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Hey TucsonJay, how the heck do you do this custom paint?

5K views 57 replies 13 participants last post by  MARTINSR 
#1 ·
Jay, we have this Monte Carlo at the shop and need to replace the front bumper so we need to paint this, how is it done? I looks like the old laying the plastic over the paint trick but what about all those little line patterns? :confused:

I was thinking you spray the black, then after it's fully dry you spray the silver then spray solvent droplets over it,then blow those droplets with air, then lay your plastic over it. That is this NON-custom painters idea. :sweat:

But one of the painters is a great guy who has been dabbling in custom paint and wants to jump on it but we wanted a little guidance if you have the time.

Brian





 
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#29 ·
Do you guys think there is enough interest to start a custom painting tricks thread in the paint and body forum?

I've been doing this for other people since the early seventies, so I am well aware that one-color paint is dominant right now.

Still, I imagine some might enjoy discussing some old and some new tricks.

Speak up if you are in favor, and I'll do a few posts myself to help start things up.

?????
 
#30 ·
Jay, I think it would be very valuable. If they made it a sticky that would really be nice. I know am certainly not going to be using the tips you bring to the table I would love to see how things are done. I know for years I have walked up to cars at shows and just tried to dissect it looking for how was it done. When you stand back and look at this art and see a "photo" if you will it's hard to imagine it being done one step at a time. So I will often try to figure out those steps.

Brian
 
#34 ·
???
how would this plastic rap trick look with a candy color..
then buried under x coats of the candy color..

?? 2
what is marblizer.. looks like controlled fish eyes

I am on the fence on adding those stipes on my SS and that looks different enough.. tho I think the inner corners at the bumper end needs different shaping
 
#36 ·
???
how would this plastic rap trick look with a candy color..
then buried under x coats of the candy color..
?? 2
what is marblizer.. looks like controlled fish eyes
As far as I know,the marblizer comes with the pearl/metallic in it. A little research with HOK, and you might find just the clear base. It is not the same as regular clear paint. I don't know if kandy concentrates would mix with it okay.

Marblizer is a pearl or metallic in a paint base. One difference is that it stays wet longer than normal paints, so you can drop the saran wrap over it, then move the wrap and fluid around until you like the pattern.

After that you lift the saran wrap off and let it dry. If you don't like the pattern you got... you can wash the silver off with a mild solvent, leaving the original base coat ready to try again.

After your pattern is satisfactory, and has enough time to dry, you can shoot regular clears or candies over it. On the sample I posted, it has a green candy fade at the top of the marblized area.

On the one we've been discussing, it has a black base underneath, with a silver marblizer.so the thin spots cause the dark patterns.

Once you have tried it, you will be surprised how easy it is. :)
 
#38 ·
This is very true and probably the best way to go. That hadn't hit me. To mask off the stripes, do the whole thing over again would take a lot less time and materials than trying to figure out what this guy did exactly. :thumbup:

Good thinking Randy.

Brian
 
#41 ·
I was just saying it's easier to lay out the two sides and do a marblizer and the plastic rap trick and be done.. They will match and you can give him something he might just like better then he had in the first place.. That way you done, don't spend time and money trying to figure out how it was done.... We ALL know how it was done.... But matching it is a whole different ball game..:D
 
#42 ·
Good call Randy...sometimes the best solution is not to try and fix something that's broken beyond repair, in this case, paint work is no different than metal work, if a quarter panel that needs repair and it's to the point that the insurance company actually steps up and buys you a new one...this is one time that they should step up and buy new SS stripes.

I looked at it like a painter...how can that be matched? ...and given enough time, it, in all probability could...but then you came along and asked the proper question...which was why.

Sometimes the best advice is the easiest...damn thing is though, often it's the hardest to remember...LOL.

Ray

Glad to hear your busy, that's a good thing right?
 
#45 ·
If the time is available, then by all means, let him learn. The problem is that the painter is working in a shop and I know if I was managing the shop the decision that I'd have to make would be to get it done, in and out, even if it was slow. The reason being that sometimes learning is trial and error, trial and error cost money in wages (unless the guy is flat rate) and materials...let alone booth time. That's the way management needs to think in order to be successful in our competitive insurance driven market.

A lot of ideas and techniques I use today came from people in the trade that shared how to knowledge with me. Practical hands on experience regarding custom work or painting was done on my own time, my own shop and my own materials. It would be great if there was shop out there that paid painters to gain that experience and there might be the odd one here and there but, for the most part, it's up to the painter to pursue the art side of painting on there own time.

Mike, again, so true about laying out two stripes exactly the same. Especially if there is shading/blending air brush work involved A painter needs to know his materials, equipment and have the experience to make both sides identical.

Ray
 
#50 ·
If the time is available, then by all means, let him learn.

