend using intercoat for the flake and then burying the flake with a few coats of clear. Enough coats to sand flat without burning down to the flake. How much flake? This is up to you really. Lots of guys will say a few pinches and spread it out over what you are spraying, BUT if you are like me . . . i dump a lot of flake. I like heavy coverage. Also, I typically mix .015 and .008 together. It gives the overall finish a lot more depth. But, go with what you think is enough. This is all a matter of taste. Just make sure you keep shaking up the gun cup and stir it good to ensure you are spraying a bunch of clear only spots. Less coats of flake, more coats of clear is a good rule to follow for sanding. Which flake? I personally recommend the Roth flake, and like I said before. . . pick the color you want or just silver if you plan to kandy. There are lots of others available, but it's all I have used recently and have zero complaints and prob won't be trying anything else. But, that isn't to say others are crap. I just haven't tried them yet. One 4oz jar is filled with 2oz of flake. This is enough to last a good while depending on your use. For the roof of a car, I would buy one .015 and one .008. Or two of the size you want. This is more than enough even if you heavy flake it. Which gun? Like others have said, use a big tip. I am sure you could spend a TON of money on a nice gun, but as a hobbyist myself; I prefer cheapies. I use this one for flake. It handles the .015 just fine. Haven't done the bigger .025 yet, but will be trying that some day and I can't imagine it not working. That gun will be turn key for flake. Just adjust the pattern and mix a little and let it rip. Remember though, the 2.5mm tip is going to DUMP mixture out. You will go through a cup real quick. This means, be sure you keep the gun moving so you don't run. I am sure that there are other solutions, but this is what has been painless for me. I wouldn't trade it for a $300 gun to do flake. Just works and doesn't f'up on me. Which Intercoat? I would use the House of Kolor offering (SG-100). This is just the quart size, which will need to be cut with the HOK reducer RU310 or RU311. Just read the tech sheet here for mixing and rations and such. If you don't think that you will need that much, TCP also sells pre-mixed stuff. Just poke around that site and you will see. I need to note here that HOK sells sg100 and sg150. These are pretty much the exact same except sg150 has more solids. I prefer to use sg100 with flake as it can dual purpose as an intercoat for lines and such and has less build up. Don't be scared and think that sg150 is the only thing to use. Sg150 is a new product and lots of guys have used sg100 for flake for decades. It works great and lays lower. Process? perform all body work and sand smooth sand primer with 400 lay base coat (blue or whatever color you pick) let flash per the tech sheet for that base. this is a good time to start mixing your intercoat and flake spray the intercoat flake. do one coat in one direction and the next in the opposite direction. this will make the flake lay in a haphazard manner (which is a good thing) let the intercoat flash per its tech sheet coat with a light coat of clear let that sit for about 3 minutes spray between 4-10 heavy coats of clear let dry for 24 hours minimum sand with 800-1600 (i do 800 then 1200 wet) until the whole surface is smooth buff until you start seeing the entire cosmos in the clear enjoy Now, this may not be the best method or best advice or best products or whatever. But, it works for me and I wanted to share. There is 10k more well qualified guys for every one of me. So take it with a grain of salt and I hope it helps in some way. Most importantly, don't be discouraged and flake a way. The worst thing that can happen is you sand and redo. Keep the flake alive!
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