Painted my 1st test panel...ever

kwest187

New member
I finally got a chance to paint on Sunday-
I'm doing a 3 stage candy on my Sportster so I figure a trial run would be a good idea...my 1st real project-
The Primer went on fine...I did notice some very small pin holes after laying down the paint-Not sure what could've caused this...they did wet sand over and were not evident in the base coat-(silver metallic) which went on like butter at 35 PSI-1.3 tip-
I was surprised how wet I could lay that stuff down-
The candy was a bit tricky at 1st-
I tried doing a coat or 2 with mixing the candy and reducer only-
Afraid I might run out of candy before my actual project I mixed lean and had a hot pink panel instead of blood red-My GF was nice enough to run to the drug store and get me some syringes and an eye-dropper-
This made mixing the candy much easier-
I ended up going about 5mL to 3oz of ready to spray clear-
That went on great at about 30 PSI... played with the flow and PSI here a bit-but I think I got the feel
I did get it to sag and run...but I really had to lay it on there...so now I should now the boundaries...
Finally I did a nice couple times over with straight clear...
again I laid this on pretty thick...but did eventually find the running point-
Just sharing my expierence...hopfully next weekend on the tins it goes just as good-
I didn't sand the base coat-is that recommended?
If the clear or clear candy does run on me what should I do?
Stop and wipe or continue and sand it out after it drys?
 

sure

New member
don't sand your matallic base coat..
If you get a run in the candy you have ruined the job..it will always be a dark spot.
spraying clear use a 75% overlap and don't try to get it to lay out like glass while your spraying..Clear will flow out when flashing and over all drying...
 

kwest187

New member
Thanks for the tips...Good to know about not...sanding the base coat-
I feel pretty good for this weekend painting my tins-
I figure I'll lay down a nice tack layer and build off that...to keep away from runs-
One thing thats on my mind...I should buff 24 hours after last clear-right?
Well I might not get done with my last clear until 7 pm on Saturday and work Sunday at 6 pm...and won't get a chance to buff until Tuesday-
Is there a time limit in how soon you should buff-
what should I look for in buying buffing compound?
 
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