Mirage by Dupli-Color

[Edocsil]

Hey everybody,
For anyone that may have read another thread I've mine, if you remember about a month and a half ago I wrecked my bike by riding it into a ditch I've taken a little break from working on the plastic repairs(cracks, scrapes, broken tabs) but have finally finished almost everything and am ready to beginning priming and painting. Currently I've used some filler primer by Duplicolor to fill in minor scratches (with a little success at doing so). I've been looking through rattle can paints to use, and have decided a red/blue mirage paintjob might look kind of cool(and different compared to most of the bikes here at my school). I found a few pics on the forum and the web but couldn't really get a feel of what this might look like. Seems like a lot of people on the web have used the Ice kit by duplicolor but I'd prefer a darking tone (besides just having a preference to darker colors, I figured it might cover up any minor imperfections on the plastic if I miss something). Does anybody have an pictures of a bike painted with Mirage? Also, if anybody has any experience with this or knows of a good place to buy the kits that would be great. I've been reading guides for painting (including the one that uses mirage) so i think I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. As far as buying, all the autoshops I've checked out don't carry Mirage anymore. Amazon has the red/blue kits for 17.99 a set sold by Midway or 19.95 sold by Autobarn. 1) does this sound like a decent price and 2) is one company more trustworthy or better than another? After already losing +$100 by buying a headlight (http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=84326) I still don't have a headlight and am tight on money. Any help would be very appreciated and thanks in advance.

[IndyGunner]

pix dude whats your deal?!

[Simpson]

as a word of advice coming from a guy whos painted cars, darker colors dont hide imperfections, they magnify them. White is the color to hide bad bodywork, and black will make that bad bodywork show that much better.

[Edocsil]

as a word of advice coming from a guy whos painted cars, darker colors dont hide imperfections, they magnify them. White is the color to hide bad bodywork, and black will make that bad bodywork show that much better.

oh.... well I've been attempting to make the bodywork a lot smoother(spent about 4 hours yesterday), so hopefully I won't have to worry about imperfections. I guess it makes sense that white would show less than a dark color(can't you just tell I have a lot of experience w/ bodywork )

[Simpson]

Most people think the way that you do, and whenever somebody wants me to spray black, I tell them its more expensive because the bodywork has to be PERFECT in order for to look good. Most of the time they dont get it

[SweetLou]

Honestly, don't buy the Mirage kits, the kit includes a black base/primer, the mirage color, and a clear.

Save yourself some cash, and just buy the Mirage color, some black primer as your base, and your choice of clear.

And if the stores don't carry it, you should be able to order it. Checker (Kragens) in my area was able to order me up some. Just talk with the store manager.

And I had painted my ex's helmet with that color, and it looked pretty cool on that small surface, I think it would look really nice on a larger surface.

[bigrepp61]

ill tell ya what man... if you do decide to do it shoot me a few pics cuz i was planning ondoing the same... the only thing i dont like is they only come in like 8oz. cans.... unless you guys found something i didnt.... anyway i was going to spray the same color so if you do let me know..... good luck with it bro..

[IndyGunner]

ya youll need a bunch of those spray kits, +1 on what lou said

[Edocsil]

ill tell ya what man... if you do decide to do it shoot me a few pics cuz i was planning ondoing the same... the only thing i dont like is they only come in like 8oz. cans.... unless you guys found something i didnt.... anyway i was going to spray the same color so if you do let me know..... good luck with it bro..

Sure thing. The 8oz cans is all they come in I believe (or at least that's all I've found)

I actually ordered two kits late saturday night for $44 dollars I think($18 a kit plus shipping). I just looked up the can by itself and that runs around $12, then I'd have to buy the primar and clear coat, but I suppose I could get bigger cans of that and save some money, so I'll probably go that route on my next purchase. I decided to only buy 2 kits so I could test it out first and see about how many I'll need for the next order. I'll post pics(or pixs) as soon as I get a piece done. Thanks for all the help guys!

[hardlydangerous]

Auto air colors sells the color shifting paints as well.

I had great results using the dupli-color paints. DO not use the mirage on a gloss surface. I trieed it and after 3 coats I still was not happy with the contrast of the color shifting paint. It works way better on the flat black primer.
I did my VT600 with flames so I sprayed the base with gloss black, then masked off the flames, sprayed the base black primer, then the color.... Then cleared the entire bike. I used two different color shifting kits on my VT. and intertwined and overlapped the flames for a cool effect.

[jdm5770]

That looks great HARDLY...why haven't you got KOTM? Love the paint man.

[hardlydangerous]

maybe after i paint the kat and get some custom signals to go with the homemade seat cowl and windscreen i'll be in the running for KOTM
for now it is what it is

[marvy1974]

[quote=hardlydangerous;1538510]Auto air colors sells the color shifting paints as well.

I had great results using the dupli-color paints. DO not use the mirage on a gloss surface. I trieed it and after 3 coats I still was not happy with the contrast of the color shifting paint. It works way better on the flat black primer.
I did my VT600 with flames so I sprayed the base with gloss black, then masked off the flames, sprayed the base black primer, then the color.... Then cleared the entire bike. I used two different color shifting kits on my VT. and intertwined and overlapped the flames for a cool effect.


[/ what!? are you saying that you painted that with a spray can??

[hardlydangerous]

yep !
All rattle can spray paints

Duplicolor universal gloss black base coat
The bottom layer of flames is the duplicolor green~purple kit
The top layer of flames is duplicolor red~blue
The clear with Dupli-color universal clear.
After a few weeks the paint is wet sanded starting at 1000 up to 2500 grit and then hand polished to a mirror shine using Meguiar's 3 step deep crystal system.

Even the cheaspest spray paints can look amazing if you just do the proper prep work and finishing work.
this is the current paint job on the same bike before polishing
It was painted using dupli-color metal cast (RED) and dupli-color universal black.
I don't like this paint job though... it too boring. I'll be re-doing it over the winter again

[Edocsil]

I love the flames with the mirage. makes me almost consider doing something of that sort. I'm worried doing a whole bike in Mirage may be too much color/activity on the bike. I might just have to try one piece in all mirage and then decide. where did you get your stencils from?(I don't really think I'm up for the work and precision right now, plus tight on money, but I might like to do something similar at a later date)