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TR2/3/3A Painting the body tub exposed parts again

sp53

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Painting the body tub exposed parts again. My first attempt did not go so well, and was I not pleased with the results. So tapped off the car and plan on spraying the exposed parts in the morning when my wife goes to work. I did tell her I would paint outside after the last time with paint everywhere mostly because of the fan, I think.--- Plus this time there should be a lot less paint flying around. Anyways I plan on not using a fan this time and just cracking the big door and opening the man 3 foot door. My main concern is when I am respraying the trunk floor area and sides, should I paint from the top down by the gas cap and work down/ or spray the inside of the trunk first. This time I plan on 2 coats 5 minutes apart to keep things wet or maybe 3 coats depending on how things cover. I feel those painting gitters setting in, so I will try and stay calm and be patient because I might be living in it.

any tips needed
steve
 

DavidApp

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Neat masking job.

I am sure that you have already found the need to wear a full coverall when you spray topcoat. Saves taking a solvent bath. I have found the disposable paint cups make painting at odd angles a bit easier.

Have you already got the spare wheel compartment done?

Not too far behind you. Doing a final fitting of panels to check everything looks OK.

David
 

M_Pied_Lourd

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Steve,

What does your paint tech sheet say regarding flash times between coats? I would want to make sure I follow these instructions carefully.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Tush
 

CJD

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Tush...there you are! I was missing hearing from you lately!

The boot is definitely tricky. For that reason alone I tend to spray it first. Then I can concentrate on getting a good spray on the outside panels...which are the “money shots”, so to speak. So, to get the top and corners of the boot, I start with the gun set to zero fan, so it shoots in a small circle. This mode lays the paint faster, so you will have to dial the paint down to prevent runs with the circular pattern. It’s also impossible to get perfect, text book style passes. You have to resort to more short bursts and short passes to prevent running. The circle is great for hitting the top, sides, and shooting deep into the fuel tank area. Once you get these corners, sides and edges covered, then dial your fan shape back in and up the paint dial to compensate. (When you use air for the fan it reduces the paint level a good bit). Lay the large boot floor using the fan, and then move to the outside panels.

Using no fan you can easily spray 2 feet back from your work easily. Using the fan, however, you must move to about 12-14 inches from your work. That allows the circular pattern to get deep into the hard to reach crevices...but also makes it easy to get runs if you don’t hold the gun back farther.

Getting the boot covered envolves a lot of gun maneuvering...sideways, upside down, right side up,etc. You must think carefully about holding your hose to prevent dragging it across your panels.
 
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sp53

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Thanks you guys it really helps me to reflect on what is going on when I get some input. The built sheet says 70 degrees with 5 to 10 minutes between coats. I just went out to the shop at 6:30 and it is 72 degrees. It has been in the 90ites the last few days, however tomorrow it is supposed to be 70, go figure, so I think I will wait until tomorrow because I would rather it be a little cooler than hotter besides there are a couple of spots I need to tape because I am worried about over spray getting on my yellow frame, go figure again.

I did the spare tire the first go around and it came out nice, but yes I had paint everywhere shooting out of that half circle hole. I kinda knew I would because when sandblasting one of those spare tire holes the sand comes back out at you faster than you can put it in.

I am not totally sure what you mean John by setting the fan to zero, but I think you are saying turn the top screw down so low that the fan will paint in a small circle and that the gun will shoot harder, smaller, and straighter. Thanks for the tip about watching the hose and watching my body because I have wiper my paints on the car when I was not paying attention, and that back section I could easily rub on when shoot in in the trunk. I will use the burst method, but I have been staying away from it. I did learn that to imagine the panel in my mind about 2 inches bigger so I do not shut the paint off to quick and not get enough paint on the ends of the panels.

Our daughter is coming up from Long Beach with her boyfriend and will be hear Saturday, so I hope the paint smell is kinda gone. Personally I think it smells better than humans anyway. I remember when john was painting and he post this picture and I thought yeh at least I can do that and keep the area small and get in and out and if I can concentrate long enough I might get so good results were it is important. Now I see it is the money shot. It reminds me about the story: “how do you eat an elephant”—“ one bite at a time”

steve
 
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sp53

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Well I think I have a workable product, but there are still many problems that did not show. I am convinced now that I am experiencing a chemical mixing problem with the reducer, activator, and paint. There is something wrong! I am still getting those little bumps or cruds of paint. The supplier really should have some culpability here. However, when I look at my understanding in the beginning, I have come a long ways just by not quitting or being stubborn or whatever. If there is a next time, I will use different products.
 

