First of all, before I go any further . . . .  If you are a professional Paint Sprayer, then please look away now, as I hold no responsibility for any injuries that will undoubtedly follow if you continue to read this post. I promise you will die laughing. You have been warned.

I am a huge fan of Metalflake paint jobs. They are incredibly expensive to do, very labour intensive, and the results are simply stunning. I would love to have my car painted in Flake, but in all reality, its a fairly knackered shell and if I took it to a bodyshop they would just laugh at me before turning me away. We all know that it is cheaper to buy a new shell these days than getting one painted and I also don`t relish the thought of stripping it back to a bare shell either, as I get precious little useage out of it as it is at the moment.

So where does that leave me?

-  I want to retain my original bodyshell - its knackered and has character, but its mine and I like it.
-  I cannot justify spending several thousand pounds on a professional paint job for such a rough shell

But my biggest problem is that I cannot paint. I am not a sprayer, I have nowhere to practice, and my current paint job was with a rattle can outside on the drive, during a flying ant attack - thats about the limit of what I can do here. I am not adverse to hard graft though, as after piecing my Buggy together from bits, I gel coated the whole thing and sanded it back again. That seemed to take forever, but it was very satisfying to do.

I seem  to recall thread a while back where someone applied a very thin Metalflake look to their own car with a brush and I think, enamel paint. It actually looked quite good. Personally, I favour the deep flake look, but I have taken inspiration from what you did to yours with reasonable success and decided to have a go myself.

What follows here is nothing more than an experiment on a hot Autumn afternoon. This is certainly not the way that anything should be done, nor approached, but was purely done to see "What would happen if . . . . ."  Don`t tell me about mixes, air pressures through the gun, or nozzle sizes, or how to float the flake on over several layers to build it up gradually - because all I have here is a paint brush and nothing else.

Something tells me that this is going to get a few of you talking on here about it, or at least I hope so. Please remember that this is only an experiment in how not to do it, so I welcome any comments both good and bad.

I had a spare number plate light holder in blue, and some Chameleon Green Metalflake (400 Microns) which is the flake size, and I was wondering if it could be applied by brush. Now, whilst I cannot paint, I do know some of the theory behind it, and I also know that the most important thing about bodywork is preparation.

Ok - cannot be arsed with that, this is an experiment, and its called slap it on and see what sticks.

I had some 2K laquer and catalyst kicking about, and seem to recall a 2:1 mix was required for putting it through a gun. Dont have a gun, so will just mix up a small amount, throw some flakes in, stir it up and brush it on.

Wow - you seriously need some ventilation with this stuff, either breathing apparatus or get all the doors open. Lesson quickly learned.

The flake mixed in nice and easy, but is was very runny, very runny indeed - but then it would be, it was designed to go through a gun. I painted what I could onto the metal, but the flakes were too heavy for the viscosity of the fluid, and they just ran to the lowest point. To be expected I thought, but after slapping on as much as I could be bothered to, I left it to dry. The result was somewhat disappointing and the picture didn`t come out - but suffice to say I had about 10cm of good coverage all round the outside and a bare bit with one or two flakes showing in the middle.

It had dried rock hard though. Very rough to the touch, and felt almost like sandpaper. Incidentally, you cannot sand the flakes, as the first thing that goes is the colour and you are left with white dots. Right then, time to make a new mix, and this time it will only be a very small amount. 4 Macdonalds thick straws of laquer to 2 straws of catalyst and mix together with about a thimble full of flake. This gave a very good consistency and something that was actually brushable. Not only that, but it stayed where I put it. I slapped this on over the top of where the old stuff had dried to see if there would be any sort of join, or marks where old met new - this was an experiment after all.





Still laughing now? Or does this look a little better than you were expecting? Don`t worry, there will be plenty of opportunity for you to wet yourselves as we go along. Anyway, once it had dried to the same rock hard level as before, it was time to apply some top coat. Now the story goes that you need to apply around 20 layers of clear cote, flatting and sanding as you go between each layer for maximum depth of finish. Bugger that then - mix up a small amount of clear cote, keep brushing it on until I have run out and let it go tacky.





As it got tacky, I mixed up another small batch and threw it on. I tried various brushes, and found that the cheapie disposable ones were about the softest, but the trouble was that you had to keep an eye on any bristles left behind in the paint.





