Motorcycle custom painting terminology

CFP Terminology

• Ovals - I call the area that is the lower section of flame tips "ovals". These sections are great for adding shading to give your flames more depth.
• Tips - Flame tips is the farthest point on each section of a flame.
• Layered Flames - Obviously this would be one flame job on top of another.
• Faded Border - A faded border consists of more than one color which is faded from one to another. The border outlines the flame or graphic job.
• Fade Job-A fade job would consist of whatever you are painting to fade from one color to another.
• Crossovers - I call flames that cross one over another "crossover flames"
• Trailing Flames - I call flames that are part of the flame scheme, but are not attached to the main body of the flames "trailing flames"
• 3 Stage - 3 stage paint consists of a basecoat, a midcoat, then a clearcoat. Most 3 stage paints are either pearl or candy paint jobs. Example: If you wanted a 3 stage white pearl. You would first spray a white base, then a pearl coat, then the clearcoat.
• Sealer - A wet-on-wet primer that goes on before any of the paint work. Helps prevents shrinking.
• Solid color - A color that does not contain any type of pearl, metallic, mica...
• Drop Shadow- A drop shadow is a "shadow" compromised of a faint spray of paint that is sprayed directly next to an object, whether is is flame, graphic, lettering...It is meant to give the object a 3D illusion.
• Unders - I call flames that go under one another - unders.
• Black - Well, as with all colors, black comes in many different shades, so if I paint your motorcycle for you and you do not specify a code, I will spray them a factory pack "true black". Just another name, but a very black black---make sense?
• Clearcoat - Great protection for your base paint. Yes, you need it. All my paint jobs have it. no worry about your "fades" fading away or your candies lighting up on you.
• 2 Stage Candy - Ford and other automotive companies have developed this paint type to give their paint jobs the "candy" effect. But in reality, this does not work good. The reason--The candy (tint) is actually in the clear itself. So you have a metallic base with this "Tinted Clearcoat" over the base. Yes, a great looking deep looking color when new, but after the years wear on, your clearcoat (with the tint in it) will wear thinner and thinner, thus making your "candy" lighter and lighter each year (Especially on the top surfaces and in the hot climate states).I mention Ford, because I was one of the first painters in our area to spray e9 (Laser Red Tinted Red Clearcoat) and noticed this right off the bat. Why does Ford and other manufacturers do this? Because OSHA has set limits on how much paint they can use. Less is better for all dealerships.
• Single Stage - No clearcoat. You don't see this very often anymore. Durability is not good at all. Especially here in Florida!
• Candy Apple - Candy Apple paint is transparent type paint that is applied over another color to give it extreme depth. Most candy apple jobs are applied over either a silver or gold basecoat. Spraying over different basecoats will give the same color candy apple different effects. If you spray candy apple over white, you will get a "neon" effect. Spraying over a black pearl will make the color extremely dark, but you will still see the pearl flakes the same color as the candy apple.
• Hologram Paint - This paint is basically like a metallic or pearl, but the effects are very outstanding. The color changes depending on which way you view it. Different companies have their own variation of hologram paint. PPG calls theirs Harlequin. BASF calls theirs EXtreme...very expensive to buy, but looks excellent for flame jobs. Most of the time, black is sprayed under this type of paint.
• Ghost Flames - Ghost flames are flame jobs that don't stand out on the lower basecoat as much. This is achieved by a number of ways. The most common I use are using the basecoat color and either darken or lighten the color, or I use a pearl color over the basecoat.
• Custom Paint Forum (formerly the "Flames Board" from about 1997-2001 - The question and answer message board. Post and reply to other users questions, comments, replies...Join in.
• bc/cc - Stands for basecoat/clearcoat. The only choice when doing custom paint jobs.
• Wetsanding - Wetsanding can be done during the prepping process or after the paint is sprayed. If done after the spraying, wetysanding will eliminate any imperfections, it will also flatten the paint job, and help eliminate any graphic edges.