Backing pearlescent colours

[niggle]

I'm a shell painting newbie and I used some Pactra Pearlescent White the other day. After four coats it was obvious that this paint was going to need backing for the full effect.

I backed the Pearlescent White with Indy Silver and just got a milky silver effect instead of the truly brilliant pearl white that I was hoping for.

Should I have used flat white to back the pearl in this case?

For future reference, if I wanted to use pearl blue or pearl purple, what should I use to back these colours? Should I use silver in this case or a flat colour that matches the pearlescent shade being used?

Is there any mileage in backing a pearlescent shade with a matching metallic shade?

There doesn't seem to be much in the way of advice from Testors regarding the use of Pactra paints. Can anyone point me to any useful web sites that might help me get the best out of metallics and pearlescents?

 

[beason]

http://www.rctech.net/articles/painting_hauntedmyst.shtml
best paint sight I've found.. may have some info for you..

 

[Candyman]

That site is an excellent tutorial in painting. Typically when I paint pearls, I back in silver. EXCEPT for white. Pearl white gets backed in regular white. Sprint White if you're using Pactra. Faswhite if you're using Faskolor. Using the silver helps to maintain the shimmer of pearl color.

 

[J-Daddy]

Well if it's a true pearl white it's gonna milk up your finish to a certain extent, that's just the nature of pearl white....I've sprayed alot of it over the years on real cars and it does have a slightly milky/dirty look too....Pearl Paints dont pop like alot of people think they will...And alot of people call certain colors "pearl" colors that actually have no pearl in them at all....Kinda like everyone calling anything red "Candy Apple Red", most people that use that term have never even seen true candy apple red paint....
But anyway, like Candyman said....Back it with White only, that should help to brighten it up some.....

 

[micro07]

dude J-daddy u paint cars and stuff thats way cool

I'm starting to paint helmets and some other stuff

 

[Plaidfish]

I did the same thing on lmy last body....but I layed th epearle on thick...didn't run but it did eat all my masking adhesive off ....wasted a lot of time and a new lid to find that one out....now I have a buggy body that was masked down the middle and the right side looks like poop and the left side is perfect.....I call it the half assed paint job....

 

[Revo Rancher]

Paint about 4-5 thin coats, as even as you can get, of pearl white, letting it dry real good between coats, then 2-3 light to medium coats of sprint white. The pearl needs to go n thin as it likes to run, and it needs to be real even for it to have the proper effect. If you hold it up to the sun, and see thin spots from the inside, hit it with a couple more thin coats of white. As to purple or other pearl colors, I do not know. I have been considering a pearl purple truck body. Maybe next week.

 

[niggle]

Paint about 4-5 thin coats, as even as you can get, of pearl white, letting it dry real good between coats, then 2-3 light to medium coats of sprint white. The pearl needs to go n thin as it likes to run, and it needs to be real even for it to have the proper effect. If you hold it up to the sun, and see thin spots from the inside, hit it with a couple more thin coats of white. As to purple or other pearl colors, I do not know. I have been considering a pearl purple truck body. Maybe next week.

Sound advice, Revo. Many thanks.