Laid the top coat, now what?

[Macguyver]

Not a problem per-se.

It simply means that there are some spots that got a bit "wetted" with some overspray when they were drying. There shouldn't be any adhesion problem, but I would likely give the whole tank a final "control coat" to make sure the color is evenly distributed.

Hold the gun back another 6-8 inches away from the part and in a smooth motion, "dust" the tank with paint to give it a uniform look.

The paint should be almost dry when it hits the tank, this means that the "front end" reducer is almost completely evaporated out of the paint, and the "tail end" solvent will be melting the atomized paint into the previous coat.

Your arm motion should be relatively quick, maybe around 1 foot per second, depending on the size of the tip in the gun. Treat it like it is the first light "tack coat" you put on the tank. We aren't looking saturate the area with paint, just make it uniform.

Don't worry about messing anything up, the control coat is not even manditory unless you are spraying metallics, I'm just picky.

Hope this helps,

[ukilme]

Alot of good info in here. If you have enough clear, I would sandwich the decals between layers of clear as mentioned a few post back.

If the decals is applied before, you could have no issues what so ever but at the same time it could trap some solvents and cause issues. If you clear before the decals, you can let it sit for 24 hours sand in down with 800 as stated before then proceed with the decals and clear again.

[psyguy]

thanks guys. back to the garage now

[psyguy]

i have scuffed the parts with 600 wet. how far do i need to go with sanding back?
the surface is not perfectly uniform in apperance now (some small areas have more shine than the rest of the surfaces).
is this ok and is the clearcoat going to bring back the uniform shiny look?

wouldn't want to mess up something now after all this work and expense

once the decals go up there's no going back i'm afraid

[Macguyver]

i have scuffed the parts with 600 wet. how far do i need to go with sanding back?
the surface is not perfectly uniform in apperance now (some small areas have more shine that the rest of the surfaces).

You should have the surface looking fairly uniform from the sanding. If wetsanding any of a part, I prefer to spend the extra few seconds and give the whole basecoated area a light scuff just for this reason. The part should look pretty much the same color/texture from any angle to make sure the paint color will look uniform from every angle when clearcoated.

Also, grab the brightest light you have, and look closely at the basecoat layer, make sure it has no light areas in it where you can see hinting of the primer underneath. If so, just give it a quick control coat over the area to get uniform color coverage.

You have the hard part mostly behind you now, so keep at it and I am sure the results will look great!

Keep up the great attention to detail!

[nvr2old]

We're all pretty much on the same page. If the base coat is a metallic, then a couple of clear coats after the base has tacked up is what you want. To sand it w/o clear will disrupt the metallic pattern. But if it's a solid color and you have a few coats on, sanding it with 600 is a good thing to do. Either way you want it pretty smooth before applying the decals. If there are a few tiny specs of shiny scattered about, don't worry, as long as it's all scuffed, it'll cover up nicely with the next coats of clear. Even though PPG calls for a 4-1 mix of clear and hardener, I find it goes on much smoother with less air pressure and flows out with less orange peel if it has just a small amount (1 part) of reducer mixed in. Just a personal approach. You do need to follow instructions carefully, but a little fudging here and there is OK. I use PPG products almost every day, and they work very well.

[psyguy]

after closely looking at the scuffed basecoat i noticed i'd have to do a few touchups where the primer started showing through (on the edges, as you would expect for a novice ).

so, i opted for another wet basecoat all over followed by two wet clear-coats. also finished off with what you pro's call a control dry coat and that worked a treat. there's some dust crap stick to the top of the tank, i hope that's going to dissappear with sanding

now, in this scenario how long before i can wetsand and what grit to use? 600 again, or something lil' finer?

cant wait to see the decals on!

...patience now, patience...

[psyguy]

[taswegian]

I have been following these paint threads closely as I will be having a crack at painting my old 84 GSX. Firstly awesome looking job Psyguy, you have to be happy so far..... Secondly now for the noob question are you using acrylic or 2pack????

Cheers

[67fire]

I have been following these paint threads closely as I will be having a crack at painting my old 84 GSX. Firstly awesome looking job Psyguy, you have to be happy so far..... Secondly now for the noob question are you using acrylic or 2pack????

Cheers

First post, in almost a year?
Any pic's of your scooter? Details?

Belated welcome, I guess is in order.

Eric

[Macguyver]

Clearcoat wetsanding

now, in this scenario how long before i can wetsand and what grit to use? 600 again, or something lil' finer?

cant wait to see the decals on!

...patience now, patience...

600 wetsand will be just perfect.
I believe the product sheets should say either wetsand or tape time on them, most clears take 40-60 minutes to be ready for sanding.

The only time most shops go above 600 wetsand is in the beginning stage of polishing, followed up with some 800-1000 grit, then 1500.
Then the fun begins, polishing, whole new can 'o worms there.
As many opinions in that area as there is among the "which oil is better" camps.

What color are the decals BTW?

[psyguy]

What color are the decals BTW?

[psyguy]

Secondly now for the noob question are you using acrylic or 2pack????

welcome TAS.

i'm using enamel basecoat and two-pack clear. i don't know the actual chemical composition but it's not acrylic.

[taswegian]

First post, in almost a year?
Any pic's of your scooter? Details?

Belated welcome, I guess is in order.

Eric

Here you go Eric I have introduced myself with pics

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?p=1171993&posted=1#post1171993

And yes I have lurked read and learnt from the people on the forum for almost a year!!!

[ukilme]

600 wetsand will be just perfect.
I believe the product sheets should say either wetsand or tape time on them, most clears take 40-60 minutes to be ready for sanding.

The only time most shops go above 600 wetsand is in the beginning stage of polishing, followed up with some 800-1000 grit, then 1500.
Then the fun begins, polishing, whole new can 'o worms there.
As many opinions in that area as there is among the "which oil is better" camps.

What color are the decals BTW?

Most clears I have read say 40-60 minutes to tape and 6-12 for sanding. However, this is were reading the data sheet is very important as every clear can be different even if they are from the same company or line.

I like to wait 24 hours before color sanding but I like the clear harder. Personally, I start with 1500-2000 depending how smooth the clear is and then 2500 using the cross sanding method. Then polish it. I also hardly use any water for cutting as I like to see what I am doing. However, you go through tons of sand paper. Again, this is just a personal thing.

If you have a spare part or helmet, hit it with clear as well and practice cutting the clear.