clearing single stage

So my truck is painted with the hok hot rod flatz blue pearl and i am thinking of possibly doing some flames over it... Anyways, i'm not sure what color over it (thinking silver or a bright white) but I want the flames to shine.. i also don't want tape lines so I would like to clear the whole thing-any advice ie what type of paint and clear should I go with-- and can I clear over this . thanks

you can clear over it..but theres no way to keep the flames shiny and the rest flat without having a tape line

i'm not too worried about making the hot rod flatz shiny... i just love the color and even with clear i think it would still stay a little flat... i dont know.. i would like the flames to pop a little more than the blue tho

its not going to stay a little flat with clear on..it will be shiny as the rest of it..

only way to leave it flat and not have a tape edge with the rest shiny would be to paint your flames. clear them. buff it if you want before you unmask it. then unmask it. remask it butting against the shiny clear. get it less than 1/8" off. then going over that tape, using fine line, get one edge as close to the other tape edge as possible. also, make sure there are no gaps where it overlaps the normal paper tape. then spray the rest of the truck in clear with flattening agent. on your last coat, when its still soft and fresh (like 2 minutes after its sprayed) pull the fine line off. the clear should flow over to the edge and make it pretty dead nuts even. after that, pinstripe over the two and you will never know its there. thin out the stripe a bit with some acetone or whatever your paint works with. mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, ect.

did that make sense?

Edited: 5/9/2008 12:13:18 AM by MDcrew208

hmmmm.... that might look okay... or maybe if i decide i want it to stay flat would this be a good idea--- paint and clear the flames , then have someone airbrush some over and around the edges of flames to soften the edge,, or maybe just pinstripe over the tape line?---/\/\/\ that actually sounds like a decent idea but sounds pretty hard and complicated--- do you guys think the hot rod flatz would look good shiny? theres a pic in my profile- the one on top left is the only one with it in hok

if you like the color, it should be fine shiny. and yeah, lots of work. could get pretty similar effects just doing cleared flames with a pinstriped edge.

clear the whole thing with a matte clear, then cut and buff it. That should bring the shine up. It may not look 100% like a true gloss clear, but it should be sufficent.

it may depend on what paint your using..but buffing a flat clear dosent make it shiny