Looking to give my car some custom flames

**f355bird** · 01-31-2005

Im a newb here and also fairly new to the painting world. But i have been looking around the forum and have seen a lot of gifted people so i figured if anyone could help me it would be yall. Here goes I have an 87 pontiac firebird that i am going to paint black as the base coat but i also want to do some flames. I stoped by the local paint supply house and was looking through the HOK book and saw a Ice blue pearl paint chip in the book. Thought it had a really nice shade of blue and thought it would look really cool turned into some flames. The paint chip was a lil decieving i have been reading it is more along the lines of a ghost image so if i did it into flames u would only be able to see them in direct sunlight. Now i want some opinions well this work ok by itself as flames on black paint, Or should i use another color with it. Should i outline it with a pinstripe. Is there maybe another blue like a paint this color that might be easier to work with. I was also thinking maybe painting the ca black with silver flames and shooting the blue pearl over the silver. I am not necesairly wanting ghost flames but something to catch peoples eyes at a car show. As for experience i would say i am a novice i have a fair amount of knowledge on preping and doing the paint work but havent done a hole lot of painting (lil seat time) Any suggestions?

Sponsored Links

**BRIAN** · 01-31-2005

That is exactly what that pearl will do for you, give ghost flame appearance. Base car in black, tape off flames and spray coats of clear mixed with pearl, then pull off and clear entire car. The pearls get more intense with each coat so be careful. Do a spray out first to check what you like. 2 coats depending on mix ratio should be more than enough. Good luck.

**Happyfunballs** · 02-01-2005

The ice pearls won't necessarily give you the effect you're looking for. I tend to use those as accent pearls. To do a straight ghost job, I would use the powder pearls, HOK has a bunch. Using these will allow you to determine how intense the flames are by regulating the amout of it you put in clear (number of coats also plays a large part) Ghost flames are tricky, but cool if done correctly. Having a black base is the same as a white canvas, basically anything will work. The painting process between ghost and regular flames is very different, especially when one is highlighting and shadowing the flames. Typically, ghost flames are not striped....but that doesn't mean you can't do it. It's all up to you and your imagination.

**f355bird** · 02-02-2005

Thanks for the replies guys. Think i have figured out what im going to shoot for. Here it is paint the hole car black then i am going to the flames in silver, then spray the ice pearls onto the silver, then i am going to pinstripe the flames with orange. Anyone have any suggestion on a good silver that will work and also an orange that would work good. As i stated before i am going to use all House Of Kolor products. With shooting the ice blue pearl on to a silver will it change to a blue color when the light reflects off of it that is what i am shooting for. I picked those colors since they all my favorites and figured a way to use them all.

**Happyfunballs** · 02-03-2005

HOK has an Orion silver, a Silverwhite pearl, and a Charcoal pearl that all look good. Again, the ice pearls tend to be more metallic than pearl, and at $70 per 3oz, you want to make sure you're getting the effect you want. I would still go with a dry blue pearl and mix it in an SG-100 intercoat clear, I think that will give you the shift you want. If not, and you want to shift alot, look at the chameleon pearls. Always do a spray card with all the colors before you decide.

**vanzuuk1** · 03-10-2005

if i can point out one thing , have a pinstriper/airbrush guy lay out the flames if you ars going to spray them yourself. i see a lot of flame jobs that are flawless except for the shape and thats one of the most important things.the colors you like sound like they will nice . theres my two cents.

**vanzuuk1** · 03-10-2005

the ars in my post should be are . doh!

**gtome** · 03-10-2005

If you have them pinstriped, it wont look ghosted anymore. I think they look better without an outline anyway. Here is a pic of my Harley after I applied 2 layers of ghost flames. There are a little more predominant than a typical ghost flame.

**TonyL** · 03-10-2005

heres what they look like on my friends camaro. no outline, 3 coats of pearl. there were some angles where you couldnt see them at all.

the main thing was he said was not to forget that most flame jobs have a bit of shading in them, and to use other shades of pearl to get those accents to make the flames "pop" his were purple accents on blue flames.

**JoshStratton** · 03-11-2005

Originally Posted by gtome

Here is a pic of my Harley after I applied 2 layers of ghost flames.

How did you spray each layer to show the thickness on the outer edges? Do you tape it off on the outside AND inside or do you just tape the outside and 'eye-ball' the edges with a detail gun?

