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If at some point you do decide to sand it with 1500 or 2000 grit paper or rub it out with polishing compound you will improve you chances of success if you keep water running continuously on the area you are working on. Doing this will keep flushing fine abrasives and paint debris off the paint so they don't cause any damage to the paint's surface. Many years ago a real pro painted an Austin Healey I owned, and after a few months to let the paint cure we polished it out using polishing compound and running water. When we were finished the car looked like it was made of British Racing Green glass! Ed

Many years ago a real pro painted an Austin Healey I owned, and after a few months to let the paint cure we polished it out using polishing compound and running water. When we were finished the car looked like it was made of British Racing Green glass! Ed

"Dipped in glass" look call it -my favorite part of the job. There are buffers with water washing built in, but for the angular GPz lines by hand is best imo.

Dr Rot, interesting, your priming tech is different and probably better than mine, I used a 1k high build primer previously , but in future will use a 2k...just the weight of the tin makes me think it will be loads better.

2k clear you really can't beat. There are respirators with a replaceable 30 hour use cartridge available.

Another thing worth doing would have been a couple of test pieces on old paint cans -then OP could have experimented a bit with finishing.

MDZ1 great write up, clear flatting is quite tricky, you explained it really well.

Problem with getting 'into' paint is that most factory / accident repair car paint suddenly becomes glaringly bad. Time is money. Also explains the high cost of motorcycle paintwork compared to car resprays.

... and for the Final product (for now!) ... I really think it's 'good enough' and don't want to waste what little sunny day left this season to muck around with buffing or painting

THANK YOU ALL for your help and TIPS!!

a job well done

don

Looks great! Kudos for all the hard work and beautiful results!

Good looking job, especially good looking to me considering that it was done with cans
I've seen alot of jobs done by people with equipment that didn't turn out as nice
One of these days I'm going to give in to the urge

EZ

Well done mate.
Your paintwork looks great but the main thing is that you can tell people that you did it yourself & that's a good feeling.
I know it takes ages & we all cock things up along the way but when you finally get there it's brilliant.

Looks great! Well done. Hard work does pay off.

Just finished another HD paint job. The Bad Bitch re-done 20 yrs. later. I did the 1st paint in 1997.
Old Friend, She's a nurse now at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, 9 yrs. She wanted the tanks toned done from the bitch.
But we stuck it in on the back fender. 1 more Honda 70's chopper to paint! Black with (White lace & dollies) LOL! Then I am finally going to paint my Z-rod hot rod. after 10 years! WTF?
couple of pics: