Ghost striping ???

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

I'm hoping to do a little test painting this weekend on a trunk lid. I'm curious about doing some stripes on my car. The scheme would bacically be a "reverse" 69 T/A scheme. Blues with stripes. I want to see which I like best. White or silver stripes or maybe even white or silver ghost stripes.



My question is what is the preferred method for doing ghost stripes ??? I've done some searches and have found people using two different methods. One is the way I thought to do it. That is mix the pearl in clear and lay down the stripes. Another method I found was to mix the pearl in the base color and apply the stripes. The pic attached is the color I plan to use. This is not my car but is the color. I may also decide to just paint it one solid color. If I get the trunk painted this weekend I'll post some pics. The color is Drk Cloisonne blue. I think it was also called Admrial Blue Metallic. Code WA 128 A.

[astroracer]

This is easy with BC/CC. I did my truck with pearl blue STEALTH flames.
This a pic of the lid.

The flames are invisible until the sun or light hits them. It is very cool to see people walk by the truck, get a glimpse in the sun and then come back to see what they missed...

I masked off the flames on the BC, shot the pearl blue mixed into the clear coat. De-masked, de-nubbed and then shot the rest of the truck in straight clear. Buries the "flames" very nicely with some some minor blocking to knock down what is left of the tape edge.
Mark

P.S. If I do it again I will lay down a medium wet clear coat first. You have 24hrs to clear the base coat and I was 12 hrs just laying out the flames and masking both sides of the truck. Shooting a clear coat will give you some time to play...
Mark

[ProTourGSX]

Those flames look GREAT! Thanks for sharing!

Awesome topic! I'm doing my '70 GS Stage 1 with a dark gray pearl BC, and GSX ghost stripes with a lighter gray & metalflake; not sure how it will turn out, but it's my original idea, and will be unique, if nothing else.

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

My next question is how much pearl do you mix in the clear. My local shop sells it by the gram. So, to get a nice ghost effect how many grams of pearl dust per ounce of clear should I use or try ???

[astroracer]

The first thing I'll say is do some test panels like you mentioned. I ended up with a whole bottle of pearl dust in one sprayable quart and the result is VERY, VERY understated. Like I said, you don't see 'um unless the sun is on them". You may want to mix in some color just to get them to stand out a bit more but you can only figure out what you need when you see what you like. Make sense? Keep track of ratios when you are mixing small batches for test panels.
I did those flames 10 years ago and my wife still complains about the "12 hrs of work for something no one can see"... Works for me...
Mark

[67 455 Bird ragtop]

Well I decided not to do the ghost stripes and just do a nice white. Here is a quick and dirty version on my trunk lid. Looks much better in the sun. And should look better cut and buffed and sprayed by someone better than I am .. LOL

[censo69]

Heres a pick of my ghost flames