**gtome** · 03-11-2005

Hey, I think I recognize your name from the samba. I frequent there too under "buguy" with the tangerine orange bug. Anyway, what I do is use a 1/8 " fineline (3M) blue masking tape and just pull it, bending it to the shape I want (inside and out). Then go on the outside of that with 3/4 " green masking tape, then mask off the whole area to be painted leaving the part I want flamed exposed. Then just paint with a detail gun or like on the bike I just used an airbrush to paint the edges giving it the ghosted look. You can only really do it that way on something small like a motorcycle. If you are doing a large area its a whole different ballgame. Here is a picture of my bug i was messing around with one day when I was waiting for my polisher to come in the mail. I just freehanded the whole car on it, but if was going to really do it, I would have taped a line right down the center of the hood, layed down the flames in tape on one half of the car. Then useing a big peice of transfer paper (or any kind of masking paper) tape the edge on the same center line I already made, folded the paper over onto the flames I taped out, then use a rolling punch to outline the flames already layed down. Then fold the paper back over onto the side without flames, tape it down on several places to hold it steady. Then used somthing like blue chalk and a sponge to pounce it through the holes in the paper. Pull the paper off and the outline will be left in chalk exactly the same as the other side. Then go over that line with the blue fineline tape, and mask off around the entire flame job, leaving what I wanted flamed exposed. Then just paint as described before. You have to do it something like that to get a large area to look somewhat even and uniform. It would be very difficult to lay flames out freehand on say a hood, and make them match all the way across a hood. I have heard of other guys snapping a few referance lines across a hood to use it like a grid. I have never seen it done this way however. You can see how un-uniform my flames are on the bug, and im pretty good at laying out flames.

**gtome** · 03-11-2005

Oh ya, if you want to have layered flames like on the bike, you just paint your first set of flames on, then a light coat of clear over that, then do the whole process over again.

**JoshStratton** · 03-11-2005

Originally Posted by gtome

Hey, I think I recognize your name from the samba. I frequent there too under "buguy" with the tangerine orange bug.

Yeah thats me! I haven't been there in a while....sold all my VDubs to make room for my 79 T/A. Learned the hard way...one project at a time.

Nothing gets done otherwise.

I have seen the paper thing done before...its a great idea. I would like to try flames on mine sometime soon. I was never really sure how they did the edges. I kinda figured it was a detail gun, but needed that validated.

**JoshStratton** · 03-11-2005

Originally Posted by 1963vwrag

Yeah thats me!

Oh wait...I posted at www.thesamba.com as Kuhlryde...damn hard to keep all of these names organized. I want to change this one to 'Kuhlryde' to match.

**gtome** · 03-11-2005

I think an airbrush works best for just doing the edges of the flames. A detail gun would be harder to control, but for a solid flame job, it is the best.

**vanzuuk1** · 03-11-2005

i meant have a pinstriper lay out the shape , even if he doesnt stripe the finished product they usually have a very good eye for the shape. all the pics here look nice but at some shows i see flames that are perfectly painted but the shape is off usually too stubby . ps the flames on kris hortons white chevelle rendering were sweet. also, sometimes it looks cool when the flames on the hood or on a tank are not symmetrical.

**gtome** · 03-12-2005

I agree to some extent. They have to have some kind of semetry or just end up looking hillbilly. When I first started, my flames were a little skinny. Thats because I didnt account for them being on the inside of the tape, just made the tape look good.

**vanzuuk1** · 03-12-2005

i used to do the same thing with stripes on helmets use 1/4 inch tape and when i peeled the tape the stripe would be tiny. on helmets and small stuff now i use the 3m 1/16 tape , i dont use it on big stuff , it doesnt do gradual curves good. ill have a digital camera in a week or so i can post pics.

**vanzuuk1** · 03-12-2005

also i think the flames on the bug are laid out nice , i love where they go over and under each other.

**gtome** · 03-12-2005

Doing the flames on and over/under is a pain in the butt!!! But, it does look way cooler!!

Enter your username:
Do you want to login or register?	I want to create an account To login, enter your password:
Enter your password:
Forgot your password?	Stay logged in

Login / Register Close Panel

Thread: Looking to give my car some custom flames

Display

Looking to give my car some custom flames