[sherfield2002]

i'm a decent painter but never done too much custom stuff. i was wondering if anybody could explain how to do ghost graphics. i know how to lay out and paint regular graphics but how do u do it so the only show up from certain angles like ghost flames? i've heard its not too hard but i just dont know the technique. so anyways hopefully somebody can give me some how to info

[Thom Laybourne]

Do a search on the word GRAPHIC in this section. Lots of help full ideas. In my GALLERY I have a Pontiac. Take a look. Several good paint guys here. Lots of ideas.

hr41pearl

[myfamiliacc]

Ya look around for this topic, but to make it simple. Most true ghost patterns are done with pearls.

[sherfield2002]

ok heres what i got from readin around. say i wanted a blue ghost flame on factory black paint. i would wet sand the panel i wanted to paint to remove the clear. respray the factory color, lay out the flame and mask everything else off. spray the flame with a clear intercoat that had the blue pearl in it. let it dry, unmask the panel and clear the entire panel, right?

[sherfield2002]

so is that how it goes or not?

[myfamiliacc]

[color=blue]SF it sounds like you got!!

Here is exactly how I would do it if it's over your factory paint.

Scuff dull the factory clear with 600 gt wet-sand paper
carfull with the corners and edges

Lay out your pattern and mask everything els off.

Spray the pearl/clear mix around your pattern.

carefully remove masking while the pattern flashes

contenue with reclearing intire erea.

after clear drys you can wetsand with 1500 2000 2500 grt then buff

or you can wetsand smooth with 600 and reclear. Doing this will insure that no "pattern edges" can be felt


If you are planning to do a blue ghost patern over black let me sagest using HOK's Violet pearl instead of the Blue. The Violet will give you a darker blue color over black and a better ghosting effect Ask the your local paint store to let you look at there HOK pearl paint chips.

Good luck and be sure to post some pics up here for us K

Peace
Alex S [/color]

[sherfield2002]

thanks man

[astroracer]

Here's a link to a shot of the bed cover on my truck... http://hotrodders.com/gallery/data/5...2-med.jpg?2462
The flames are straight blue pearl in a clear carrier shot over white (obviously). These are some serious ghost flames. They do NOT show up unless the sun is exactly right and, when you do see them out of direct light they look off-white.
I would suggest you do some test panels to get the look you are after before spraying the whole truck. You can lay a little silver down as a base under your flames or even white to get them to "pop" a little more on your black base.
Mark

[myfamiliacc]

[color=blue]Thats a Tight looking bedcover!! Do you have any ghost flames on the truck too?[/color]

[astroracer]

Thanks... Yea they cover the sides of the truck too. They don't show up in the photo's but they're there.
Mark

[TurboS10]

I did my first and only ghost flame on my S-10. The main thing with ghost flames is knowing how much to mix to get the right effect. On my practice panel, they were WAAYY to dark. A little bit of pearl goes a long way. If you are laying over black, I would suggest a dark pearl or they will stand out more than I think you are wanting. You want to use a color close to the base. I used blue and red pearl on my purple base and then cleared over it all. There is a pic or two in my album of the results. They are very faint and only show in bright light or sunlight. Just enough to cause a double take and then you can see them after you look hard.

Later,

Chris

[79Camaro74Vega]

A friend of ours that mostly works on bikes will be doing ghost painting on my husband's 74 Vega... yes Vega... I spoke with him to night and basically the instructions before is exactly what he described. He did stress that getting the paint of each step fully cured is extremely vital. It seemed like he couldn't stress it enough. He said that when he does a ghost paint job it's not necessarily the time between coats but the temperature, even if it is not a bake on paint. He also said that he doesn't always stick to the standard pearls in the clear, he has used glitter and metallic it all depends on what you are looking to do. The other thing he mentioned he will be doing to my husband's Vega, because of all the abuse it will be taking is adding extra clear coats with nothing in it for protection.
Laura