What’d you work on today?

[JohnC]

Basecoat. 3 coats

 

[kmakar]

Still getting some orange peel, and that'll need sanding before CC.

 

[JohnC]

That’s what I was afraid of. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. Can you flatten basecoat? Because it’s not catalyzed won’t it not harden and gum up the paper?

I was hopi g it’d be ok. It doesn’t look like the orange peel I got in my clear coat. It’s much finer if that makes sense and I was hoping I could put on 3 good layers of clear and flatten the clear.
I’m not looking for perfectly flat paint. Factory level of orange peel would be fine to me.

 

[kmakar]

That's still a bit much for factory peel. You can wet sand it to flatten it just a bit with 800.

 

[JohnC]

Than another coat of base I assume

 

[kmakar]

If you did 3 base coats, that's good enough. If you just want to knock down the peel a bit (leaving some for a factory type finish) you'll be fine.

 

[JohnC]

Thanks buddy. Wetsanding as we speak.

 

[JohnC]

Overall I’m much happier with my results this time. Unfortunately I’m not good enough to keep the level of orange peel consistent. So I’ve got areas that I’d be happy with without sanding but there are areas that I’d not be happy with so it’ll still require some wet sanding. It seems flatter however if that makes sense so I think it’ll go faster than in the past.

I suspect my problem is inconsistent overlap and gun distance to the panel. The small parts turned out more consistent because my overlap was tighter than on big panels.

 

[kmakar]

Overall I’m much happier with my results this time. Unfortunately I’m not good enough to keep the level of orange peel consistent. So I’ve got areas that I’d be happy with without sanding but there are areas that I’d not be happy with so it’ll still require some wet sanding. It seems flatter however if that makes sense so I think it’ll go faster than in the past.

I suspect my problem is inconsistent overlap and gun distance to the panel. The small parts turned out more consistent because my overlap was tighter than on big panels.

Not atomizing the paint enough and it could be a number of things like if you're using fast or medium.

 

[JohnC]

The two things I did which I think improved my results was using a slow activator and aimed for more overlap in my passes.

There’s a touch more wave in the hood than I wanted but it’s the best I can do. I’ve decided that a waveless hood is extremely difficult because of the inner structure of the hood allows some areas to move more than other areas. I tried to compensate by using sharp, fresh sandpaper and not pushing down much. I also put a flat wood block on the bottom (areas that were open and didn’t have the inner structure supporting it) and ever so slightly provided support to keep the metal from pushing down as much when I sanded.

 

[kmakar]

 

[Shovelrick]

View attachment 16100

So you can’t wet sand base coat at all before cleat? I’m kicking myself for not learning

 

[kmakar]

So you can’t wet sand base coat at all before cleat? I’m kicking myself for not learning

Sure you can as long as you have enough base to sand.

 

[JohnC]

That was new to me too. I always thought that if you sanded the base, you’d have to add another coat. I think wet sanding is important to the paper not gumming up.
I had some 600 so I used that lightly (on a hard foam block) not wanting to break through to the sealer.
I flattened the peel a bit and as far as I can tell, I can’t see any issue after it was cleared.
I can’t tell that it was sanded.

 

[kmakar]

That was new to me too. I always thought that if you sanded the base, you’d have to add another coat. I think wet sanding is important to the paper not gumming up.
I had some 600 so I used that lightly (on a hard foam block) not wanting to break through to the sealer.
I flattened the peel a bit and as far as I can tell, I can’t see any issue after it was cleared.
I can’t tell that it was sanded.

It's fine on a solid color, but if it's metallic, you have to reshoot it after you sand it because the sanding will expose another layer or the metallic that would most likely give you tiger stripes.

 

[cheveslakr]

When you say "wave", are you talking paint wave or bodywork? If paint, what I can see will be taken care of in the cut and buff. It's so hard to see what you're seeing, so it's always tough to give a descent assessment. As far as cutting base down before clear, I've never done it on a broad scale, just a denib or once or twice I just whiped the paint away with reducer and feathered it in, but that's real tricky and usually have to wait several hours. Did you use a spray card? Last time I shot red, it was omni on my vega, and it was so transparent it needed 7 coats, but that's omni. It still was a couple coats shy of complete hiding, but it was fine for that car. Anyway, looks great and it looks pretty clean as well.

 

[JohnC]

Funny you mention about Omni needing 7 coats to cover. When I was calling around asking about paint no one ever suggested tinting the sealer. I knew it was possible of course but didn’t know it was so important. Maybe Valspar isn’t high end so it doesn’t cover as well but I’d have been mega screwed if the guy who sold me the paint didn’t strongly recommend it. As it is, 3 coats of base has covered well over red tinted sealer. If I was spraying base over white I have no doubt I’d have uses at least twice as many coats.

Not sure about the wave. It shows up as you move your head while looking at a reflection in the paint. Some angles are better than others. It’s not bad at all and maybe will be less noticeable after cut and buff.
I’m pretty pleased with the body work overall. It’ll not win best in show but I suspect it’ll look good. As usual, we are our own worst critics.

The garage spray booth worked well. Not much wind, not many bugs.
The paint is pretty clean. 1 damn gnat got in the paint as it was drying but I think it’ll sand out. Got a couple runs which I’ll need to scrape down with a razor blade.

 

[cheveslakr]

....back in epoxy, I know, whatever......

 

[JohnC]

Looks good. You work a lot faster than I do.

Did the slick sand get you where you needed to be or more filler needed?

 

[cheveslakr]

Yeah it's all flat, the slick sand is not to straighten my work, it's for straightening the factory panels which have a wave that normally I'd just mud and flatten, but there's so many crotches, contours and areas that doing mudwork is just a ton more work.