I want to paint my '60 T-Bird sith acrylic enamel, then clear it with metalflake in the clear. Will this work? do I need to put on another clear coat over the metalflake coat?
Well the short answer is yes you can use a urethane clear over an acrylic enamel paint. But as far as the metal flake goes are your trying to bury it? or just using it to enhance the color? I mean because burying with metal flake requires a LOT of clear to make it buried properly, and by the time you use the enamel, the flake in the clear, and bury it with clear you are going to have a very high build. I usually lay the flake in the clear carrier, wait, apply 4 or so medium wet coats of clear on the flake. Wait a day for that to dry, wet sand with 400 then 600, and then lay 4 or five more medium wet coats of clear, and buff to a brilliant shine. You can see how this can become a very high build because enamel really builds as it is. SO if you are wanting to bury with flake I would suggest just buy a cheap urethane basecoat like limco or some other cheap brand. Or if you are just wanting some flake in the clear you can do it with a regular urethane clear, and then shoot a few more coats over it.
what i do is go heavy with the flake in first coat of clear then keep cutting back on the flake with each coat untill the last is just straight clear. Don't know about going over enamel.Probably good idea to shoot a couple of test panels
What he said... You put the flake in your clear and put it right over your base, I assume you're just trying to add some sparkle, not completely cover it. Flake always needs a substantial clear over it, or else they can actually poke out, and if you try to wet sand and buff you actually hit the flakes and make them look bad.
Thanks again guys. I knew I could get some good info here.I paint it tomorrow, will post a picture when it is done in a few days.Hnery
Just a thought, and I don't know if anyone has ever done this before, but does anybody know if you could put the flake in clear basecoat, instead of regular clearcoat? Then the buildup wouldn't be so bad, since basecoat isn't as heavy. But I wonder if the flakes are so big that they need the heavier clearcoat to be suspended in? I know it can be pearls, but those are so fine that it's obviously not an issue.
using a clear basecoat would make the least film build and is the best option in my book, you can then add the clear on after that but make sure you have enough on to sand and buff as you will have a very rippled texture to the clear afterwards, I spray 4-5 coats of high build clear then wait for it to dry before sanding it smooth and then adding another 2 coats of clear and then sand and buff.
Yes you can apply metal flake by adding it to a intercoat(clear basecoat) followed by several coats of clear. Ideally you want to let the clear dry and then wet sand it with 800 and re clear with two more coats. www.eyekandykustoms.com
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