A Paint Story

[Vettra]

Just wanted to share this with you. I am in the process of painting my personal Electra Glide. Candy Tangerine over Silver Metallic on top and Black on the bottom.

I figure I would try NAPA's paint line for this project. I had been in there before and the girl there seemed to really know all about the paint.

Well I took a sample with me to show the color that I wanted. This was a helmet painted with a similar scheme. We found a matching Tangerine Candy in the chip sample book so I told her to mix some of that up for me and selected a silver metallic base.

The fun began when I got back and started to paint. I opened up the Silver Metallic and it clearly had a tangerine tint to it. I called her up to tell her of the problem and she said that the color I wanted couldn't be achieved unless I used that Metallic Tangerine base. I did a side by side test with some silver I had leftover from another project. I was indeed able to acheive not only the same color as the sample I showed her originally, I also had the same flake effect.

I apreciate the fact that the people behind the counter offer their expertise but she should have mixed what I asked for in the first place. Now I have to go back and make an exchange. The moral I guess would be- check all paint before leaving the supplier.

C

 

[TAZ]

Yea, always good to check. Don't know why orange would have ended up in the silver.
She wasn't texting when she was mixing your paint was she?
:haha:

I have to admit though, if we have a candy red or candy tangerine job with a silver base, sometimes we'll take like a little bit of tangelo or some cinder red (depending on the topcoat candy color), and mix just a 'tad' bit of it in the silver base. This does what I call 'jump start' the candy without changing the shade of the overall candy color.

 

[Vettra]

Taz- When I did a side by side test the color was identical. The main difference was ths size of the flake. The flake in the tinted NAPA being a bit smaller than the HOK silver metallic that I had. To be honest though I am starting to kinda like it better and may actually use it. The one thing I will lose is the ability to get the silver "pinstriping" effect with my tape.

The main reason I may keep it is based on a reply to a post that you had to a fellow that was new to shooting candy. You indicated that there was less chance of "tiger striping" when using a tinted base with the candy. Now I have used candy quite a bit on smaller test tank blanks with success but since this is my bike and want to use it as a showcase for my skills I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[TAZ]

A bigger flake of course will give you more sparkle, but a finer silver will give you more brightness and a tad bit more richness.

And yes you are correct, the closer you can get the base to the actual candy, the easier it is.
Even though painting candy over silver is one of the harder ones to spray over, just the kick of orange in the silver will help a little.

 

[hoss]

see if she has the custom colors from the martin senior brand at napa. they'll have some bigger flake in there, it's got a nice glitter to it.

and, don't be afraid to put some bigger flake in a sg150 HOK carrier over the top of the basecoat.

 

[Vettra]

Thanks Hoss- I will tuck that info into my little grey cells

 

[Vettra]

Here is a follow up to this thread:
I know that you can't tell much from a picture but I am happy with the way this is turning out. Here is a shot of my inner fairing with the colors I described. As I said- I went with the base with the tangerine tint. I still need to wet sand and buff. I will carry this scheme throughout the entire bike.

I want to use the metallic silver as a graphic seprating tangerine and black. . I would like to give it a bit of a "beveled" look. Now I know how to make a beveled blade type graphic but that is not what I am going for here. Question: How can I achieve the bevel? Should I put a bit of black and shoot the bottom of the graphic and and a bit of white on the top?

 

[TAZ]

Looks pretty cool C. Neat way of 2-toning an inner fairing.
Normally if you want to do the beveled look you need a wide area since the total amount of both tip and bottom edges will take up at least 1/8" to a 1/4", Plus a wider center which should really be another 1/2" plus. So you're talking at least 5/8"+. Normally the shading is done on the middle (Or top portion), and a little on the edges.

 

[Vettra]

Thanks- Yes the graphic will be about 2" wide tapering to about 1 1/2" or 1 1/4" What I was thinking was to start with my Silver Metallic - add a bit of black for the mid/main section then add more black for the bottom and the top would be the original with no black so it would seem lighter. Does this make sense?

 

[TAZ]

Sounds like it'll work! Like the lighter top darker bottom with shading in the center.

 

[Vettra]

THX- I'll do a test on a blank.
C