I have heard the silver metallics are hard to spray, like stripping, etc. what are the important things to do to be successful.

One of the most important things is to have a good gun, sata iawata and tekkna come to mind. I have a rack of guns for all occasions but you should be able to find something in the sub two hundred range. The next thing in the line is technique, without perfect technique that gun won't mean a thing. You also will need a good quality basecoat clearcoat system, i use PPG's dbc system but there are many good paints these days. Dont skimp on paint and spend the long dollar it makes a huge difference in workability. Another tip is you can clean up the final look of the metallics with some skillfully place dust coats at the end.

Just thought of another thing, it helps to have a gray base down before the silver to help with coverage. Pick or mix a color on the same gray scale as the top coat.

high pressure and move fast,,cross coats,,like a tic tac toe game..try to stand the metallic on its corners to keep it from tiger striping..do a test panel first to get the hang of it, the liter colors are a ***** if you try to wing it..

If this is you first time? try 50% over lap while spraying medium coats not to wet or dry.. dirt will show in the metallic big time like lint etc... I always get the color on, let it dry then colorsand the base .. then apply 1-2 more coats of base .. this helps to get the metallic to "stand up" and not globby looking..

Orion Silver, you mean HOK Orion Silver?... I did this truck in my garage as my first custom paint job with HOK Orion Silver. I actually did mine with a Devilbiss Finish Line HVLP Gun (Finish line is their budget friendly gun)!! This truck/paint job won its class in every show it was entered in, including Detroit Autorama twice.. Don't get to close to the surface (with the gun). If you do it will spray heavey and that is where you will pick up tiger stripes. Also what I did as my final coat (before clear) was to increase the air pressure a bit and back away from the surface quite a bit and did a "fog" coat (probably not the right term). This really helped even out the metallics. I had no tiger stripe. I also added 2 coats of the HOK Intercoat clear with their pearl blue paste. Makes a nice effect on all of the curves.

HOK makes a metallic primer (or at least they used too...) that will help with coverage. Orion Silver is very thin and doesn't cover like a solid color will. SO definately start with a grey primer/sealer or try their metallic primer.

Damn I miss this truck....

I've been a master certified ppg painter for 15 yrs! the key to spraying silver is the right reducer!!! High quality and Slow!!!!!!! and a good gun! let the reducer do the work!

That truck is awesome, your advice is the best by far i have ever got, thank you so much. Would you use the blue paste again.

Pink is a good color and easy to paint....even with a roller.

I have used both hok pearl paste and their powder. The paste seemed to have more color shift in it. In the sunlight would show just hints of blue on the edges and curves. Under stadium lighting (car shows) is where the pearl really came out. Showed a ton of blue and purple. Also it showed well at night in parking lots. I would use the paste again for sure... For ghost flames and similar is where I found the pearl powder worked best. Hok makes excellent products.