Black and Silver Snakeskin

Okay, so I took one last look at how I would attack the carbon fiber painting, and with cuticle sticks, paint cans, and newspaper in hand, I headed out to the backyard. Fortunately it was not very windy, so that would make things a little easier on me.

I put the newspaper down, flipped the body on its top, and positioned the cuticle sticks in what I thought were key locations while keeping steady pressure on the other end to hold down the shelf liner. Starting with the hood, I painted the whole area with a few quick bursts. Flipping over the body revealed mixed results, which was pretty much expected since this was my first attemp at this. Some areas went really well, but others I could tell that the liner wasn't quite up against the shell, causing the paint to diffuse well beyond the limits of the holes. Regardless, it didn't take more than that first pass to get enough of the silver through. I then tackled the trunk area and got similar results. The lining wasn't quite up against the shell in some areas, yielding more broad fields of diffusion rather than the desired checkerboard pattern.

After letting the silver dry for several minutes, I went ahead and put down the metallic black coats. I started with a very thin coat of black to seal the edges of the masking tape and then followed it up with another four thin coats until I couldn't see any light come through. I think it's enough that the backer coat for the rest of the body will make it truly opaque. So with the black coats done, it was time to reveal the finished product. And...

Hm. Where the silver paint checkerboarded as desired, it looks pretty good, but where the silver diffused, it looks...well...bad. To be perfectly honest, the diffusion patterns make it resemble black and silver snakeskin. Yeah, that's it -- it's not faux carbon fiber, it's snakeskin!

Um, yeah...right

Okay, so what did I learn from this experience? I might be kidding myself, but I honestly don't believe the primary problem was in the execution of the actual painting itself. I think the compound curve detail was a definite contributor to the iffy results. Obviously, the flatter and broader the surface, the better the shelf liner will lay flat. I'm also wondering if I could have found a thinner shelf liner. The material that I have is probably about 1/8" thick and rather spongy, which makes it want to be flat, but not up against a slightly curved body shell. If I do this again, I'll look for something a bit thinner that can maybe be bent to hold its shape a little better. Finally, I think the silver is a bit too bright for this application. A dark gray is really the best color for this application.

Another random thought I just had would be to maybe cut the liner to the shape that I need, and then boil it for a short time to make it more pliable. While it's still hot, you could then form it up against the body so that when it cools, it still retains that shape.

I won't claim this as a victory, but I don't really count it as a failure either. It does look rather unique, though. [C'mon, work with me! :)] In the end, it's nothing a few well-designed and well-placed stickers or decals can't hide, right?