Jerry

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If you painted enough layers on the car, sand and polish out the bumps and runs. I sand with 800, then 1500 and then use Wizard Mystic polish which will take out the 1500 scratches. You can get it looking like a clear coat is on the car.
Jerry
 
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sp53

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Thanks Jerry I just so frustrated because I am still learning and thought I had taken more care this time. I used a filter on the gun, painted inside with no wind, and kept the temp at 70. I am convinced it is a problem with the products, but like you suggest I will try the polishing again and have had some good to excellent results with some of the body panels, but again I get high expectations and expect too much sometimes.

steve
 

DavidApp

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Do you filter the paint as you pour it into the gun? The paint supplier should have given you some coffee filter looking filters.

David
 

DavidApp

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My primer and top coat paint are not the same product so they do not use the same reducer. Check that they did not mix up something at the store.

The reason I know that they are not always compatible is I only had a small quantity of primer reducer but had almost a gallon of top coat reducer. I called the store to see if I could use the top coat reducer in the primer and was told Not to as they were different formulas.

David
 

CJD

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Something I thought of...the solid color, single stage paints are not used very often any more. It is very possible that they are selling you paint that has been on the shelf a long time.

However, you car is looking gorgeous in the photos! A few little specs will be easy to remove.
 

DavidApp

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Would they not have mixed it to a formula or are you referring to the white base paint they add the colour to?

David
 
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sp53

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Well the more I color sand this last painting the more it looks crud from all the forest fires we were having around because most the crud is on the horizontal panels. Our air was actually worst that Beijing. I was inside with one door open; plus I had visqueen up and canvas on the floor. Anyways my question is what is done in last half hour before painting? I basically wiped everything down with solvent and the waited an hour and painted. Now I am thinking I should have wiped down with a dry rage moments before shooting. It looks like I can fix this paint and the orange peal is very slight and in many places not at all.
 

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DavidApp

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You may want to wipe it down with a tacky rag before you paint. You can get them at the Auto big box stores.

The smoke and crud must be bad if it is like Beijing.

David
 

CJD

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Glad to hear it’s looking better. It looks wonderful in the pics! You’ll be spraying perfectly by the time you get to the last panel.

The tack rag right before the spray is the text book solution. It’s a cheese cloth with a waxy coating that attracts dust.

My usual pre-spray routine is to go over the entire surface with a blue paper towel dampened with laquer thinner. The blue towels don’t leave little threads like rags or white paper towels. Micro-fiber rags would probably be even better. I do not scrub with the thinner, as if you use too much or use too much force it will soften the primer and make a mess. I wipe in only one direction, one wipe over each area...just to remove the surface dust.

Once the thinner dries, I go over the surface immediately before the spray using a clean latex glove...again, only one direction and just to remove the dust that has accumulated since the laquer wipe. If I have remembered to get a tack rag, I use it for this final wipe...but I usually don’t have a fresh tack rag and just use a glove.
 
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sp53

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Yes the air was thick with dust like I have never seen; heck Mount St Helens at least on the West side when she blew did not give this much smoke out. I am such a bullet head that I never gave it a thought and just waited for the solvent to dry because I had everything inside. Most the things I have learned have been the hard way. I usually have to hit myself with a hammer in the hand before I am running on both cylinders. I was afraid to use lacquer thinner because like John suggest it could soften thing up. Perhaps with more experience I will have the confidence to use it. We should have 3 to 5 weeks of warm weather to get this painting done; I am optimistic. The paint laid down so well this time that I found a dent between the gas cap and the trunk hinge that I swore was not there. It was small but deep and the high gloss made it really pop.
 

Jerry

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Just to make you feel better, I had to paint my TR3 3 times. Stuff kept falling in the paint, I put too many drips, etc. I decided that without a paint booth, you have to create something to keep the outside particles off the wet paint. I set up a plastic booth that has a 2 foot hole at the floor on one side with a high quality heater filter on it. The other side has a 5 foot square filter area with a big fan sucking from the outside. This causes all the particles and left over paint to stick to the large filter on it way to the exit. This works ok. I can only paint about 3 fenders at a time, or something happens and I mess up.
PS: I put zip wall zippers on the front corners of the plastic to keep it closed, allow the car parts in and out and let me in and out. I have a hood with pumped HEPA filtered air to breath in the room. So far I have painted 3 cars and not seen an improvement in my painting, but I am much better and sanding and polish!
Jerry
 

CJD

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We’ve been getting a lot of the smoke all the way over Texas the last few weeks. You’re right, it seems there is always something to mess up our work. Before I die I hope to build a good shop with a paint booth to reduce the number of things which can go wrong.
 
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