with the regaining popuarity of this style especailly in the motorcycle and hot rod world I figured I would throw out some tech for your enjoyment.
I will lay out how to do motorcycle tins but these techniques can be applied to anything. Remember this is how I do it and some may have other ways of acheiving the same effects.which is cool cuz painting is art and there are no real rules in art.the outlined tech is worded for someone with some paint expierence.
let assume all the body work and prep has been done and you are ready for paint.
the base of this job will be a heavy flake(.025) (I use a 2.5 tipped gun for this.)
I will first spray high metallic silver base and get complete coverage of the parts.
now you are ready for your flake. I will mix to different flake sizes together to get the maxium coverage and sparkle.. with a heavy flake mix the .025 ith the.015 flake and suspend in blending clear.(this is what I use but you can use HOKsg150 for this also)The reason I dont use clear is the build up factor as there will be alot of layers in the graphic process.this helps keep the mills down.
You want to add enough flake so that it is suspended in the blending clear,you DO NOT want the flake sitting in the bottom of your mixing cup because this will happen inside of the gun and clogg the tip.
When you spray your flake make sur eyou have enough pressure to move the flake through the gun but not so much that its not blowing the material off the part you are spraying. YOu will have to play around with ressures this is not an an exact science.be sure not to rush this step because you can end up with a mess if you get a run or a sag,with that being said if you do get a run just stop let dry and start over.once you have your desired coverage with the flake you can move on to clearing the parts. Use enough coats of clear to bury the flake. now you let the clear dry for manufacture spec cure time.
once the clear have dried usually 24-48 hours you can block wet sand the part with 600 til smooth. now fun the fun stuff.
for this job I will be using several different techniques. I will concentrate on what iIwill be doing to the tank.I will be using a diamond crystal black for my graphics.
Mask off 3 panels on the tank one on each side and 1 on the top.mask off all areas around the panel.
for the side panels of the tank I will be doing a fish scale effect.
First off we need to make a template for the scales. you can figure how many to make buy the width of your panel. Find a socket that is the size that you want the scale to be and trace around it on a peice of vinyl mask or think piece of board. once you have your first one move below it and trace around it angain do this til you have the desired width. once this is done cut out the scale pattern with a exacto knife. once you cut it out you will want to use the hump side not the point side if that make sense.
spraying the fish scale. I will be working in a front to back pattern. lay patern at the front of the panel and use your airbrush to spray around the scales. now move the patern back place the hump of the pattern on the piont of your previous scale.do this all the way down panel. now you can do a small fade around the whole panel this will give you a more finished look but you don't have to do it.
next up is the top panel of the tank which we are going to lace.
find a lace pattern you like I find mine a either a thift shop or a local fabric store don't worry the old ladies who work there will look at you funny this is completely normal.
cut lace to a size just bigger than your panel this will allow you to tape it down with out compromising the pattern. then lay it over your panel and tape around it. it needs to be tight enough that it will not blow up when spraying over it. lace can be trickey becuase you do not want to use so much pressure that you lose the fine detail in the lace.using a touch up gun spray over your lace. let flash off and remove lace.becareful when doing this you can mess up the lace pattern.
next i will use the sooting techinique on the rest of the tank. with this you will want to remove the mask from around the panels be sure NOT to remove your fineline as this line will be used to seperate everything.now mask up your panels.
This step will require an acetaleen(sp) torch. set torch with a very sooty flame and lightly kiss the tank with the smokey goodness in a randomn pattern.
once you have completed this step unmask everything and clear all parts.when clearing you will to do a tack coat of clear as to not move around the soot.The soot is just setting on top of your part so be careful when claearing. Clearing the parts again will give you a smooth finish when you spray the candy.Let the clear cure completely and wet sand smooth.
we are almost done.
for this I will use candy apple red as an example you could use any color candy you want to. spray your candy on parts till you have the desired shade of red you want. let flash and clear.
when clear has cured you can now wet sand and buff for that show quality finish.
You need to remember that this is not a one day job and could take up to a week to do a job like this but it is all worth it if this is a style you like.
