[zleviticus]

Follow up again...
Here are some pics of the before and after and one problem area i have where something got inthe last coat.. hopefully i can sand it out and spot patch it or jsut sand it out. If not oh well it is not worth messing with i will chock it up to experience.

Thanks again for all the advice and help.. I apprecaite it.. If anyone wants details let me know.. oh and the run went away.. it kind of blended in when it started to dry.. Also i learned a lesson.. What it looks like while wet is NOT what it will look like as it dries.. the clear really went on looking crappy but i had patience.. now it blended in nice and look great.

Anyways here you go.

[BraadaJim]

Looks great Z and you haven't even wetsanded yet. When you do that and buff it up it's going to look like a mirror, you've already got decent reflection with minimal distortion so wetsanding should only be a minimal job. Whatever got into the last coat probably will sand out without any trouble. From the pic it looks like lint so as long as it was in the last coat of clear and not the first or the base then it should come right out. Just be careful that you don't go too far trying to get it out and wetsand all the way through to color when the time comes. Overall, for your first time, very good job!

[zleviticus]

Ok if for some reason i need to patch that area.. (i will probably say screw it and mark it up as a rock chip from the road if anyone asks.. ) how could i go about that without ruining all my hard work?

Well here is how i got it to where it is...

I got it straight ABS as you know. I sanded it down some more with 400 grit.. used a couple (aka few coats) of filler primer then dry sanded down barely using 800 grit only where there was any dirt or lint.

Then i sprayed a coat of regular primer. (after the filler sat for an hour) and sanded lightly using 800 grit again... (after it sat for an hour) then i sprayed a sealer primer. I did not sand it .. except where there was a gnat and a dust particle on it.. and i used 1500 for it...

I then let it sit for an hour.. (as recommended) and then sprayed 4 coats of base (no sanding between coats and giving 15 min between coats.)

Onc ethat was done i let it sit for an hour and then applied the clear coat. 4 or so coats with 10 minutes between coats (as recommended) then i brought it inside in the garage to cure till next weekend of more. Hopefully by then I will have my new compressor and the minie polisher then hopefully it will not look better than the paint on my kat. It looks good enough to put on the kat right now but I want it to look really good.

Thanks again guys for all your help.

If i burn through the paint then well.. i guess i will start over again.. just need to figure out how to strip the paint.

[BraadaJim]

Well, if you have to fix it, then because you are working from rattle cans you are almost guaranteed to have to sand off all the clear. I'd use 600/wet but that's just me. It's really, really hard to get clear to blend anyway without lifting so you'll be less work into it to just wetsand until te water starts coming off black (your color) and reclear it all. Chances are pretty good though that you'll be able to get it with just normal wetsanding of the clear since I believe you would have noticed it was there before you layed the clear instead of ignoring it and laying the clear on top of it.
Buffers... work low speed, low pressure, moderate compounds and most importantly KEEP IT MOVING!!! My burns happened because I was working at an odd angle and basically got my wrist locked into one position and pinned for 2 seconds literally. it was "oh, well, I can just get around this curve too since I'm here and vvvvfft, damn!" just that fast.

[zleviticus]

yeah i think it goes a little deeper i think.. i am not terribly worried about it.. i can always used a touch up pen to put down some balck in it before i wet sand and that might take care of it or at least make it less noticable... has a week gone by yet.

I am very patient unless i am wokring on my car or bike

[Guest]

can

rattle cans rule long live duplicolor

[SweetLou]

Re: can

rattle cans rule long live duplicolor

+100 on that!!!!

If I can manage to score a whole nother body and tank for my bike, I am gona do the Dupli-color Mirage Green to Silver I think. That would look sweet