• Welcome to the Checkmate Community Forums forums.

    You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions, articles and access to our other FREE features.
    By joining our free community you will be able to:

    » Interact with over 10,000 Checkmate Fanatics from around the world!
    » Post topics and messages
    » Post and view photos
    » Communicate privately with other members
    » Access our extensive gallery of old Checkmate brochures located in our Media Gallery
    » Browse the various pictures in our Checkmate photo gallery

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!

    If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact support by clicking here or by using the"contact us" link at the bottom of the page.

Spraying Metal flake

A

a36pilot

Member
I'm working on my 87 Starliner now. I have all intentions of clear gel coating the deck (will not do automotive clear-coat on a boat ever again). The primary color is black with a dusting of silver metal flake. I looks like during sanding I am going to bust through the clear and flake and into the black. This has already happened in a couple places. But it may not be a bad thing.

Even after sanding a test area, I brought it up and polished it out, the black still looks cloudy and un-even. So my thought is to sand through the clear and get all the flake out, then re-spray the flake followed by coats of clear.

1) Do I blow on the flake after a wet coat of clear?
2) Do I spray on the flake in the wet material followed by more clear?
3) Do I spray a mist coat of black mixed with clear, then blow on the flake? (does this give the black a little more depth after it is finished?)

Keep in mind the whole thing will be re-cleared and I am only planning on busting through the clear on the main part of the deck.
 
Metal flake Gelcoat repair

Is it the way I said it? No one has opinions here? Advice? Anything? Someone knows what I'm talking about and best way to fix it. Help a brother out guys.
 
I just shot mine back in January (with the help of friends that are professional painters)

1) Do I blow on the flake after a wet coat of clear?
Shoot a tack coat of clear first. There are different sizes of metalflake.

2) Do I spray on the flake in the wet material followed by more clear?
Mix the metalflake in with your clear product, as shoot until you have the metalflake pattern you desire, followed by clear product until the metalflake is covered. (this depends on what material your shooting, too thick could cause a mess. There are different sizes of metalflake. The larger the Metalflake, the more coats of clear product it will take, and you may have to let the first layers of clear cure, sand and reshoot again before your complete

3) Do I spray a mist coat of black mixed with clear, then blow on the flake? (does this give the black a little more depth after it is finished?)
Normally the base colors go down first, this isn't a rule just a guideline. Remember talented painters are artists.
 
Gelcoat flake

Thanks for the help/ advice. I have zero experiance with applying the flake other than knowing it comes in different sizes/ shapes/ colors. But am familiar with gel-coat repairs but admit that this is more advanced than I have gone before.

I was thinking the translucent black (black and clear mixed together) as the first "tack" coat.

Thinking that this would make the black apear much deeper. Thoughts?
 
I'm very interested to see how and what you do so please be sure to take lots of pics and fill us in on the process you use. I know my boat is going to need sanded and redone but I've yet to make a decision on what.
 
1st off true metal flake is sprayed with a special gun, and if you don't know it..find someone who does or you will end up with a big mess, that is a art of painters...and few know how to make it look right..I worked with one who used to spray a lot of it...gun actually had a spinner inside to keep the flake stired up and a special tip...seen more bad jobs than I can count...it is truely a art...
 
here is my photos from the paint booth. http://www.flickr.com/photos/happy305/. I did not go heavy on the flake like what was on it, it's still very sparkly in the sun. We painted in a ventillated booth, (Mark, the painter did). The fumes are horrible, and will send you for a loop. He did use a special spray gun, tip ect. They also did some airbrushing and at the moment have my engine cowling. I'm just letting them have at it. After I get thru assembling her, she'll go back for more artwork.

I helped sand, and sand, sand some more, and when you thought you were done, you sanded some more. I left the painting to the pros.
 
Metalflake gelcoat

EZ stripper, the spray-gun you are talking about is called an "agitated" pot. I use one in industial applications that have solid materials like glass flake and zinc dust added to the sprayable material. Given that this flake "not true metal flake but polyflake" is just a very light dusting I think that a regular gun will spray just fine if you don't mix too large of a batch at a time and you shake the gun to agitate the mix often. If I make a mess, I can always sand and start over, but I'm not faint of heart and like to try things new instead of always paying someone to do them for me (that would be the easy way out).

Happy, your boat looks great what a sharp looking paint job. It is paint and not gel right? I'd like to know your people, I have another project I am working on (a pickup) and I'm looking for someone to spray. Do these guys do Gel as well?
 
They do all kinds of custom cars, motorcycles ect... here is there web site
www.paintbyjohn.com. Yes my boat is paint/and clear, top of the line stuff. I'm not sure about gelcoat, I know they do corvetts, so it a possibility.

Gel coat, at least in the Clear lake area would be a fellow named alfonzo, the best there is. I'll have to dig his number up, I'll look for it later and get it to you.

Another high quality gel coat shop is Gulf Coast Composits. They also do fantastic work.
 
Last edited:
Sprayin flake takes practice and lotsa flake

Different size flakes act different. Flake material and cut is different also.
It also makes a difference with what media you are spraying it in. Clear Coat paint flows a lot different than gelcoat.
You will need to get a couple pound of flake and a gallon of gelcoat or clearcoat to waste just for practicing. Too much flake will clog the nozzle and make it difficult for the media to get through and lay the flake. There us no Magic Ratio for flake. You have to have a knack for the flow technique. Lotsa practice.
 
Will metal flake show if you mix it with straight Imron paint? I know the common procedure is to lay the color down then lay metal flake over mixed with clear but I'm only looking for a little specks of flake, only to give some dimension...not look like a bass boat.
 
I really dont know for sure. I do know a way to test the idea. Get a test sample from your local supplier and spray it on a test piece or an inconspicuous spot on the boat. Imron tech support is awsome also. They will probably have the answers your looking for. When I used to spray Imron, it was difficult with the humidity and temperatures down here. Alot has changed since then, I'm sure the applications have changed also.
 
Flake in Imron

Flake wil show, but will look inconsistent. Spray the imron as a base. Fog a small amount of flake mixed in clear over the whole boat then cover it in clear. Clearcoat over the flake coat until you don't see the flake making bumps in the final coat. If you only use flake in the imron, you can clear over the top, but you won't see all the buried flakes. Imron color is a solid, not opaque like clears and pearls. You can tint, but still need a solid basecoat as a background.
 
bigredinohio said:
I'm only looking for a little specks of flake, only to give some dimension...not look like a bass boat.
Click to expand...
Mike, try adding a "course aluminum" tint. It will add small specks and dimension without the bass boat look. Chrysler has lots of silvers with the course aluminum in them. You can add it to any color and get some effect from it but the lighter colors show it better.

I could be spoiled as my neighbor has a mixing station in his shop so I can play with colors, tho they are expensive:D
 
yellowfiero88 said:
Mike, try adding a "course aluminum" tint. It will add small specks and dimension without the bass boat look. Chrysler has lots of silvers with the course aluminum in them. You can add it to any color and get some effect from it but the lighter colors show it better.

I could be spoiled as my neighbor has a mixing station in his shop so I can play with colors, tho they are expensive:D
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you can't do this with Interlux?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top