Paint / Prep Questions

[shymoggie]

Forgive me for sounding like a complete moron ...... its been about 12 years since I prepped and sprayed a car 'properly' so some refresher questions:

Preparation
What grades of wet & dry are appropriate for prepping the surface of fibreglass prior to priming ? And for flatting down the primer ? And finally for cutting the new paint (or is a polishing mop & cutting paste better for this ??)

Paint Viscosity
Any recommendations of how much to dilute both cellulose primer & topcoat ? Or just the viscosity to dilute it to would be helpful.

Order Of Events
Does this sound okay ?
Flat down existing paint on fibre wings (both secondhand & painted see?)
Appy decent coat of Etch Primer
Flat with #grade wet & dry
Apply a couple of coats of std primer
Flat with #grade wet & dry
Apply light coat of colour
Flat out blemishes
Apply several more coats of colour (flatting in between ?)
Final Coat of Colour
Leave for (??? how long??) then cut in new paint with wet & dry or is it a polishing mop and cutting compound ?


I know asking questions like this makes me sound like I shouldn't be touching a tin of paint but I'd love to get it right first time without getting all the wrong stuff & mesing it up as usual

[Alec]

Hello SM,
if the existing paint is sound, you shouldn't need to use etch primer. Flat back with 240 grade wet and dry, if it looks good then a couple or three coats of cellulose primer surfacer thinned 50\50. Flat off with 400 grade wet and dry then, ideally, spray a light guide coat of thinned colour (70% thinners), black is good, flat again with 400, using a block, removing all the guide coat, any defects being highlighted by the guide coat that doesn't flat out. Make good any defects, flat those then spray a couple of colour coats thinned 50\50.
Flat again with 800 grit wet and dry. The number of top coats is up to you but I would suggest six. So another couple of 50\50 then flat with 800, finally apply a 60\40 thinners paint coat then before that has dried spray another 70\30 coat. (known as wet on wet) The idea is to get the paint to flow out nice and smooth.

You can flat back the end result after a couple of weeks with 1200 grit, (Use water and soap, by the way for flatting) then polish with T cut to get a good gloss. If you have a power mop then this takes some of the hard work out of it.

good luck,

Alec

[Willie]

CAM.... print the above out and pin it up in the garage for when you
are ready to finish that old thing of yours!

[Cam]

Sounds good doesn't it?? But I think I will bottle it and get it done properly by someone who knows what they are doing!!

[kevmaxwell]

hi its kevmaxwell here . about your probleme?when youve putthe final coat on.dont do what others say?by using p1200 you will leave rubbing down lines in paint. take it from me ,its my proffesinal job, use p2000 and a fine grade of paste and allways iff you rub down in round motions?allways go diffrent ways with bufferi know thesethings as i paint, classic cars, some concours also i would think about proper paint ?two pack.with selly [paint wen you buff up you probley take a layer of paint off see ya soon kevmaxwell