Mike, again, so true about laying out two stripes exactly the same. Especially if there is shading/blending air brush work involved A painter needs to know his materials, equipment and have the experience to make both sides identical.

Ray
I was jus tryin to be funny Ray, Its impossible with saran wrap to get the same design in both sides.funny thing is, if the painter dosent know it he might just do it and show us ALL something....:mwink: Reminds me of a story my dad used to tell me.............................LOL,Here we go again with another story....
new guy comes to work at GE... the boss and crew play joke on new guy and give him a box of light bulbs....These bulbs are clear and need to be frosted,so figure out a way to frost them ,,,They all snickered and walked away (its impossible to frost a bulb once its all made)....two hours later the new guy came in with a box of frosted bulbs...he did it because he didnt know it was impossible... .............I never forgot that stupid little story....maybe thats why when someone says ,It cant be done ,I really kick it in gear and do it...or at least try it first....
 
#46 ·
Ray, there is so much freedom at this shop it isn't funny. The owners are damn good people and they would like to see what this young man can do (for himself) too. You should see the Harley chopper he is building from a pile of junk parts he brought in two years ago. He has it tucked off in the corner by his locker in the corner of the shop. I am not kidding you, this thing is beautiful. And the custom paint he has done on it is very nice, changed it twice, it's damn nice. And the good part is, he enjoys it.

Brian
 
#47 ·
Then he's a very lucky painter, I think you would agree though that most shops wouldn't allow that, they look at the bottom line and that's their main concern.

About 4 years ago I was asked to go to a shop because they had a paint problem. The problem was that they did a custom job on a truck, the painter quit right after the truck was done and the paint started peeling, right where the custom paint work was done (I can get into why it peeled but that wasn't the main issue now). What the owner wanted me to do was to fix the truck so that he could get the rest of the money from the customer and do it for free because I was the rep. His new painter was fully qualified to do what needed to be done but for the owner that would mean he would have to pay somebody twice.

To me, I thought that the owners request took a lot of gaul but his reasoning was, it's your paint that's on it, it failed, you fix it. I proved to him that the paint was fine, it was what was underneath the paint that was the problem and he still insisted that I repair the problem...because of money.

Ray
 
#48 ·
Ray, this place is something else. They have sent many of us, paying our way to NACE, to SEMA, to management classes, to paint classes all over the place. They are really some great people. One guy in the shop had some serious chipped shoulder problems, he was raised in the mean streets of Oakland (one of the highest murder numbers in the country) and the boss sent him to a week long Dale Carnegie course! It changed his life, this guy is a COMPLETELY different man today because of that. And he drives 90 miles each way to work there! How do you like this, my son was getting married in Hawaii and I paid his and his fiance way there as a wedding gift. About a week before the wedding in the office my boss asks me "What days will you be gone, I haven't seen your vacation request". I told her I paid their way and I couldn't afford to go. She said you MUST go, she went into her office. A while later she called me in. She said to me, you MUST go to that wedding, if I give you the plane ticket will you go? I was stunned, I told her my wife's mom was ill and I didn't think it would be a good time to go and so on. She said you MUST go, ask your wife and let me know. I asked my wife who said YES GO, and my boss in minutes had got on line and bought me my round trip ticket and printed it out for me. I "had" to stay in Waikiki for 5 days because of the availability (darn it :) ). But can you believe these people?

And by the way, I kept me going a secret and I was able to walk in on them at a New Years eve party at Aloha Towers in Waikiki acting like I was a waiter asking them if I could get them anything! LOL, My daughter and her husband lived there, so it was my daughter and her husband (he was my secret agent, but had to give it away to my daughter darn it) and my son and his fiance standing there at 11:00 New Years eve with drinks in their hands STUNNED at the sight of me on a deck overlooking Honolulu bay. FUNNY stuff, an absolute treasure in my life.

Brian
 
#49 ·
Yes Brian, I know of people like that, they seem to be successful because of their good nature, not in spite of it. I applaud people like that and I have worked for a few of them...one guy I worked for won the City's "Humanitarian of the year" award. This guy was the biggest giver I have ever seen in my life, it seemed the more he gave, the more he got back. One thing that I feel these people have over other people is the ability to know when they are being taken advantage of and when they are helping a sincere concern.

Ray
 
#52 ·
They are only on the hood, which makes the suggestion to re-do them all the better. Just those two stripes on the hood and onto the bumper as shown.

Brian
 
#57 ·
Sometimes I read a post to fast Mike...got it now that I reread it...Red Face, won't be the first time....or last I'm sure....I didn't read the part about the guy working at GE...Gotta laugh at myself once in a while...

Thanks for the clarification....maybe Ill take more time reading a post next time...LOL.

Ray
 
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