pearl and flip paint

[Beenie]

anyone know anything about spraying pearl and flip paint?

IE: how to apply it, different layers, etc.......

[alistairk]

pearl or pearlised paint?

Many modern metallics have pearl in them anyway (example Rover Nightfire Red).

Pearlised metallics are applied just like a regular metallic.

Then theres multi-stage pearls. Here you apply a primer, then a coloured base coats, then the pearl coats then the clear.

Flip paints (chromoflair or whatever to be correct) are generally applied over a black base coat regardless of colour. The black base gives a mode defined colour shift and a more vibrant effect. You can use dark greys to tame it and also to reduce the risk of patchiness when applying it. Same deal, primer, basecoats, chromoflair, clear.

Techically speaking "flip" is a kind of acrylic pearl lacquer applied over a black or white base coat. its a brand name "Flip Flop". the effect is not as wild as a modern chromoflair type though.

[alistairk]

oh, and then theres interferance pearl which is applied as a contrasting tinter in a thin layer between a colour coat (metallic, candy or pearl) and the clear coat.

[Beenie]

ummmm................. ok

sorry but can I have that in stupid terms please (as I not dat clever ) lmao lmao lmao

[BigbaRd]

in stupid terms u spray the base like any normal paint then u spray the clear laquer with the other colour u want to flip it with in their and spray it on the angles and edges you want then u add a final layer or two of high shine laquer which gives the paint the pearl effect. hopefully if your good enough it should just blend in nicelyand gradually flip the colours. That's what i'm lead to believe anyway - nvr done it, not a fan of flips.

normal pear is just the same without adding the flip colour - base then laquer (the laquer is what gives it the pearl)

[ally denton]

im after some yellow pearl paint for my mk3 astra project. i know Rage sell it @ £16 per ltr, anywhere else any1 know of where they sell it, maybe for a bit cheaper?

sorry to jump in on your thread beenie.

ally

[BigbaRd]

metalflake maybe

www.metalflake.co.uk

here's a list of other manufacturers you could ring up and try:

http://www.metalflake.co.uk/products.html

us ebay is actually good for that kinda stuff too really cheap try running a search, these are things that were in myeBay for some reason:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...e=STRK:MEWA:IT

I was thinking bout adding this to spray in the laquer on certain curves (my cars going pearlescent black) but it'll probably jsut come out looking patchy and gay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

[Mike007]

(the laquer is what gives it the pearl)

No it's not. The pearl is in the base.

Basically what Alistair said was spray it as you would a metallic unless you are spraying a chromaflair-type 'flip' paint in which case you will need a black/dark-grey ground coat.

Ally - £16 per litre is pretty damn cheap for pearl.

Mike

[BigbaRd]

the bodyshop/paintshop told me it was the laquer that gave it the pearl ? It's in the base is it then?

[Mike007]

Yep. As Alistair said, it's very similar to a metallic. You use the same laquer as you would with a metallic. (you can do some fancy finishes where some pearl is placed in the laquer, but any OE pearl colour will be as described).

Mike

[alistairk]

OK lets start from the begining....

in a conventional modern paint finish there are three layers: Primer, Base, Clear. Please don't call "clear" "lacquer" as modern clear is not a lacquer and not all lacquer is clear...

There are three basic types of pearl, then theres two types of "flip" and then theres Candy.

Don't confuse metalflake with metallic, they are two different products.

In a modern solid paintjob (say a white car) you have primer, then white base (which is just pigment), then clear.

In a modern metallic (say silver) you have primer, clear on top and the base is silver which is a mix of pigmnet and very fine metal particles - hense why its called metallic. The metal particles reflect the light giving that deep shine you get with metallics.

Single Stage Pearl
This is primer/base/clear just like a metallic except a material called mica is added. Mica has no actual colour of its own but reflects light in specific colour ranges. Mica and metal particles are mixed in with the pigment. An example of this is Rover's Nightfire Red which has (IIRC) gold mica mixed in it to give the deep glow in the paint in sunlight. This kind of paint is also called Metallic Mica or Pearlescent Metallic. All three names mean the same thing.

