Diy Painting

[Arsix]

For my sins I am currently restoring an ancient superdream and I'm onto the bodywork. I have a spare tail unit to practice on so I bought some plastic primer, a paint close to the original colour and lacquer, I've got as far as applying the paint but now I'm not sure if I should rub this down before lacquer or not, the paint is a metallic but not sure if rubbing down will knack the paint or not, advice please :-)

[Evilchicken0]

Two ways to do this.

Rub it down with 800 (wet) and then laquer it should be fine.

The second is this ... after you prime it rub it down, again with 800 wet. Clean the part as usual then spray 2 thin colour coats and allow 5 mins flash over time then another full coat with 10mins. Now laquer 2 thin and 2 full coats then allow it to dry for 24 hours.

The idea is the thinners rise through the paint and laquer fusing it together. After that use a course cutting compound then fine and finally scratch remover on sponge mops.

[drunkn munky]

Id go with EC's 2nd option, i never flat the basecoat especially a metallic

[robdrage]

With it being a metallic paint you want to apply 1 50% - 75% coat then one full wet coat to give you full coverage then after that has flashed off you'll need to apply a drop coat ( spray further away from the panels and don't worry about getting a wet coat ) this will allow the flake to stand up giving you the desired metallic effect. Then when that has flashed off, give it 2 full coats of clear coat. Flat off with P1200 or P1500 ( then 3000 & 6000 if you have it) then polish it up with a machine!