Base Coat / Clear Coat with Dave Jones (DSP Builders)

[Jim Woodward]

Hi Guys,

I am in the middle of a single-stage painting project. My base coat of white looks great on all the parts. I did a small touch-up area though, and now need to "buff" off the overspray with some 3M fine-cut polish, followed by 3M glaze polish.

What is the best way to buff this out? I'm guessing some type of rotary tool as I tried by hand and was quickly worn out. I have a Harbor Freight near by work and was hoping there was a good tool there to use. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


How about this palm polisher? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=90219

Thanks,
Jim

[Flatlandman]

How do you strip cowls of paint? I have a H9 extra cowl from the 300l but its for my scratch built extra. I too tried sanding it by hand with 100 grit wet sanding but after 40 min I only got the blue checkers and a little bit of the red off of a 4x5 inch section didnt even get to the primer i dont think. Ill never be able to sand the whole thing.

[aviti]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Flatlandman
	How do you strip cowls of paint? I have a H9 extra cowl from the 300l but its for my scratch built extra. I too tried sanding it by hand with 100 grit wet sanding but after 40 min I only got the blue checkers and a little bit of the red off of a 4x5 inch section didnt even get to the primer i dont think. Ill never be able to sand the whole thing.

When I've made a mistake painting, laquer thinner took off several coats quickly. Not sure how it would do on paint that's been on a long time though. May need to soak it for a while.

[Flatlandman]

Thanx Aviti, I'll give it a try.

[SunDevilPilot1]

Be Careful "Soaking" your cowl in thinner. You may find the cowl melted if the fiberglass reacts with the laquer thinner.

From my recent experience I can tell you automotive type paint, PPG, cleans up with Laquer Thinner but once it has hardened it is hardly affected. While painting my wheel pants I made the mistake of using a "Hobby Syringe" as the method of taking the paint out of the can in a measured amount. The type of syringes I was using was the "Mono-jet" brand purchased from Tower Hobbies. While good syringes they do have one flaw making them less than desirable for paint use. The syringe has oil on the rubber part of the plunger. I discovered this after making my first attempt at painting the white on my cowl. The result was about 300 fisheyes. I let the paint cure and sanded for several hours the next day to get it off.

Lesson: Do not use hobby style syringes to measure paint unless you like sanding.

I guess you could clean the syringe off but after destroying my first attempt I just use Epoxy Measuring Cups.

Here are the results of painting the wheel pants with the Metallic Plum (PPG Concept Ordered from Radio South). The picture does no justice to the shine off the paint. Not even clear coated. In the picture there appears to be a flaw towards the front but that is just a reflection.

SunDevilPilot

[xtreem3d]

you could also try paint stripper if your careful and don't allow it to attack the cowl

[gareth.ky]

I've started spraying the color onto my Carden with Auto Air Colors. So far so good. they are easier to use than the primer. You can check out the thread from where I started painting with the Auto Air.

[Dangerous Dan]

Dave or anyone else, I am getting ready to paint a 40% Godfrey cowell. How do you get rid of the line on top of the cowell where the two halves were fused/glued together. The cowell is really flimbsy.

[gareth.ky]

Well you gotta sand it down! Probably have to get the Bondo out to smooth it too.

I had to so this on my wheel pants. Sand it with 220 to shape then Bondo to fill in any cracks and low spots, then sand with 220, 400 and 600 for a final finish. 90% of the Bondo is sanded away.

If you think sanding it will cause it to break then reinforce the joint inside the cowl with a 2" wide strip of fiberglass cloth.