For the spray painters and body repairers out there

I would grind a bit out on the face as well then fill it level - only talking about 2-3mm deep at the most will help avoid cracking the joint at the front. Once cured it will sand to a finish good enough to prime

 

So you think grind into the bead of adhesive at the front? There is a fair bit of it due to being squished when it was pushed together.

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sort of I grind out an area 2-5 cm eitherside of the crack and fill the front similar to how you have done the back, that way you dont have a joint butted together, instead the original material is sandwiched between the new glue

 

Gotcha! Cheers!

 

Google beveling to get an idea what he means

 

Update

Hi all

Well it's been a while I know but I finally got around to sanding and spraying.

Primer on





This is a close up of where the damage was. I did end up sanding it back again after this to improve the area.



Yellow time!







At this point the surface is very rough. It was my first time using a spray gun so I reckon I have stuffed up somewhere along the line.

I put about 25% thinners in the paint mix. Does anyone think that is too little? I've seen sites that say you should mix 50/50. I'm going to troll youtube for some spray gun lessons I think.

I will sand this back again to smooth off the surface and possibly do another coat.

Cheers guys!

 

Regardless of whether or not it's right, it is a bloody good attempt never the less and you should be happy with it.

 

looking good - remembering that I am in no way a painter I would say that in my limited painting experience a rough powdery finish is normally the result of too much air and not enough paint, or the gun may be to far away from the surface, both cases can result in the paint being applied "dry"

 

Thanks guys. I'm pretty pedantic with this stuff so I will try and try again. Might need more paint!

 

Mix enough paint to last you for the whole piece.
Ask paint supplier for thinning ratio.
First try your gun settings on the trail board.
When happy proceed on the item you wanna paint

 

I had a bit of an issue when I first tried colour matching, got the top coat right but the base coat was wrong so it came out much brighter, had to go back and do a darker base coat to mute the yellow a bit and it came out nice. Good job for your first attempt, SrAfciGeR is right, do up enough for the whole thing so the colour is spot on across all panels and definitely do passes on a test board.

 

Thanks for the tips guys! Will give it another crack shortly and let you know!

 

You need a lot more thinners with the paint. If you are using acrylic paint then a minimum 50% thinners as the paint is really thick. When you are spraying you need to see the paint going down as "wet", if its going down dryish, then the thinners is evaporating before it hits the surface, which then gives that rough sandpaper look. Do several passes with thin coats, allowing it to tack dry before going over it again. Build up the layers until you have a nice even finish. Use just enough air to atomize the paint. Dont stress with the finish at this stage. When its all dry, you can sand it with 1200 grit wet and dry sand paper, and finish off with a 2000 grit paper, and finally a cutting compound polish to give it a nice gloss finish. Best to paint when the temperature is cool so the thinners dont evaporate too quick. Up to a 20 deg C day is best. If you are using 2 pac paint then its a different story, but from what you are describing seems like acrylic paint. Its also a good idea to practice on something else first before attempting the good article, say an old panel or sheet of tin.
Good luck with it.
Stu

 

Thanks Stu

You are spot on. I contacted the paint supplier today and they said a 1:1 ratio is best. Yes it is acrylic. It definitely came out and gave a sand paper finish.

I'll have to sand back a few layers I think as there is already four on it. It will smooth up a treat though.

Do you recommend a clear coat?

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I would recommend that you practice with clear on something else first as clear is usually thinned down even more and tends to runs down.


But in general you do use clear over acrylic.

There quite few educational videos on youtube check some out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfHi5Kiqhto

 

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When using solid colour as you are, no need for clear coat, clear coats are for metalic colours as they cant be sanded & polished up like a solid colour. So a clear is only extra cost when you dont need it. You can get a deep luster and mirror shine with solid colour acrylic paint if you put the effort in. A lot of Show cars that have a deep colour and mirror shine, are done with acrylic, which is layered, then finely sanded by hand, and polished to achieve the final result. Even when you've sprayed the bar and its not perfectly smooth, you can hand sand it back to get a smooth finish, without having to respray it. Acrylic can handle sanding with fine grit papers, then cutting compound, and final polishing to bring up a brilliant shine. So if you dont get the spraying perfect, dont stress, you can bring it up with fine sanding and polishing aftewards.

Stu

 

Another update

Good afternoon guys!

So after a weekend of good weather I have done some more work on the front bar and I am happy with the results so far, albeit there is more work to do.

So I applied spray putty over the damage and I have to say I can't see any raised areas now. So quite happy with that. Also sanded back and applied another few coats of colour (with 1:1 base and thinners this time!). Was happy with the final product:









Up close the job is not so good though. As you can see it is pitted to buggery:





This was after sanding back with 1500 grit paper as well.

I have much more sanding to do, but very happy with the damage repair.

At what point do any of you think that a cutting compound would be effective? Is it too early to use on the pictures above?

Cheers

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Now that you've given it a light sand back, you could give it another coat of paint thinned down more than previously. That is if you have enough paint left. If you are not concerned with the pitting, you could use cutting compound and polish it up and be done with it. Remember once you use any polish or cutting compound, you cant paint it again unless you remove all the wax and polish, otherwise you will get some kind of beading of the paint when you put it on. So at the stage you are at now, if you have more paint, then I would give it another coat, even if you have to thin it down more to make it go further, which should fill in those pitted areas. Then you can finally polish it up afterwards.
Stu

 

Thanks Stu. I need to get more paint anyway given that I am going to other parts of the car.

You can really tell this is my first time with a plastic repair and spray job, but, perfect practice makes perfect.

Thanks for all the assistance so far guys!

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Ads your doing a great job, keep it up!!

:zlove: