Spraying And Flattening Question

[sTuDeNt]

I followed the bodywork guide on here but before my last stage I want to clarify something.
My last layer of paint had some artifacts in it in the form of dust etc. I used 1500 wet and flattened it so its all smooth and nothing there. I was thinking whether I need to put one last layer of paint before laquer? As the paint looks a bit scratched after rubbing!

Can you please advise

Cheers

[dunova]

If you're using 1500 wet and dry and it looks scratched, i expect you've been abit aggressive with it :x

Personally, after the final rub down i will do one VERY light colour coat, leave it to dry and then lacquer.

And to get the perfect finish with lacquer takes a lot of practice. You want it to look very wet but not too much because the lacquer will run and ruin it! Also, if you don't put enough on then it won't look its best and it won't feel as smooth. And don't get too close with the lacquer can because you will put a dark streak through the paint!

I've had quite a lot of spaying practice and fooked it up on many occasions :lol: but i've pretty much got it down to a tee now 8)

[rednova]

remember when doing your top coat - its easier to remove a run than it is to polish a "dry" paint finish

[sTuDeNt]

I have phrased myself worng its not scratched its like a bit stripped the top layer and its not shiny basically, a bit merky...

[dunova]

Okay, well in theory you should rub it back lightly at the end to take off any shine and then lacquer it, but i've never trusted this so i've always done a very light final coat and then lacquered-always worked for me, but you could give the 'theory' way a go if you want :wink:

[sTuDeNt]

I can try using T-Cat to make it less merky and then degrease it and laquer it? What do you think?

[dunova]

You mean t-cut? Bad idea-on new paint especially it'll just take back the layers you've been trying to build up! Not too sure what you mean by 'murky' but if i were you i would;

1) Spray another colour coat
2) Rub it back with 1500 wet&dry to smooth it. Don't be aggressive/press hard with it, you just want to take away any 'rough' feel to it.
3)Lacquer it

That should give you the best possible finish. Have you rubbed back with 1500 wet&dry on every coat? All this does is take back any roughness but leave all the nice paint still there. If you've wet&dried between every coat, done enough colour layers and lacquered well then you should have a very good finish at the end.

If you're not completely happy with the end finish, you can t-cut it and it will give it a smoother, shinyer finish, but give the paint at least a week to 'settle in' and then do it.

Hope that helps

[sTuDeNt]

I used colour restore on the murky surface and it did the trick! Shines like a diamond and no scraches as I hoped! Now i am going to degrease it and get it ready for the final layers of laquer!

8)

[novashed]

it should be dull before the laquer top coat thats the whole point, keying that layer sot he laquer takes to it, the shine is from the laquer not the base colour

[dunova]

in theory you should rub it back lightly at the end to take off any shine and then lacquer it, but i've never trusted this so i've always done a very light final coat and then lacquered

[ade]

shouldnt have used a colour restorer!

This is wax based and will take alot of degreasing to remove the wax/silicone thats now been absorbed into the new paint. Hopefully the degreaser will do the trick.

If you used 1500 wet n dry it will leave a dull finish because no matter how fine the sand paper its still gonna distort the ligt on the paint - dulling it. However not to worry as all you have to do is lacquer it. Plain and simple.

If you take a matt finish and lacquer it - it goes glossy. An example is if you spray something in matt or satin paint and then lacquer it it will go a glossy colour. This is because the lacquer fills in the fine lines.

If you apply several coats of lacquer you build up the lustre.

The only thing you need to do is make sure youve kept the sanding going in one direction (so you cant see whirls) - but with 1500 wet n dry you shouldnt anyway. Also if it looks "patchy" - where youve taken too much away you'll need to respray that panel/area.

Body shops will add a final top coat after any sanding back for errors (usually) but for minor imperfections, providing youve not been too agressive a light sand to remove any small errors (ie dust specks, midge flies etc) will be fine just to lacquer. If however you've had a ruddy great big run then youll ned to flat back and respray again.

Hope this helps.

[johnny27]

What i always do when blocking down paint with 1500 is after i'm finished make sure no dirt comes anywhere near it and give it a final coat of paint, since its only one coat there won't be dirt in it and you get to cover up the haze from the sand paper.
Make sure when paint is fully hard 2 days later to give it a run with some G3. When you lacquer paint it leaves it false looking, its to glossy and has a distorted reflection, the G3 finishes it off perfect, the part just looks like it is orginal factory sprayed, perfect. Make sure to not polish it to much or to hard as it can lift some lacquer off. T-cut is no good its mainly only wax, the G3 is the best compound around.