I must have added over half a dozen thick coats to this. I`m not worried about the drips and runs, as this is still an experiment, and it will be useful to see if this has been applied thick enough for it to be flatted back or not and polished. There is absolutely no doubt that this is a ridiculous way to do this, but that said, the results are not as bad as I would have expected them to be.





Time to put it out in the sun to bake for a while. Metalflake is notoriously hard to photograph, and this image really doesn`t do any justice to the colours that were now popping out at me in the sunshine. I really hadn`t expected to get this far before giving up, but the colours here are truly stunning.





However, without the sun shining on it, I think it looks bloody awful. Yes, there are lumps in it, but in fairness, a lot of these may flatten down, and I can see where the flake was applied a little too heavily in places as you can almost see a few shadows cast by the flakes standing on end. I can also see a few gaps in the flakes where the original blue paint is visible. I ought to be pretty pleased with how this looks, but to be honest, I have been scrutinising this for many hours now and keep coming to the same conclusion. I don`t actually like this colour, and I am now struggling to see past that.





So what have I Learned here? because what started out as an experimental joke looks like it may actually have some value to it. You have to get the flake mix spot on, and even then it is quite wasteful - but that said, it doesn`t have to be done in one hit, as any joints are seamless. The 2K top coat is going to be left for a few weeks to harden properly before I attack it with anything, but I have to confess that it really isn`t the way to make this stuff shine and an alternative needs to be sourced.

A quick google didn`t really come up with anything in the automotive world that would be suitable, with the exception of Yacht varnish, and that tends to react with a lot of base coats. Most DIY varnishes are not Ultra Violet stable, and can either fade or turn yellow and brittle. Enamel was a possibility, but is awful to try and flat down with paper.

So I wondered what would happen if I now repeated this process, took a little more care and attention, and tried clear gel coat instead?

Apologies to the sprayers, but here we go again - but this time it isn`t a joke. I`m actually going to see what I can achieve here.

Right then - preparation is the order of the day then, and it is not long before the orange number plate light holder on my Buggy is reduced back to its naked state. A true blank canvass with which to work.





A liberal coating of Acrylic grey primer





Now here I had a bit of a problem. All the guides I have read (and ignored) all use wildly contrasting base coat colours to make the flake jump out at you. Thats all very well, but knowing that I could see some of the base coat colour in my previous attempt, it made more sense to paint this in the colour that I actually wanted. So it was painted in Austin Allegro Green, as I still had a few cans of that left from a job lot that had come my way when I initially painted the Buggy.





This time, I thought I would try a different colour of metalflake too. I like the Chameleon effect, as it changes colour under different light conditions, but I opted for a green colour that was a little closer to my own. Using the same mix quantities as before, I painted it on a little more carefully this time. With the soft brushes, you can move the flake about a little bit, so if it does look a little lumpy, a few gentle strokes and it smooths out again. Well, in theory anyway.





This time, I wanted to go for a top coat that would give me instant thickness, so I mixed up some clear gel coat and liberally applied it. When the first coat was starting to go off, I quickly gave it a second coat, just to make sure that there was enough there to flat back when it had all dried.





I`ll leave this one for a week or so to cure as well before attacking it, but I have to admit that far from being a bit of a laugh and a way to kill time on a sunday afternoon, this actually looks quite impressive.

My question is then . . . .   Is anyone still laughing at this idea now? Or do I have something here?

Cannot comment, on the flake pictures, as flake isn't to my taste, but have to warn you, 2 pack paint fumes are carcenagenic, the fumes not only smell bad, they are lethal, not instantly but they are cumulative. About the only mask you can use is an air fed one, as ordinary filters dont stop it.
Ttfn Glenn.

Now where can I get some nice yellow flake and some cheap brushes?

There ya go Dave 


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Metal-Flake-Violent-Yellow-Small-100-Micron-004-50-Grams-/111476998812?hash=item19f48c029c#ht_470wt_1157

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Disposable-Paint-Brushes-Set-1-2-Inch-3-4-1-1-5-2-3-4-Cheap-Kit-/252025347705?var=&hash=item3aade19e79

Not bright enough and he's only got one left, no idea what I would need for the whole car

What do you reckon on a bit of dark blue mixed in?

