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  1. #1
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    Default Painting metal flake

    I’ve bought a used BMX for my 7 year old and am keen to restore/modify it for her. It’s currently stripped down and most of the steel parts have already been stripped ready for paint, just have to finish up the Alu frame and brake mounts.

    When looking at paint we found some fantastic holographic metal flake and thought we’d have a go at that.

    Plan is to primer, base coat, flake in clear (mist coat last to get the flake to stand up) and then 4 or so coats of clear. Sand back orange peel from flake and apply another wet coat of clear.

    My experience is with 2k polyurethane paint for my kitchen, so most of this is new to me, but I’m keen to have a go with auto paints anyway to see how it goes.

    My questions are about the base colour. My daughter wants purple and because we’re not laying a purple flake (where I could paint a black base) my thoughts were to lay the purple she wants as a base coat, applying the holo flake over the top.

    What do people think?

    Also would I use a purple base or would a purple metallic be a better base?

    It’s a $100 bike so I’m also trying to find a reasonably economical way to lay the paint too.

  2. #2
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    Ali needs to have a coat of etch primer prior priming. This helps adhere to the base metal.
    Whats the top colour? Oh Purple
    D3pending on depth or darkness light to give that awesome bling black, white or mid blue?

  3. #3
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    Great point. I’ll make sure I have etch primer in the process for the Alu bits.

    My girl wants a purple bike. So the 2 options I thought were.

    1. Black base, flake, purple candy, clear

    But because the flakes we’ve bought are holo (or rainbow), I thought it was best to:

    2. Purple base, flake, clear

  4. #4
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    All depends on the effect you want to achieve !

    Some flake in a clear coat over a purple base will tend to give some sparkle over a flat purple base, using a metallic purple will give the whole job much more depth, going to a candy over a silver base will give you even more depth.

  5. #5
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    If this is gun applied try mix silver, clear & purple for effect try in an old tin small amount first

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by droog View Post
    All depends on the effect you want to achieve !

    Some flake in a clear coat over a purple base will tend to give some sparkle over a flat purple base, using a metallic purple will give the whole job much more depth, going to a candy over a silver base will give you even more depth.
    That’s what I was thinking. I’m not sure I have the gun skills to lay the candy evenly yet, so will aim for metallic purple with flake in clear.

    Thanks

  7. #7
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    Popped in to my auto paint store today. Picked up a primer base that goes on all surfaces, can’t remember but I think it’s called something like surface prep. It was recommended by the chap in there as an easy solution to primer steel and Alu. I also grabbed 250ml of their own custom mixed purple metallic. It’s a very light metallic but I think it will have enough sparkle to add to the flake.

    Also bought 1l of clear.

    The forks and front sprocket are stripped as are most of the handlebars. The rear brake mechanism didn’t get affected by the stripper so I’ll likely hit them with the bench brass wheel before primer.

    Just need to get the Alu frame/front brake mechanism stripped and I’m just waiting on the metal flake before I’m thinking I’ll try a test panel or two.

    I haven’t had to paint car paint before with multistage but talking to the chap in the shop today it seems like it flashes off pretty quickly (10-15 mins) between coats which seems like I can lay all the primer (3 light coats), base (3 light coats), flake and 4 layers of clear within a couple of hours (including cleaning between stages). Do I have that right?

    I need to get to grips with how much paint to mix too. Haven’t painted in a while and remember this was the bit I struggled with the most. It’s such horrible stuff to clean up too that getting it wrong can be an issue. Can’t for the life of me find a resource to suggest volume of paint for each stage.

  8. #8
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    I assume your talking single stage acrylic ?

    Yes it flashes off quick, particularly for the finish you are doing you want most of the coats to be “dry”, the metallic in particular.
    The final clear coat will need to be a wet coat to get the high gloss, but your clear with flake in it should also be dry.
    With an auto finish normally you would prime then a light sand when dry, then any colour and effect coats, sand then a final clear coat.
    For what you are doing and assuming no large flat surface you can probably get away without sanding, unless you stuff up.

    To add, quantities will be small but also based upon skill and gun that you are using, there may be more waste than what goes on the job if using a big gun. I would suggest 100 ml per stage, cleanup, yes after primer but between colour, clear with flake and final clear should not need to clean. The residual in the gun should have minimal effect for this project.

  9. #9
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    Default Painting metal flake

    Awesome info Droog, thank you very much. Just to clarify, when you say 100ml I assume you mean the paint, reducer and hardner (or what ever combo) combined?

    Yes I’m using a big gun.

  10. #10
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    Yes I mean quantity required to paint a BMX bike, as in what you put in the gun. A lot will depend on your gun and you, a touch up gun uses a lot less paint as it is intended to paint a small area, a large gun will spray a wider area meaning a lot of waste.
    Use this as a staring point, once you have primed you will have an idea of the quantity used.

    Now you are talking about hardener, so a two pack.
    Check the instructions, you may want extra time between coats, the information above was for single pack ie air drying.

  11. #11
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    The primer is a single stage, all others are 2k. Appreciate the info and I’ll dig out the spec sheets for the paints and triple check them.

    Will post results as I get them. Fingers crossed they’re acceptable.

  12. #12
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    I hope you'll be spraying the 400F at the same time!

    Sent from my Lenovo TB3-710F using Tapatalk

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Abnerj View Post
    I hope you'll be spraying the 400F at the same time!

    Sent from my Lenovo TB3-710F using Tapatalk
    Hahahaha hahahaha. Probably not, but it’s a dry run for the tins paint I want to apply. Have a Mercedes Grey/Silver with a dark stripe in mind.

  14. #14
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    Dont forgetmpost photos 2hen done pls

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by wheelinround View Post
    Dont forgetmpost photos 2hen done pls
    Goes without saying!

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