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Originally Posted by Jazzdogg  Looks very nice! 
Can you tell us more about the finishing products you used. For example, what is the sheen level of the clear coat? Are all of the finishing products water-borne? What is your impression of the strengths and weaknesses of these products based upon your experience using them?
What was the process you followed? What steps did you follow as you prepped, primed, applied the color coat, and the clear coat? What kind of gear did you use to apply these finishing products? How'd it work for you?
And most importantly, now that you're done, what will you do differently next time? Any warning signposts for the rest of us to heed?  |
I'd be more than happy to share the process!
The only product that's a true waterborne product is the toners and pearls that I used (which I kind of wish I didn't use which I'll explain later). All others are solvent borne. I had great results with all of the products mainly because i'm an assistant manager for Sherwin Williams Automotive and have had plenty of experience assesing problems that have surfaced with our products (which were mainly user error).
I took an automotive approach to the entire job which worked out very well for me. I started out sanding the body with 220g with a block and by hand. I've found that this gives more even results with the surface area being relatively small as opposed to using a 6" D/A sander. After sanding and cleaning with a solvent cleaner I applied coats of Spectraprime P30W primer which is a white primer (I used a SataJet 1000B gun with a 1.3 nozzle for the entire job). After drying I sanded with 400g until I felt it was satisfactory. I then applied two coats (wet on wet with a medium reducer due to the fact the temperatue had dropped for a week span here in FL) of my white pearl basecoat which covered very, very well. After drying I masked off (with 3m adhesives) my striping. I did the orange stripe first then the blue following the process of my initial basecoat. After drying I wet sanded lightly with 1500g to even out all of the finishes. I then applied a spot/panel clearcoat with a medium hardener. The reason I went with a spot clear is because of the shorter cure time and I knew that I wanted to put on more clear that would be easier to buff. Then I applied an overall clear to finish the job. I wet sanded with 2000g then let the bass sit for 48 hours then buffed it.
My only warning sign that is if you're in Florida or anywhere with high humidity, DO NOT spray waterborne products unless you have the proper facilities (a spray booth with fans). Waterborne is still relatively new and with places of high humidity, it's difficult to get these products to dry properly. I was really happy with the process I used this time and will probably make this my go to process until I run into considerable problems. It really was a fun project to do and went without any major hiccups.
If anyone has any questions or concers in regards to painting with automotive products, i'd be more than happy to assist in any way I can!
