Heavy metal flake finish

[FredoTwoWheels]

So I painted an old helmet and then taped off some flames and layed intercoat on it, then shook huge flakes onto it until it was covered. I put a tack coat on, then two coats of clear. I am planning to sand some of the flakes down once it cures, then recoat it with two more clears but I am curious if I should add more clear before attempting to sand down any flakes standing up. What grit should I use when I do it? I just want to make sure I can have a nice smooth finish but the effect I was after left clumps of flake, Should I just keep burying it?

 

[TAZ]

Normally when I spray a flake job, I put about 5 coats of clear on it. Then I resand with 600 grit. Once you get the surface flat, then reclear, it will really sparkle.
Flake jobs take a lot of material and time to get right.

 

[FredoTwoWheels]

Cool man, it has sat overnight, wont be able to get to it until Monday, will I need to scuff at that point or just lay the clear? It looks like a little bit of dust got in it, I would like to try to sand some out before I put another 3 or 4 coats on, should I just hit it with a little 1000 grit and see if it helps? Do I just wipe it down and hit it with clear after sanding or is there something I need to do between? Thanks a ton for the help.

 

[TAZ]

I know on the flake jobs I do, it's VERY hard to see any dust that gets in the clear. Because it's so rough from the flakes. So yours must not be that bad.
I would still do the same....600 grit DA, 1000 grit wet, then clearcoat again.
You will just need to blow it off, tack it down before clearcoating the second time.

 

[FredoTwoWheels]

Well, it is in the black you can see it, and in the sun it sparkles, so I think I just didnt clean my gun of the silver metalic I sprayed before hand well enough before laying the clear. So I am a total of 6 lyers of clear in on this, and it has gotten some drips and haze, but I figure its all good because I needed to sand down the standing flakes anyway. So should I still start with 600 wet or go more coarse and take it down further? Thanks for all the help man.

 

[TAZ]

Sounds like you have plenty of clear.
You will probably need to block out those runs first before sanding the rest of the paint.
Once the runs are out, then I would suggest using 600 DA (DA stands for dual action sander - The paper will be dry, not wet).
THEN you can use 1000 grit wet. That should get it flat before adding the second batch of clear.