Practically Classics Forum

I did the rear wings today, using thinners in the final coat of high-build primer. It did help I think. Orange peel isn't nearly so bad. However, I also had beautiful sunshine, so the wings were quite warm, maybe this was also a factor. This is the second time I've primed them, the first go showed how poor my sanding work on the filler had been! I'm much happier this time around. It's not perfect, but the car never would have been perfectly smooth in the first place, I guess. I was really worried about how I'd get on with these sharply curved panels, but am really encouraged by today's results. I'll still be doing a fair whack of primer sanding, but it'll be worth it!

Not sure if you are using guide coats or not but this will help by the bucket full !! - once your primer is dry use an alternative colour - i.e. a lot of primers are greyish in colour so use black for the guide coat - this can even be a cheap areosol paint - just dust / mist it over the primed panels so it leaves a speckled finish all over - then when flating the primer any unflatted / imperfections etc will be highlighted by the black against the grey primer - a simple task that prevents faults / imperfections showing through on your top coats - regardless of the panel shape.

I read somewhere recently (in PC perhaps?) that black paint is harder to sand so the writer prefered a dark blue guide coat. No idea if it's true, or why it would be! Anyone else heard this?

Put it this way, I came by a case of yellow aerosols as they fell off the back of a passing lorry .
I've been using those for a couple of years now and have noticed no discernable difference between using them, and the black cans I'd used previously ( I always used black 'cos that's what all the restoration books said ).
As long as they show up against the primer ( yellow seems to be OK on everything other than the khaki etch primers) I don't think it matters.

I can only think that someone is throwing the piant on and not misting it - still they should be no difference with what colour you use - on the darker bonding primers - I use white guide coats.

Hello Again

I get my custom filled Aersols from C&C car colours in Crawley, but you can get them made up a lot of paint factors. -But do not get them from Halfords as they are rubbish.

I got a bunch of cans mixed up by Halfords when my usual supplier ran out of cans. it was meant to be Toyota Maroon, but had I eaten beetroot and pee'd onto the panel it would have covered better.

The big brand used to be Aeromatic, but my people currently supply Monofil. They can supply Cellulose, but I tend to go for 2k. The best Aerosol Clearcoat is made by ProXL, -They do Isocyanate free 2k in small cans which is brilliant, or Single pack petrol resistant clear in large cans -which is a bit puddingy to spray, but it polishes like glass.

U-pol Aerosol Clear is lovely to spray, but a bastard to re-coat at a later date.

And finally -Use a matt paint for your Guide coat as gloss paint will clag up the wet and dry paper. Basecoat is fine.

This is all good stuff, I'm going to need it. I have a lot of spraying to do and wasn't sure to do it with aerosol or spray gun, now I know.