Adding graphics

Vanilla

New member
I have a Harley Road Glide and I want to do some 70s panel graphics on it. Fish scales, maybe some lace, sun rays, etc. Anyway, the bike is black. I want to do flake with gold candy as the panel color.

My question is, is there anyway to do this without a total respray? I know the typical process would be to spray it completely in silver then lay down silver flake. Then tape off and do my panels. Then back tape and respray the black.

But.....can I get away with not redoing the black? Tape it off, expose the areas for silver, lay down patterns, candy, clear, then maybe clear the whole thing after? I feel like I wouldn't be able to bury the panel because of the mil thickness of the flake.

Any thoughts?
 

chopolds

Member
You already know the answer. You could do the gold over the existing black, put on 3-4 coats of clear, then sand and more clear, but you'll have pretty thick film thickness. In climates that don't change much, it'll last for years. Lots of hot and cold cycles, it may or may not...today's clears are pretty tough. It might hold up!
 

Vanilla

New member
I dont imagine I could bury the whole thing in a bunch of clear. I've got an airbrush on its way, once it gets here I'll try to mimic it on a panel. I just feel like I won't be able to bury everything in enough clear.
 

chopolds

Member
Real flake isn't going to be able to go through an airbrush's passages. And putting Candy on evenly, isn't going to be easy, either. Today's clears go on pretty thick, so 3-4 coats will almost bury candy graphics. A sanding and another 2-3 coats will even it out.
 

Vanilla

New member
I'm not gonna spray flake through the brush. I'm gonna do some fish scales and some other 70s stuff. The flake will go through the gun. My worry is the thickness from the flake, if I spray it on top of the existing paint without respraying the base color after.
 
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