This is what I bought when I went over the top of mine, have a lot left, probably enought for another two buggies, depending on how heavy you want the finish.



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/METAL-FLAKE-50g-GOLD-HOLOGRAPHIC-200mic-CUSTOM-FLIP-/180354783921?hash=item29fdfb9ab1#ht_2764wt_1394

but have to warn you, 2 pack paint fumes are carcenagenic, the fumes not only smell bad, they are lethal, not instantly but they are cumulative. About the only mask you can use is an air fed one, as ordinary filters dont stop it.

Such an important comment there, I felt it was worth repeating   

After 24 hours baking outside, the blue one with the 2K lacquer looks really shiny compared to the Gel coat one that has certainly lost a bit of its sparkle.

This is obviously before any flatting and polishing

Hi Dave , funnily enough , I've been experimenting with this lately .

I friend is building his Suzuki 125 as a bit of a cafe racer . he said he'd love the tank and rear faring in flake .

He had a spare tank , so I stripped the stickers of , rubbed it down and sprayed it with my metalflake gelcoat .

It came out quite lumpy , 3 days later its dry to the touch , but a bit dull .

Next step , flow coat ( I do the underside of my kits in black flow coat ) . Flow coat has wax added to it , the wax rises to the surface so that the gelcoat dries properly . I am planning to mix up some clear flow coat and spray it over the flake . It may make it a little more lumpy , but it should then be possible to flat it quite a lot , then polish it .

If It works , I could flake a buggy shell for say £300 -£350 , but leave the polishing to you !!.

I'll let you know how the tank turns out .

Rob

How does the flow coat work then?

Does it polish up better than the gel coat?

Tougher finish?

Well a week has passed, and I`m hoping that the gel coat has dried sufficiently enough for me to attack it with some sandpaper. Yes, there are some proper rules that should be followed here, but as I keep saying, this is an experiment and nothing more.

This was all sanded by hand, as I did not know how much effort it would take and didn`t want to wreck everything by getting the D/A out at this stage. I had some 320 grit paper that was lightly rubbed over everything. It turns everything into white dust and you can see on the left hand side where the high bits are getting rubbed away first. The idea is to keep rubbing in a circular motion until everything looks white and there are no green shiny bits left. When you reach this stage and you wipe the dust away, you should end up with a nice smooth surface that looks very dull and scratched as it does here on the right.





You really have to be careful not to rub too hard, because if you go through the gel coat and hit the flake, then its game over and you have to start again. I then attacked this with some 800 grit to remove some of the deeper scratches. The higher the grit number, the finer the paper, and when I used 1200 grit, it really started to change appearance as the smaller scratches were finally being polished out. Considering I had brushed this all on, it did actually start to look pretty even in texture.





Once it had all been polished with fin paper, it was out with the T-Cut and some elbow grease to make it shine. And shine it did. The ripples on the left are actually the reflections of my brick wall. But here, out of the direct sunlight is where you can really see the differences between a professional paint job and my own lash up. A few uneven dots here and there in the shadows, and a few wavy lines near the bottom edge. All said and done though, I quite like the colour, and its not that different to the colour of my Buggy as it is.





When the sun catches it though, it does jump out at you a bit. This is Chameleon Flake which has a very strong golden tint to it, and is very difficult to photograph. It does look absolutely awesome though.





Whilst I am amazed as to how this has all come out, I am also just as frustrated, because I really didn`t want it to come out like this. I started off by painting some flake on with a brush whilst waiting for everyone to laugh at me and call me an idiot. But you know what? I wouldn`t actually be that upset if my car came out like this as a result. Sure, its not a show standard of paint, (but I don`t have a show car) and don`t forget that it hasn`t cost an arm and both legs either. No, the real frustrating bit though, is that it is fine to play silly buggers with a small part like this, but you would have to be on another planet to even contemplate doing a whole car like this.





Doing everything by hand has been an absolute killer, which is why I am going to attack the other number plate light holder with the D/A and see how that one comes out

Might be madness, but I'm really tempted to try the front bonnet and side panels on the rail in red metalflake now

Yeah, I know, the madness is creeping in here too and I want to play some more

To the extent that I have just seen a Devilbiss air fed mask and coalescing filter appear in my ebay basket   



For those who want it done properly, Ibbotson Flake can be found here   

http://www.ibbotsonflake.co.uk