Painting my first chameleon paint

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 1:39 pm
So I've been doing a bit of research on painting chameleon paints or hyper shift paints whatever you want to call them. And I saw this really cool one that I liked on a YouTube channel but it was for a dip so my question was can you use pearls in dips and paints or are they specific to either dips or paints. I'm fairly experienced in painting I've been rebuilding salvage cars for a couple years now but have never used a color shifting paint.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 4:42 pm
Well, if you are already a paint guy about 90% of what you know will easily fill in the 10% of what you will find out and figure out. First, go look at my truck build thread.... viewtopic.php?f=12&t=27971&start=0
That is about as complicated of a special chameleon effect as you would ever try to achieve. The introduction of the matte clear made it not just change but "glow" as it changes. Easiest thing to do is go here.... www.paintwithpearl.com Bottom line, do your regular body work, primer work, and lay down a base coat of black, white, gray, or other specialized base color. Next you'll be mixing up the pearl/shift color into clear basecoat, spraying that until even (that will be the learned skill here), then burying that in the clear of your choice. I'd use only a high line, high solids clear, that states that it is high in UV protection. I did mine all in Tamco and loved it. Truck still looks like the day I shot it and that is saying a lot about the matte clear.....
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 9:58 pm
Dang that helps a lot thanks so much. I will definitely be reading through your post.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 11:44 pm
I hope it is of some use....don't be afraid to "experiment" with this stuff. It is cheap to make with those dry pearls. You can get those speed shapes from Tamco pretty cheap already in white or black background colors. One of the things I noticed about every chameleon job I saw in regular paints is that the color change would be very fast as you walked around cars. Then I started seeing the Plasti Dip crowd using the same pearls butttttt.....when you saw videos of the exact same pearls as used in regular paint.....everything was different......you got kind of a "glow" transition as the cameras panned around the car. Well, I sure as heck wasn't going to do a temp. paint job like Plasti Dip but I really liked that "glow." I figured it had more to do with the fact that even the glossiest of the Plasti Dip clears was still lower luster than normal auto clears. A small light bulb went off in my head which meant that the sheen of clear was influencing how the pearl reacted with light. So I started looking around at auto clears and there was not good news on that front. What I found is that most of the common flattening agents were making for a very poor clear or guys were trying to keep the clears so flat they just were not getting enough thickness on for protection. I then kind of stumbled into the Tamco products and found this rather revolutionary clear.....
https://tamcopaint.com/collections/clea ... -clearcoat That was the final step I needed in getting the "glow."
And obviously you can just do the chameleons with full gloss but just remember the colors changes will be "fast" as you move around the car. If you are more like me and like the look of what the Plasti Dip does a matte clear is the answer.....
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2021 1:13 am
Haha that's exactly what I was thinking. That feels like the exact predicament that I am in. I will definitely have to pick up a couple of speed shapes and try out a couple of different clears. I definitely will have to do some experimenting my car is still a little ways out from being paint ready so I got some time to do some testing. Definitely thanks for all the insights you are clearly quite knowledgeable.

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