Two Stage Pearl
In a 2 stage pearl you have 4 layers. primer, base, pearl, clear. Think of Alfa Romeo Nuvola Blue or Fiat's similar colours here. You lay your primer and then a base of a highly reflective colour like white or silver and then a complimentary shade of pearl on top. The pearl layer is tinted the top colour and contains the mica pearl. This gives the effect of a car which is silver with a hit of blue but the blue colour is stongest where the light is refected indirectly - like corners, wheel arch lips, etc. so the colour seems to flow over the body of the car.

Interferance pearl
This is basically a 2 stage pearl where a stongly pigmented pearl of a contrasting colour is applied over the base. Think of that purple Ford Probes used to come in. This will be a purple base with a blue interfereance pearl sprayed over the top. In this case you have a car that looks purple but the light catches it and shines blue. I never liked the "quality" of effect on the Probe so I suspect they may have mixed and applied this one as a single stage but with an interferance pearl mixed in rather than a conventional pearl.

Flip Paint
Flip paint is not a pearl. Unlike pearl which reflects (refracts?) a range of tones in the same colour and shows the base colour through to create the effect a "flip" paint does not show its base through and switches between 2 or more distinct colours. It is applied in a 4 layer - primer, black, flip, clear. You all know the effect! Some have more graduation between the colours than others. The colours are usually quite dis-simmilar. Eg: green-gold, blue-purple. I dislike the term flip as its called "Chromoflair" or "Chamelion". Flip is actually "flip-flop" which is another type of finish - see below...

Flip/Flop
This is a strange pearl based product which is usually applied over white or black base. Unlike Chromoflair the base colour will help define the colour of the effect. It is only available in old fashioned Acrylic Lacquer and does a 2 colour shift with graduation. The two colours will usually be similar tonaly, like a pale pink shifting into a pale yellow. The colours are not as bright as chromaflair.

Candy
Another 2 stage paint. You have primer, base, candy, clear as before. Candy is basically a transluscent paint. You can see through it! Even with 10 coats on you'll see through it. If we did Candy Apple Red we'd spray primer, then gold metallic, then Candy Apple Red, then clear. The gold reflects the light but the red gives it the colour. The effect is of a deep red with the gold light from behind it. very nice. Unlike a pearl where if you mix colours you get a shifted effect (like the blue/purple on the Ford) mixing colours on Candy gives one colour. Example, if we sprayed primer, then metallic blue, then Candy Apple Red, then clear we would get a deep plum purple colour rather than a blue with red glowing highlights. the overall colour of a candy paint job is also dictated by how many coats of candy you put on and how you thin it. More coats = darker colour.

Metalflake
Metal flake is big flakes of coloured aluminium in suspension in clear. You spray the stuff on before you apply your clear. You can use it over any other paint. You could have a candy or pearl or even a chromoflair with flake over it. You usually need to apply a heck of a lot of clear to bury all the flake as the shards can be quite big. Also care has to be taken spraying flake to get an even distribution of 'em as they tend to sink to the bottom of the gun.

Tinters
Both pearl and candy are available as "tinters". You use these where you want to have a subtle effect of a pearl or whatever. You mix the pearl into clear to get the desired effect. You could mix pearl into pre-mixed pearl if you wanted to strengthen the effect (example, when spraying custom graphics and you don't want to lay to many coats you'd make the candy or pearl you were using more intense with additional tinter)

E&OE.

[Cesaro]

very good reading that is, learnt a lot there mate cheers. So can the above effects be done using cellulose spray paint or 2pack??

[alistairk]

Most of the above can be done in 2 pack or acrylic lacquer which is very much like celulose. I believe Halfords are doing a range of custom pearls and the like in celulose as well. The onlyone I think is specific to a type of paint is old fashioned flip-flop which is acrylic only, but if you can spray celly you can spray acrylic.

The exception is chromaflair ("flip") which is only available in 2 pack.

