With our body now ready for it's final color it entered the paint booth where it was
masked off. Then every inch of the body was scanned for imperfections. Once it
passed a final inspection, it was scuffed with a Scotchbrite pad, thoroughly
washed down with wax and grease remover, then wiped clean. Finally, a tack
rag with some compressed air was used to remove any lingering dust. Our prep
area was readied with all of the products we would be using during the spray
process including the PPG concept paint, clear, hardener, 2 solvents, mixing
cups, a box of rags, and some sticks, & strainers. With all things ready for
action, the first of 4 coats was mixed and loaded into the gun and the
transformation to a lustrous black began. Getting paint to flow without making it
so loose that it runs is a concern for all painters. Achieving that has a lot to do
with the temperature your working in and the solvent choices you make. We
used DT 885 solvent for our first two coats and then a much slower evaporating
DT 898 solvent for the final two coats. This layering allowed the tail solvent on
our first two coats to evaporate much sooner than the final two coats promoting
a nice even cure. The slower 898 solvent helps the paint to flow and lay flat. But
Painter beware, this can get real loose if sprayed too heavy! When sprayed right
theres almost no peal saving lots of extra work during the color sanding process.
Our last 3 coats also received staggered amounts of clear added to the mix for
extra paint protection. All 4 coats were applied wet-on-wet so no layers were
created to break through during sanding or buffing. This bond between coats
should also make any touch-ups much easier and give us plenty of paint to buff
on in the future. With all 4 coats on we cleaned the gear and turned up the heat
and let it cure.
masked off. Then every inch of the body was scanned for imperfections. Once it
passed a final inspection, it was scuffed with a Scotchbrite pad, thoroughly
washed down with wax and grease remover, then wiped clean. Finally, a tack
rag with some compressed air was used to remove any lingering dust. Our prep
area was readied with all of the products we would be using during the spray
process including the PPG concept paint, clear, hardener, 2 solvents, mixing
cups, a box of rags, and some sticks, & strainers. With all things ready for
action, the first of 4 coats was mixed and loaded into the gun and the
transformation to a lustrous black began. Getting paint to flow without making it
so loose that it runs is a concern for all painters. Achieving that has a lot to do
with the temperature your working in and the solvent choices you make. We
used DT 885 solvent for our first two coats and then a much slower evaporating
DT 898 solvent for the final two coats. This layering allowed the tail solvent on
our first two coats to evaporate much sooner than the final two coats promoting
a nice even cure. The slower 898 solvent helps the paint to flow and lay flat. But
Painter beware, this can get real loose if sprayed too heavy! When sprayed right
theres almost no peal saving lots of extra work during the color sanding process.
Our last 3 coats also received staggered amounts of clear added to the mix for
extra paint protection. All 4 coats were applied wet-on-wet so no layers were
created to break through during sanding or buffing. This bond between coats
should also make any touch-ups much easier and give us plenty of paint to buff
on in the future. With all 4 coats on we cleaned the gear and turned up the heat
and let it cure.
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As we drew closer to the final paint work on our body we had one important step
left. The plan was to try a neat new product that is really making waves in the hot
rod & restoration market called Lizard Skin. This ceramic spray-on thermal
sound barrier goes on much like a spray-on bed liner saving you both time and
money without the waste of the traditional adhesive backed thermal sound
barriers. Another neat feature of the spray-on application is that you get 100%
coverage including all the hard to get areas like behind the door skins, deck lids,
and underneath areas that are just not practical to cover with a mat style
insulation. Another great feature is that it cleans up with water so no special
chemicals are needed. However, don't go have a beer and wait 'til later to clean
up unless you want to junk your tools! We just threw our tools in a bucket of water
as we were done using them. The application was easy enough for any novice
to get right as long as you have a good compressor and follow the instructions
that come with both the spray gun kit and product. This product was amazingly
light weight and dried to a hard flexible dark grey finish that looked OE. Our
single application will reduce heat transfer by 25-30º F, reduce noise by 10-12
dB and protect all those hard to get areas from moisture and corrosion all in
about 3 hrs of work. Pretty COOL stuff!
left. The plan was to try a neat new product that is really making waves in the hot
rod & restoration market called Lizard Skin. This ceramic spray-on thermal
sound barrier goes on much like a spray-on bed liner saving you both time and
money without the waste of the traditional adhesive backed thermal sound
barriers. Another neat feature of the spray-on application is that you get 100%
coverage including all the hard to get areas like behind the door skins, deck lids,
and underneath areas that are just not practical to cover with a mat style
insulation. Another great feature is that it cleans up with water so no special
chemicals are needed. However, don't go have a beer and wait 'til later to clean
up unless you want to junk your tools! We just threw our tools in a bucket of water
as we were done using them. The application was easy enough for any novice
to get right as long as you have a good compressor and follow the instructions
that come with both the spray gun kit and product. This product was amazingly
light weight and dried to a hard flexible dark grey finish that looked OE. Our
single application will reduce heat transfer by 25-30º F, reduce noise by 10-12
dB and protect all those hard to get areas from moisture and corrosion all in
about 3 hrs of work. Pretty COOL stuff!
| Last of the Paint |
After our paint was cured it was on to wet sanding and buffing. We started by
soaking our paper in some warm water with a few drops of dish soap for
lubrication. Then we worked each panel starting with 1200 grit then moving on to
2000 grit as we blocked each surface flat eliminating any imperfections along
the way. When our panels were ready for buffing we used 3M Perfect-It
compounds starting with the rubbing compound to remove our paper scratch.
Then we moved to the soft cut polishing compound to clean up the heavy swirl.
When you get to this point you start to see a nice reflection in the paint as you
work each area. Be prepared to have some stubborn areas left, these will
require finesse by hand as they are usually in hard to get area's where a buffer
will cause you trouble, patience here will save you from costly mistakes. Once
our swirls were all but eliminated we changed to a foam waffle pad and an ultra
fine finishing compound and a mist of water for an extra soft cut. At this point the
scratches & swirls disappear and the paint starts to look like a mirror. The last
step of the process is a final glaze on a clean waffle pad, this puts that finishing
touch on your hard work and brings back that gloss of wet paint . The whole
process takes a bunch of time but if you ever wondered how show cars get their
brilliant deep shine it's from the hours spent after the paint was sprayed.
soaking our paper in some warm water with a few drops of dish soap for
lubrication. Then we worked each panel starting with 1200 grit then moving on to
2000 grit as we blocked each surface flat eliminating any imperfections along
the way. When our panels were ready for buffing we used 3M Perfect-It
compounds starting with the rubbing compound to remove our paper scratch.
Then we moved to the soft cut polishing compound to clean up the heavy swirl.
When you get to this point you start to see a nice reflection in the paint as you
work each area. Be prepared to have some stubborn areas left, these will
require finesse by hand as they are usually in hard to get area's where a buffer
will cause you trouble, patience here will save you from costly mistakes. Once
our swirls were all but eliminated we changed to a foam waffle pad and an ultra
fine finishing compound and a mist of water for an extra soft cut. At this point the
scratches & swirls disappear and the paint starts to look like a mirror. The last
step of the process is a final glaze on a clean waffle pad, this puts that finishing
touch on your hard work and brings back that gloss of wet paint . The whole
process takes a bunch of time but if you ever wondered how show cars get their
brilliant deep shine it's from the hours spent after the paint was sprayed.
