Noob with Painting Questions....

[TLHarrell]

Self Etching primer is for directly on bare metal. It helps with adhesion of the primer to the metal. As you already have primer on the metal, self-etching primer would not be a good thing at this time.

Absolutely DO sand the primer coats. Go with 600 wet sanding with a small 2"x4" wood block. Get a bowl of water and dunk the sandpaper in it every 20-30 seconds, and drop some water on the surface with your hand. Keep it wet. Use small swirl motions and work a small area at a time. As you work it out, you will notice the block scuffing the higher points in the paint. When it all becomes the same finish, it is flat and you're ready to move on. Wash off as much of the residue as you can, then wipe the panels down with a lint free rag and alcohol or any other cleaner that won't leave a residue.

Of course, this is very messy. Don't do it in the living room. And wear old shoes.

[Neodymium]

The smoother the paint is, the closer to a mirror finish you will get. It doesn't matter whether your final coat is color or clear. When spray painting, there will always be a slight amount of bumpiness and imperfection in the surface. The better your prep, and sanding between coats can minimize this. However, to get to that super bright mirror shine, you will need to wet sand and buff the final coat out. Use very fine grit, starting at 600 and going up. Use a small wood block with slightly rounded edges behind your sandpaper as just using it with your hand, you will sand down into imperfections, and with a block you will be hitting just the high points. Use LOTS of water to keep the sandpaper clear, use no pressure, and work in small areas at a time in a random swirly pattern. Keep off the corners or you will go right through the color. Do the corners with a small piece of paper and your hand, very slowly and carefully. Rinse the part off often and check your progress. You don't want to sand through your color coats, just take the ripples out of them. Work through 600, 800, 1000 grit papers, then start using polishing compounds. Using a car body buffer is a good way to go.

Thanks for the info. Definitely helpful in my current effort here on TBCS. Appreciate it.

[cowboyuptx]

Lots of good info flowing in this thread, thanks for the guidance fellas...

I'm currently working on my chassis... I've already sanded it (220), primed it, sanded it (400), and have 2 coats of Red Glow Fluorescent Orange... I did error slightly by putting it on over gray primer, the directions called for white primer, but it still looks pretty cool...

I think the plan from here is to sand it with 1000 grit, then give it one last coat of Fluorescent Orange, then 2 coats of clear... Is this a good plan?

[TLHarrell]

Fluorescent or any other light color will always look best shot over white primer. Gray primer for medium colors. Black primer for, well, black. And I've used a silver basecoat for white before that really makes it pop.

If you're not going for the mirror finish "show car" paint look, which I wouldn't bother with for a chassis, I wouldn't even bother with a clearcoat. I'd do a final wet sand on the color coat to smooth out any orange peel, then lay down one last color coat over that. You get too many coats and things won't fit without chasing out holes with a tap.

For my chassis, I'm using hammered finish paint. I'm just shooting black primer over the aluminum and MDF, then a couple coats of paint with no other prep. Of course, hammered finish is supposed to look lumpy and orange peel textured.

[SgtM]

Have a look at this video series from Commando. He did a great job with it using spray paints.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgTLF...yln_DcceF4WNAO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrvYv...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dwc1h...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcHfV...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcHfV...feature=relmfu

[cowboyuptx]

Thanks again for the answers guys...

I'm about to go out to my garage and try to finish off the chassis...

I'll try take some pictures of it soon after I'm done...

While researching painting, I came across a video of a guy spray painting a "space scene" on the side of his case http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mYniyZFq1Y...

He makes it look rather easy, I'm considering going this route... Any thoughts on this?

[Neodymium]

Your call, mate...also look up the site suggested by SgtM, airbrushtricks.com (the guy's name is Tony D and he also shows painting with cans - and is very good )...at the end of the day, like TLH said before, amat victoria curam

[Neodymium]

Not to hijack this, I have a question myself about painting silicone/rubber/plastic parts...what is the best way to do this?

[TLHarrell]

You are not going to be able to paint silicone or rubber parts as they are very flexible and the paint will literally just fall off. Dye is where it's at. Check your local hobby store/crafts store for Rit Dye. It's available in a ton of colors. Try it out on a scrap piece to see what length of time you'll need and how it comes out. The stuff is fairly cheap too.

[Neodymium]

You are not going to be able to paint silicone or rubber parts as they are very flexible and the paint will literally just fall off. Dye is where it's at. Check your local hobby store/crafts store for Rit Dye. It's available in a ton of colors. Try it out on a scrap piece to see what length of time you'll need and how it comes out. The stuff is fairly cheap too.

Somehow I knew you had the answer Thanks TLH