Chameleon paints to be applied with an airbrush

These color-changing paints were discovered and invented in the United States by an automotive paint giant (PPG) with their chromaflair® product. The great success, which was met in America with its Chameleon paints, applied to the magnificent American cars with generous curves, traveled to Europe and it also adapted to the neighboring field of painting, such as that of Stardust pro airbrush paints for special effects.

In order to make this superb special effect available to as many users as possible and not just to the car painter, these products have been developed in a Hydro version. The field of airbrush paint is fond of novelties, unlike the classic automotive industry, which is too sober in this area.

The dramatic drop in the price of chameleons has made the product much more affordable to the general public, but above all, it would not have been possible without the conversion to water-based paints.

To do this, we first had to ensure the compatibility of the special pigments which are used to manufacture ascending color paints, with aqueous media. Then, the particularities of these paints used in airbrushing are quite standard.

Use with airbrushes requires a fairly liquid product and it is particularly suitable for "flip flop" paints (this is the other name used for the chameleon effect).

Chameleon airbrush paints

It is interesting to go a little bit more into the technical details that make this paint exceptional and also to understand how it works. Indeed, ultra liquid formulas, which are perfect to pass through small airbrush nozzles, are ideal for color change effect paints. The microparticles that make up their active ingredient, that is to say these micro flakes of a few microns in diameter, allow the reflection of light and the return of changing colors depending on the angle of view.

Let's understand that, if all these glitter microphones weren't placed or positioned, suitably flat, then this return of a single color depending on the angle of view would be quite chaotic. Consequently, for millions of pigments to return the same color, all these pigments must be well positioned flat, and for this, the paint must be thin and the layers of paint must be applied very thinly.

On the contrary, with paints applied with a brush, or even with badly applied chameleon airbrush paints, that is to say with thick layers, you can have a result that has nothing to do with the one expected : either a whitish appearance, or an appearance without color change.

The performance of chameleon airbrush paints is as good as any in the automotive world. Often users apply the product correctly, but complain that they do not see all the advertised colors.

Remember that a Chameleons airbrush paint can reflect 2 to 6 colors depending on the angle of view. But too often the observer looks at the product from the front and does not know that the secondary colors are visible only from very low angles, that is to say on the sides, and more precisely under inclinations of less than 30°.

Can Chameleon airbrush paints be used for bodywork ?

Always study the data sheet and product description carefully before starting a project. It must be clearly and explicitly guaranteed that the product is intended or can be used for body painting.
An airbrush paint with a chameleon effect, suitable for painting a car or a motorcycle, must be able to withstand both the sun , to the temperature, but also to the solvents which are contained in the varnishes of bodywork.
Of course, it is not a question of being able to resist a few months or years, because the level of resistance required on a car paint expressed in years or tens of years. Furthermore, there is no demand for resistance to chemicals or weathering, because that is the role of the varnish, not the paint.
Finally, for Caméléon airbrush paints, which are clearly indicated for bodywork paint, it will not be possible to give a guarantee of durability comparable to that of a solvent-based paint, in any case in the current state of knowledge and technology concerning paints, because water-based paints are not as resistant than solvent-based paints.

Solvent-based airbrush paints with a Chameleon effect

They can be found under various names: Scarabeus, Flip Flop, Colorshift... But in reality, it is always the same product, which is obtained with these same very special pigments.
Paint for airbrush necessarily induces a smaller packaging and usually, a ready-to-use formulation, that is to say already diluted, because this is what all airbrush users generally ask for: an easy-to-use and perfectly fluid to pass through any airbrush nozzle.
For this, it seemed important to us to point out that there are chameleon paints intended for the airbrush, which are exactly the same as those of the professional bodywork, i.e. solvent-based formulas.
More precisely, these are matt varnish bases, already diluted, which can be found in the range of Sparkle® paints often under other names. Despite this, these are indeed the famous color-changing paints.

Fluorescent airbrush paint
Metallic airbrush paint
Phosphorescent airbrush paint