Painting Advice Needed (rig armor)...

REDLYNER

REDLYNER

Mall Crawling Race Rig
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Location
Mountain Island
I'm painting my sliders, then was intending on painting my new corners to match, but now I'm not quite sure what to do. I have a very difficult time not getting the "spray paint look" when spray painting. Meaning heavy in some spots and lighter in others.

Before I start on my corners, I am trying to get good on the sliders. Here is where I need help:

Current sliders have 3 coats of Dupli-color automotive black with 10 minutes of drying between coats. This was followed by 2 coats of Dupli-color clear coat with 10 minutes dry time between coats. Now it is a very rough, but fairly even layer over the sliders.

How do I polish these to look smooth and shiney like a car's exterior?



* I know some people don't care about how they look because they will get scratched, etc, but I am trying my hardest to do it right this time around.

Thanks!
 
Are you using cans that have a "Fan" Type nozzle on them? I use kryon brand and they have that type of nozzle, I get a fairly even and consist covering.

I agree with RatLab if you want it shinny sand it with a real high grit paper, between coats. The polish it if you want it to be blingin.
 
X2
Get one of those handles you attach to the spray cans. Go in straight, even lines and stop spraying when you are at the end of a pass before you go in the opposite direction. Paint will build up at the end of the pass if you dont. Do yourself a favor if it is really thick and ugly and sand down to the bare metal and start over. Use primer which can also be bought in a spray can.
 
4LWranglerTJ said:
X2
Get one of those handles you attach to the spray cans. Go in straight, even lines and stop spraying when you are at the end of a pass before you go in the opposite direction. Paint will build up at the end of the pass if you dont. Do yourself a favor if it is really thick and ugly and sand down to the bare metal and start over. Use primer which can also be bought in a spray can.
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X2 on the handles. I use rustoleum semigloss and paint it like I am painting a body panel. Straight lines and dont stop until I am 3" or so past the end of what I am painting.
 
Remove the sliders and take it to a shop. I know we save all of our extra paint so we have shittons of pint cans. When they are spraying that color just have your parts thrown in there.

But its still a slider man.
 
I'm trying to learn how to paint body panels by testing on my sliders. I tried with a compressor and a paint gun with a pre-mixed automotive paint (a couple of times), but wasn't very good with that so I thought I would try the Duplicolor/clearcoat route. While it is plenty good enough for a beater rig, that is not what I'm building.

I still haven't grasped the wet sanding/polishing technique. It still comes out dull splotchy. Thought maybe a few guys here might have had some luck with it.
 
Make sure what you are painting isn't real hot or in direct sun lite. Paint tends to dry to fast and any overspray will cause a dull finish/look. As you spray each pass don't let any overspray hit your previous pass. Keep moving fairly quick and try to keep the paint the "wet" look as you go.
Kinda hard to explain but once you get a feel for it, the paint will look shiny when it dries.
 
96tacolx said:
As you spray each pass don't let any overspray hit your previous pass. Keep moving fairly quick and try to keep the paint the "wet" look as you go.
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Good to know. I did not do that at all, I think every pass overlapped :rolleyes:

I'll re-sand these and try again this week.
 
REDLYNER said:
Good to know. I did not do that at all, I think every pass overlapped :rolleyes:
I'll re-sand these and try again this week.
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Migh ta make a suggestion?

if yo ureally are doing this for practice (good for oyu for wantin gto work so hard on it, btw) for fenders etc - quit wasting your time on the sliders.

Go get yourself a big scrap piece of steel sheet metal, and just practice painting that. B/c of teh surface area,it will be more like fenders, esp w/ the "overlap" problem. Plus since it's just scrap, you can do it over and over and over, who cares...
 
Im sure you know this but start the spray about 3" from the beginning of the part as you move across it...

Also, stay consistent in how far the can is from the piece. I usually try to keep around 6"
 
you should look at the oil based rustoleum paint. brushed on lookes decent. thinned and rolled on looks better, thinned and sprayed (hvlp gun)on you get a 10 (10' or 10 mph looks great). it shrinks when it drys, so it "auto levels" out the most of the imperfections. I have brushed it on a cooker, but i will never do that again takes to friggin long. Dial in your spray gun, and spray the oil based stuff. it applies much better then automotive paint.

Here is the xj before the first race



and the bronco
 
spray-can bed-line em wth
 
oh, forgot, primer your stuff if its bare metal.

Ive had success even when using "non primer paint". It makes a difference, at least to me.
 
Any good oil based paint thinned & spayed with some enamel hardener mixed in. Will dry faster & give it some shine. I have used anywhere from 1/4 to just shy of the full mix ratio in the instructions with good results. I've painted mainly machinery & equipment like this. Lower ratios of hardener, I just wanted to add a little toughness to the paint. Works good on auto panels also.
 
REDLYNER said:
Good to know. I did not do that at all, I think every pass overlapped :rolleyes:
I'll re-sand these and try again this week.
Click to expand...
You do want to overlap some but keep your overspray directed to the part of the metal that isn't painted yet. You just don't want it towards your previous pass because that will cause a dull look in different spots.
 
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