painting info needed.

kzmarvo wrote:

Yeah, they are getting sparayed as well, all i have left is to paint and clear. i know nothing about buffing paint either.

Well, by that I infer that you haven't done the cut in yet.

Do it first. Let it dry. The do the final sand on the exterior surfaces of the parts.

I get the sense here that you're in a hurry to get to slingin' paint. While that's understandable, it's also asking for trouble.

Your original post asked for advice on how to do the "best job I can". That "best job" is slightly more complex to pull off than painting lawn chairs or mounting a tank at home plate and getting up on the pitching mound with some paint balloons.

Slow down a bit, get a handle on this, and your results will be far better than you thought possible.

I have primed and sanded the under side as well(on the tank) The side and back piece is all ready for paint as well. I cant wait ta paint but yeah i want ta make sure she is all ready. I appreciate the help, truely.

btw who would have thunk primer could look so sweet!:woohoo:

kzmarvo wrote:

I have primed and sanded the under side as well(on the tank) The side and back piece is all ready for paint as well. I cant wait ta paint but yeah i want ta make sure she is all ready. I appreciate the help, truely.

No problem.

Being in a hurry to see paint at this point is only natural, but it's assuredly the wrong thing to do.

Do the cut in the previous day - give it time to dry well enough to be handled. Aside from the obvious handling issues setting up the pieces to be shot, there will also necessarily be some overspray from the cut in on the pieces. That needs to be dealt with before you shoot color.

So say you shoot cut in on an afternoon. By evening, it should be dry enough to handle.

Give the pieces that last light wet sand with used #600. Concentrate on the overspray, but give the entire piece one last go-over just for the hell of it - especially with a rattle-can job, you DON'T wanht more material left on the piece than necessary. There's a reason for that I'll get to later.

As earlier - flush well and blow dry the pieces well, then when DRY, cover with plastic and get the hell out of there. Have a beer. Plink the neighbor's cat. Tell the S/O to dig into her Vicky's Secret collection. Watch a baseball game. ANYTHING but mess with those parts. Set the alarm for 5:30. AM.

And here's why:

I'd lay odds this job is gonna be done in a garage or outside.

Given the choice, shoot outside. Most garages have enough ambient crap floating around in the air to utterly ruin the average job.

On average, the air is the most still, least disturbed, the temperature is stable, the bugs have turned in, and the least amount of ambient SHIT IS IN THE AIR that time of day. ULTRA-ULTRA important.

Do your final masking - tank neck at half-level.

Set your pieces outside on a table with whatever rig, or suspended from whatever framework, blow them off with the can stuff, breako open a tack rag and wipe them down.

MAKE SURE to keep your greasy mits off the surface to be painted. Wear surgeon's gloves if you wish, but those usually have a dusty powder coating. Just wash your hands well with soap, and DO NOT TOUCH the surface to be painted with bare skin.

The reason is that paint is sensitive to oils - ANY oils - and the residue of last night's Taco Bell Delight is being exuded from your pores this morning. If paint smells oil, it recoils in horror and does something called "fisheye" - and in rattlecan, there's nothing you can do about it.

Get your color cans and do the bugaloo. Shake, rattle and roll, baayyyybe, more the better.

Blow the pieces off one last time, then pop the second, CLEAN tack rag out of the wrapper and give 'em a careful wipe....

Sounds good will do. gonna go do the last wet sanding thing in a few. Yeah i am painting in my garage. Got em hanging.:whistle:

Okay, everything is masked, suspended, blown, final wiped and the paint is shook.

*********************
OH YEAH - since you did the cut in the previous day, while you're doing the final prep, TAKE THE NOZZLE FROM THE CAN and soak it in a capful of laquer thinner for ten mintes and blow through it with the air can to make sure it's clean. Actually better to have done it right after finishing the cut in.
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Starting at the lowest extremities of the parts, hold the nozzle about 8" - 10" back and with LONG, SWEEPING strokes that follow the contour of the piece, begin to apply the paint.

Begin with the bottom and front/rear edges of the piece, and always start the coats with the same pattern. That will ensure adequate coverage on the most often overlooked and hard to shoot areas.

DO NOT stop the stroke at the end of the piece - continue past it. If you don't, paint will tend to load up at either end and increase the odds of a run.

Work up each side the side of the piece in turn until you reach the top flat.

Then, work a light circle around the filler neck - also often left behind in the coverage plan.

Then, shooting along the length of the tank, shoot each top side, meeting in the middle. If you're feeling really froggy, you can then immediately add a second layer to the top surface working side-to-side, has the effect of evening out the top coat, melting in the seam where the two halves meet.

You've finished one coat. Give it 10 minutes tack time, depending on the temperature. This is called THE TACK COAT, and forms the base that the resty of the paint will adhere to , and forms the basis for adhesion to the primer.

Coverage, number of coats, and time between coats are not written in stone; metallics take more, primary solids take less. 3 or 4 coats, max.

Since you're clearing the job, I wouldn't get overly concerned about mirror-like gloss and orange peel here - what you're looking for is complete coverage and enough material to stand up to a light follow-on sanding prior to clear coating.

As soon as the job sets up, say 20 minutes or so, take it inside in the shade, set it someplace quiet and leave it the hell alone.

We ain't done yet, but I'm done writing for the evening....

And you owe me a beer!

LOL sweet, beer no problem. Thanks for the input.

Ah hell. Might as well finish this part.

*********
Also primo to shooting: if you're shooting in a garage or outside on a concrete pad, WET DOWN THE PAD before shooting. Keeps your clodhoppers from kicking up crap into the air while you're moving around.
*********

After the job has sat indoors in the shade for at least 2 - 3 hours, enough to set hard enough that a bug can take a hike and not leave a mark, you can accelerate the process a bit here by taking the parts outside someplace sunny, and let them bake in the sun.

Actually, I'd prefer to leave the parts indoors to set for a week, but I have a hunch that ain't gonna happen here - so give 'em two days in the sun.

There's reasons why that I'll get to later.

You owe me TWO beers.

Pterosaur wrote:

kzmarvo wrote:

Repaint at this point is only natural, but it's assuredly the wrong thing to do.
quote]
Now I couldn't have said it better. Good advice.

RonKZ650 wrote:

Pterosaur wrote:
kzmarvo wrote:
Repaint at this point is only natural, but it's assuredly the wrong thing to do.
quote]
Now I couldn't have said it better. Good advice.

You want to quote me, fine. You want to disagree with me, fine.

You got a cross to bear for some anal retentive pissing match with the rest of the board, do it in your own words.

Don't. I repeat: DO NOT doctor a quote from me to kick off some nitwit pissing match again.

Get my drift?

Post edited by: Pterosaur, at: 2006/07/23 00:50

Ron, this getting SO old...I'm gonna have to stop reading paint posts just so I don't have to deal with your problems anymore. That really is pretty sad...I think you are sad also...you cannot EVER let it go. Move on man...

<---lost, but i do appreciate pterosaur and his info on painting. But since i dont know what ya'll are talkin about i dont give a crap:whistle: :laugh: :woohoo: :evil: