So where do I send mine?
Me too! Looks like you have entered pro status...
Thanks Steve, and to everyone for all your tips and help on this! There is alot more to automotive painting then point and shoot. I really have learned alot over the past two weeks and feel it was worth the investment of time and energy.
A couple tips for those who are attempting to work with flake, candy, or the silver metallic.
1. Understand how your paint flows. Put a little in the gun pull the trigger with no air and see how it runs out. Metallic base, and candy will flow like 2% milk. Primmer will not flow so good. You will need to wet sand to 600 grit.
2. Learn how to adjust your spray gun and test it to see how it sprays on a big board. I used a junk 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. I had to paint all those legs and the backside of my shed before getting the hang of things.
3. The Harbor freight detail siphon gun with a marble has a 1.5 tip and works great for flake. Make sure you only mix up a few oz at a time, or you will make a mess that can drip on your work.
4. One pass with the siphon gun 1.5 tip with the EBC-500 50/50 mix with reducer is enough to match original flake sparkle. Add a second for more bling effect.
5. For a more subdued look shoot base silver metallic, flake, and a quick clear coat. Let dry overnight and wet sand very carefully with 600 grit. I did not do this as I wanted to see how it would look and like a little more flash.
6. Flake give shine from standing on end. Knock it down for less sparkle, or lay it out thick flake buster style for a 10 out of 10 on the bling meter. My tank is about a 7 or so on the bling scale. I wanted it to really pop, and I did not sand in between just tacked off with a clean rag to knock down the worst ones standing up.
7. EBC-500 or any intercoat clears are only good to up to 4 coats or so at which point you will get runs. Make sure you let the flake coat and candy coat flash out before applying the second coat.
8. A good way to mix candy for silver base coats is to find a shinny crescent wrench which is a pretty good match to your base coat and apply a couple drops on and see what you got. Then add more concentrate to get a color you like. It will not go darker than the drop. I like the concentrate as it lets you get the color that works best for you. You can't do this will premix.
9. You know you are getting close when your orange looks orange in the shade and lights up in the sun.
10. Don't expect to be able to match 40 year old faded paint perfectly. Find a part of the tank or side cover that has not faded and match to that.
11. Read you tech data sheets or get ready to do some crying. They are simple math.
12. Wear proper safety equipment this stuff is nasty especially the clear or anything with hardener in it.
13. When painting a tank have a method like bottom first, sides next, front, then top and stick to it. Never bring the gun around the corner it is way too hard to control how your are putting the paint on.
14. Find a gun you like and practice with it every chance you get. For all tank I went with the 20 oz from Harbor Freight low psi version with the brase knobs. It has a decent fan pattern and offers good control.
15. Have a separate gun for primmer. You got to wet sand to 600 for candy anyway. They need a super smooth surface to come out right.
16. The coating store has good stuff cheap.
So this is what I have learned in my two weeks of paint boot camp. If I left something out just ask.
I look forward seeing a bunch of blingtastic tanks and side covers soon.