Some old-school painters reckon that flake is best done with acrylic lacquer clear anyway as the flake settles better in the clear as its lower density than 2 pack.

Some of the flakes available now are quite small and work better in 2 pack than they used to as well as not needing as many coats to bury. Old school heavy flake needs 25 coats of clear lacquer! Back in the day (I remember the custom cars of the 70s!) it was common to hear about "100 coat" paint jobs, this was when candy over pearl with flake paint jobs were popular.

[Beenie]

wow you really sound like you know what you on about.

has anyone got any pics of candys, flips, pearls, etc?????

[alistairk]

Candy Apple Red





Looks like Tangelo Orange Pearl to me.

[Cesaro]

mmmm...nice. Quick question- can you spray metallic black/deep purple in celly? Or is it just easier to use solid colour and then laquer and polish for weeks to get a deep shine?

[alistairk]

dusty pink pearl...



Chromaflair



Mint over white pearl job on a 50's Cadillac...





Another shot of the Candy red Buick... See how the lighting really brings out the depth in this sucker....



You get the idea...

[alistairk]

mmmm...nice. Quick question- can you spray metallic black/deep purple in celly? Or is it just easier to use solid colour and then laquer and polish for weeks to get a deep shine?

Yes, you can do metallics in celly. You use clear cellulose lacquer to finish it. If you use a solid colour with celly you just apply the colour coat over the primer and buff the hell out of it. Some old school guys insist this is the best way to get depth of lustre on a solid paint job and don't like clear-over-base.

Only problem with celulose is durability. It oxidises so you need to keep it waxed up or it fades & clouds.

[alistairk]

OK, heres a couple that show what happens when you can't decide what kind of paint to use - use them all! theres pearl, candy, flake, metallic and solid paint in these...

[Mike007]

Alistair - good read. 2-pack paint is actually acrylic. Also Chromaflair and Chamelion are trade names iirc, not totally certain what the correct generic term is (although most these days do call them 'flips').

Mike

[alistairk]

Alistair - good read. 2-pack paint is actually acrylic. Also Chromaflair and Chamelion are trade names iirc, not totally certain what the correct generic term is (although most these days do call them 'flips').

2 pack is (from memory) catalised eurathene acrylic enamel, or catalysed polyeuretene acrylic enamel. Now you see why its called 2 pack (it comes in two packs!) Its not the same as acrylic lacquer which is what most people mean when they say "acrylic". Acrylic lacquer is AFAIK just a non-organic version of celulose invented in the 1950s to try and combat the problems of oxidation common with OEM celly paint jobs.

Yeah, Chromaflair, Chamelion, Karmelion and a couple of other trade names exist for what is "reflection dependant colour effect paint" or whatever. Yup, I can see why most people call it "flip", but having been at Bel Vue and the like (as a kid!) back in the time when the original flip lacquer paint jobs were cool, and that dates me a bit, I'd rather encourage people to use the predominant brand name (kinda like calling a vacuum a Hoover) then we all know what we're talking about 'cos old schoolers like me still call flip-flop flip.

[Mike007]

To be honest my comments were really for other people - you seem to know what you are talking about . It was just so that people wouldn't ask for acrylic and end up with 2-pack.

And yes, 2-pack paints are based on hydroxy-functional, polyurethane or polyester acrylic resin systems.

Mike

[Colonel K]

Quick question...

I have seen lots of 'Flip' paintjobs (in fact pretty much all of them apart from the Chromaflair jobbies) which look, well, pants. Its really patchy and looks like the base metalwork is all dented and/or fillered, even though it probably isnt. (looks straight from the side)

So whats happening here? Just the person who sprayed it on was bad at his job?

[Mike007]

Patchy paintwork is a result of bad spraying. It can be seen on normal metallics and pearls as well, but does seem to be more obvious with 'flips' (sorry Alistair!!!). I've seen a few that have looked terrible - they look like they've just had 1 really dry coat only.

Mike

[Cesaro]

so is it 'easier' ie. less chance of patchyness, if you spray solid colour instead of metallic and then laquer?? (in celly)