Panel Painting??????

[Johnnybizzle]

Yo,

Been browsing the web for for paints to use for my exterior panels excluding front and rear wings, goin to go down the route of couple of coats of Etch prime.. some flatting off, then 3-4 coats of the Brightest orange top coat i can find,
Will this be enough?
How much will i need?
Whats the best to use?

Have bugger all experience painting, borrowing a pals gear... should be fun ive been looking forward to this

JB

[Talonmotorsport]

Where are you planning on painting? in your garage,garden or a proper spray oven? 2-3 light coats of 2 pack will be more durable and more forgiving if you mess it up, easy to colour sand and polish after 3-4 weeks curing time but is not the sort of thing you want to be using in your garage with no ventalation!!!
Cellulose might be a better idea but can be a pain due to the amount of thinners you need to use with it and trying to keep a wet edge.
I realy would do some research into different types of paint before you end up poisoning your self.

[Tatey]

After reading posts on the Mig welding forum people do not recommend using 2 pack paints unless you have some experience behind you, they are highly toxic and you need a proper air fed mask and good ventilation, meaning you need a lot of kit.

Personally I will be going down the vinyl route, all it involves doing is buying a sheet of vinyl from ebay, cutting it to the required shape and then sticking it onto the panel, supposed to be a breeze to do when compared to all of the effort of painting panels. It will last a good 5 years before it starts to look a bit tatty.

[Davey]

Acrylic two pack paint is easy enough to use if you get the mix right and the gun settings right and the technique right..........oh yes and the temperature. Don't try to use Acrylic paint in less than 18 deg C 'cos it won't flash off and ends up looking like curtains. I know, I was that soldier!

D.

P.S. you still need a good respirator for acrylic two pack.

[Johnnybizzle]

thanks gents will have to look around, as i was planning on painting in a workshop,

is metalic paint harder to use?

[flyerncle]

In a word yes,metalic is a pain even for the professional sometimes and there is a special thinner for it that makes the flake lie down in certain conditions.

Dont know if it's still available but air dry paint is probably the best for you and someone better able than me will advise.

[AshG]

be carefull with 2 pack paint it has isocyanate in it which is a really nasty chemical. isocyanate can be absorbed into the body through any mucus membrane. basically meaning breathing it in is pretty bad. what people dont realise is that you can absorb it through your eyes!! and even skin if you are sweaty.

effects can range from headaches, vomiting, stomach cramps, lesions and skin burns, laboured breathing. studys believe long term or high exposure can lead to cancer

be warned

[flyerncle]

And all that is on a good day !

[Tilly819]

hi there,

ok heres a good way of doing it but first......BUY A GOOOOOD isocyonate prrof mask

as ash has said its nasty suff REALY NASTY

1) rub all of your panels down with green scotch brite to give a slight key (metal Panels) Glassfibre use about 240 grit

2) rub over with thinners / panel wipe

3) Shoot a thin coat of 2K etch primer

4) let it flash off about 10 mins

5) shoot 2 or 3 coats of 2K high build primer make sure u let each coat flash for about 15 mins between coats or elce you get un evaporated solvent traped between coats and it causes blisters (Upol make a good one) Its quite inportant that you DONT let the etch primer fully dry it works much better iff it is still slighty moist since then as well as bonding to the metal itself it also pulls the primer in and bonds it down to the metal also.

6) let the primer dry over night ( or bake on iff you have access to a booth) if you dont then make sure you use a air dry hardner and aproprate thinner.

7) wet sand primer with 400 grit

8) Top coat ( TAKE YOUR TIME ) ither lay down 4 or 5 very thin coat of solid opaque 2k colour

or

between 3 and 5 thin coats of metallic polyestor base coat (of desired colour)

9) at this point for a solid colour you have finished painting

10) if you shoot a metalic you need to let it dry flat off to about 1000 grit

11) shoot 2 or 3 coats of 2K clear

12) let it dry for about 3 days

13) flat back with 1500 grit

14) Polish back up to full gloss with a buffer with a sponge pad (not wool)
and use a compound like 3M or Farcila use lots of water too keep it cool and dont stay in one place too long or you burn it and its ruined


step 13 and 14 are optional for both metalic and solid depends how gooder finish you get out of the gun

15) this is very important after painting and polishing you should apply a GOOD quality car wax too seel the paint espeshaly after polishing with a cutting compound

hope this helps if you want to now more about the actual painting and sanding and polishing techniques let me now... you can also use celulose... eisier to do but not as colour fast or hard wearing avoid synthetic, yes its easy to spray and get a good finish but it chemicaly re-acts with just about anything.

chears tilly

[Tilly819]

any question just ask

tilly

or and dont forget to use a tak rag after flatting to remove dust :)

[Johnnybizzle]

Tilly,

Thanks for that, will prop go with the first half of your list, how much will i need to cover exterior body panels excluding the arches they are gel coated black,
half litre of etch, 1L high build and a couple of litres of colour be enough once thinned down do you reckon?
Will i have to use a light or white primer to make orange look nice and bright or will it take loads of coats to cover evenly?.

How is your build goin? nearly complete

[Tilly819]

yeh your estimates are not far off i think i used about half a litre of 2k etch primer and about 1.5 litres of primer havnt shot top coat yet since its going to IVA in primer then if i have to drill holes i dont have to touch up after.

as for quantity a couple of litres should do it. a few coats 3 or 4 is ushaly good over a light colour primer should work a treat i like grey primer its good for prity much any top coat when it comes to top coat you are better to buy a little extra and have some left over then to not have enough simce evry can of paint is slightly diferant, kinda like getting replacement fibreglass parts evry batch off gelcoat is slightly diferant.

remember if you are using 2K (2Pack) that you might have for instance the etch primer i use is 50/50 + thinners so a litre of etch + a litre of hardner +10-15% thinners and you have nearly 2 and half litres the values i have given above are mixed values not how bigger tin you should buy

hope this helps

tilly

any problems give me a shout

[flyerncle]

Dont forget the hardener is isocyanate in the two pack etch primer too.