Trust me, I searched the boards but didn't find exactly what I needed for my situation.

I bought Sparkle FX from custompaints.com and intended to use Duplicolor Paint Shop metallic black as a basecoat as I used the Duplicolor Paint Shop ready-to-spray primer. (And then apply the Custom Paints 2K clearcoat over the sparkle for some depth.) As you well know, the Duplicolor is a lacquer paint. I don't really know anything about the Color FX other than it says to apply it over their 2K primer. I THINK I read it was a urethane paint on their website but now I can't find it.

Please help a beginner out.
Can I apply the flake paint over the Duplicolor base?

A link to the product for reference:
https://usa.specialistpaints.com/produc ... flake-fx-2

Thanks so much for any help.

i use to paint Harley tins LOTS OF THEM, most of them would use Harley paint colors. and most would be lacquer. i would spray the color or colors and then apply a few 4-5 wet coats of lacquer clear. this would dry for a week less if i could get it out in the sun. then sand with 600 and send the to the striper for stripes and anything else. when they came back they got cleaned up and lightly sanded THEN 2-3 coats of urethane clear, depending on the art work i would sand the urethane coat to get it flat then apply a couple more to finish. this way you don't feel the art work. never had a failure. so yes urethane clear over sanded lacquer works. if you get a lot of coats of lacquer its best to let it set for several days to weeks depending on build. if you going to put any kind of decal on do the same. lacquer when applied in multiple coats like 5-6 color coats 6-8 clear coats the build get heavy or thick lacquer take quite some time to cure out and shrinks as it does so its best to not get in a hurry.
Jay D.

Thanks so much, Jay! I'm feeling a lot more confident about it!

Remember just about anything will go over lacquer. adhesion becomes a problem sometimes with enamels. BUT you shouldn't use lacquer over other substrates unless you know what your doing. in other words it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn't.
Jay D.