I will soon be be doing another metal flake tech thread with pictures of a job I am working on now. Hope this helps anyone who has been wondering how the is done.
keep it psychedelic-sure
I will lay out how to do motorcycle tins but these techniques can be applied to anything. Remember this is how I do it and some may have other ways of acheiving the same effects.which is cool cuz painting is art and there are no real rules in art.the outlined tech is worded for someone with some paint expierence.
let assume all the body work and prep has been done and you are ready for paint.
the base of this job will be a heavy flake(.025) (I use a 2.5 tipped gun for this.)
I will first spray high metallic silver base and get complete coverage of the parts.
now you are ready for your flake. I will mix to different flake sizes together to get the maxium coverage and sparkle.. with a heavy flake mix the .025 ith the.015 flake and suspend in blending clear.(this is what I use but you can use HOKsg150 for this also)The reason I dont use clear is the build up factor as there will be alot of layers in the graphic process.this helps keep the mills down.
You want to add enough flake so that it is suspended in the blending clear,you DO NOT want the flake sitting in the bottom of your mixing cup because this will happen inside of the gun and clogg the tip.
When you spray your flake make sur eyou have enough pressure to move the flake through the gun but not so much that its not blowing the material off the part you are spraying. YOu will have to play around with ressures this is not an an exact science.be sure not to rush this step because you can end up with a mess if you get a run or a sag,with that being said if you do get a run just stop let dry and start over.once you have your desired coverage with the flake you can move on to clearing the parts. Use enough coats of clear to bury the flake. now you let the clear dry for manufacture spec cure time.
once the clear have dried usually 24-48 hours you can block wet sand the part with 600 til smooth. now fun the fun stuff.
for this job I will be using several different techniques. I will concentrate on what iIwill be doing to the tank.I will be using a diamond crystal black for my graphics.
Mask off 3 panels on the tank one on each side and 1 on the top.mask off all areas around the panel.
for the side panels of the tank I will be doing a fish scale effect.
First off we need to make a template for the scales. you can figure how many to make buy the width of your panel. Find a socket that is the size that you want the scale to be and trace around it on a peice of vinyl mask or think piece of board. once you have your first one move below it and trace around it angain do this til you have the desired width. once this is done cut out the scale pattern with a exacto knife. once you cut it out you will want to use the hump side not the point side if that make sense.
spraying the fish scale. I will be working in a front to back pattern. lay patern at the front of the panel and use your airbrush to spray around the scales. now move the patern back place the hump of the pattern on the piont of your previous scale.do this all the way down panel. now you can do a small fade around the whole panel this will give you a more finished look but you don't have to do it.
next up is the top panel of the tank which we are going to lace.
find a lace pattern you like I find mine a either a thift shop or a local fabric store don't worry the old ladies who work there will look at you funny this is completely normal.
cut lace to a size just bigger than your panel this will allow you to tape it down with out compromising the pattern. then lay it over your panel and tape around it. it needs to be tight enough that it will not blow up when spraying over it. lace can be trickey becuase you do not want to use so much pressure that you lose the fine detail in the lace.using a touch up gun spray over your lace. let flash off and remove lace.becareful when doing this you can mess up the lace pattern.
next i will use the sooting techinique on the rest of the tank. with this you will want to remove the mask from around the panels be sure NOT to remove your fineline as this line will be used to seperate everything.now mask up your panels.
This step will require an acetaleen(sp) torch. set torch with a very sooty flame and lightly kiss the tank with the smokey goodness in a randomn pattern.
once you have completed this step unmask everything and clear all parts.when clearing you will to do a tack coat of clear as to not move around the soot.The soot is just setting on top of your part so be careful when claearing. Clearing the parts again will give you a smooth finish when you spray the candy.Let the clear cure completely and wet sand smooth.
we are almost done.
for this I will use candy apple red as an example you could use any color candy you want to. spray your candy on parts till you have the desired shade of red you want. let flash and clear.
when clear has cured you can now wet sand and buff for that show quality finish.
You need to remember that this is not a one day job and could take up to a week to do a job like this but it is all worth it if this is a style you like.
I will soon be be doing another metal flake tech thread with pictures of a job I am working on now. Hope this helps anyone who has been wondering how the is done.
keep it psychedelic-sure
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