RF - You're going to have to be pioneer/guinea pig for us, it's never been done that I know of. It'll be the first kit and you'll be the first one, to try it. Post pix along the way.

Good luck! I'll be following progress closely. I'm interested to see how it all comes out. Anything to do with drums and I'm there. It's an endlessly fascinating subject for me.

John

I did a similar project,or should say HELPED with a similar project,on my 70's Rogers Swivo set.I bought it severely scratched up-the previous owner joked about rolling the bass drum down the street after a gig.I stripped the drums and sanded the black coverings with probably 120 on an orbital disc sander,for the primer to bite.Then auto primer(gray) black enamel,then clear enamel with metalflake (in suspension) purchased from the original "metalflake"factory in Amesbury,MA.The nozzle on the spray gun was large enough to pass the metalflake and it spread quite evenly,as long as the can was "rolled"-kept moving,not to allow the metalflake to settle.I understand the set is no longer of any collectible value,but the people that have seen it,including one other forum member think they look pretty damn good.I have no experience with low pressure high volume guns,but a good friend does and touched up that same bass drum,and the results were good.Metalflake cannot be sanded-it must be "buried"in successive coats of straight clear.

I know this process will be difficult, in regards to "building" the finish on

the shell. This is why I'm going to practice using the concrete forms/cylinders

to get the technique down. As the previous member added, there ARE

many layers involved in the finish building process. This does parallel

painting a automotive metalflake-type finish. The cost of using the

cardboard cylinders absorbs the mistake factor, as I establish the

technique. I would be happier if Denmar would just reproduce the

Mardi-Gras wrap, so I wouldn't have to resort to this. By the way, the

M-G wrap that gretsch offers isn't really that close to the original. You

can see this on Steve Maxwell's site. Anybody else going to try this???

I dont know how you are going to apply the glitter but I have used a sealer that can be sprayed pretty heavy without sagging like 8 wet mills. Its called Level Sealer made by M.L. Campbell. It is a post catalist lacquer and you would have to mix it. I dont know how much spraying you do but this is really pretty easy to do. You mix the sealer with care catalyst 10:1. You would have to use a post or pre cat lacquer for a top coat. The biggest problem will be getting the products. It is intended for profesional use, not your home owner do it your selfer stuff. If you can get you hands on it I think it would be exactly what you need. If you go and just start spraying coat after coat of whatever you might be faced with end finish that is too thick and will have problems down the road. The best part of using this is it is a very high quality kitchen and bath grade finish, like the finish you see on the Amish cabinets. I used it on a kit that I just wraped with mahogany veneer and boy they came out nice! Im not saying that this is the only product available its just what I have used and like it very well. Before you start twirling and spraying, read up a little on finishing, it could save you some headaches!

Jeff

HOUSE OF KOLOR has some large flakes as well and a applicator.

I think it took me like 20+ coats to do this sparkle job on a maple shell I made. I traded a guy for a metal snare and he removed the glitter and stained it a dark brown color.

I'm in. I can't get into restoring another kit at the moment but over the weekend I plan to cut up some boards to do some samples on and experiment a little with glitter distribution and density. Looking at the original finish, it is actually a lot more sparse than it was in my head.

So, for the glitter colours, I see green, pink, gold, silver and red. Am I missing colours?

fathertime,

That finish looks really cool. It looks pretty coarse in the close up. What exactly is it? Glass, plastic? That must have been an exercise in patience!

Mike, the coarse part is about 5 coats into it using polyurethane. I eventually layered and sanded my way to a smooth finish. the next time I do this I will work more on flattening out the glitter before putting on more coats.

try a agitator pot with flake( air cap will push it just get the right size ) in mix clear coat it will lay better and multi coats not too heavy it will sag then u can control density and wet sand in between after a few coats of clear good luck