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Painting questions...


r.welfare

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Whoopee! I've finally managed to track down all the body panels I need to put the estate back on the road. Saturday's the day - a trip to Reading to pick up a bonnet and front bumper, then on to Croydon to collect two front wings and a bonnet catch.Only fly in the ointment is that the wings are white, and the bumper and bonnet are red. And the car itself is dark metallic green...Therefore I'm off to my friendly local paint factor tomorrow morning to get a litre of cellulose mixed up (polyester-based I think the last stuff I got from them was).I've got a compressor and gun and have sprayed "new" panels before, but never any secondhand ones. And I'll need to lacquer these, which again I've not done before on a panel - although I repainted and lacquered a set of steel wheels a few years back, and the lacquer came straight off the next time I jetwashed them!So, I'm looking for tips on prepping the panels and also providing a good key for the lacquer, once the new colour is on. The finish doesn't have to be concours, but then again, I don't want it to look shit, either. Thankfully I won't have to blend into an existing panel, but I'd like the front to look the same colour as the rest of the car if possible...1) Prep - I'm thinking something like 800 grit for a good key, or a Scotchpad...I won't need to Barcoat them, will I? I believe the red is solid, i.e. not lacquered, but I don't know what the original Peugeot factory paint type was - acrylic perhaps?2) Sand between coats of colour - what grit, 800?3) Then, lacquering - does this go on top of the final colour coat without sanding it, or should it be sanded smooth (800, 1500?) first?I'll post up some pictures over the weekend of the Work In Progress - I'm praying for good weather.

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Firstly - Good luck.Have you sprayed metalic before?I admit I have never held a spray gun in anger - but I am the man with a rattle can!I would say the 800 grit key in idea is spot on, but I would go finer between coats.Final coat in metallic needs to be a "drop coat" which involves spraying from further away and dusting the paint on from one direction - i.e. not swishing the gun around.I would laquer straight ontop once its dry.I shall stand back now while those who really know what they are doing shoot my well meaning advice down in flames! :D I'm pretty sure even a straight red Peugeot would be laquered.My 405 and 205 both were - and they were both red (mainly!)

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Thanks for the tips, Tontops.I've sprayed metallic a few times, but mainly in areas that aren't normally seen - "chassis rails" under the bonnet of my Opel Rekord and Vauxhall Senator, and the underside of the bootlid on the Rekord, where an ultimate finish wasn't necessary. I did spray the front wing of my Mk2 Cav, but because I didn't lacquer it it looked a bit flat!I'd heard that a higher mix of thinners and more distance is good for the final coat, so I'll give that a go. I'll also stock up on 1200grit paper for the final sanding. I've got panel wipe and tack rags, so it's just a case of hoping that the Workmate will support the weight of a bonnet on it's side on the lawn - last time it rained I had to spray on the patio, under the awning, and there's still Vauxhall Silver Green metallic on some of the slabs where I didn't put enough dust sheets down :oops:

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Good luck indeed!I once sprayed a car using a borrowed compressor which, when I looked into it later, was way below par for the job. I used cellulose, and used better quality thinners as the top coats approached, top tip from a pro I talked to. Although I swept out the garage a few days before, and wet the floor to stop dust blowing about, I still managed to get foreign bodies in places, and practically wore down my finger ends with the grit. End result not too bad, and if I'd bothered to mop it properly would've been near enough perfect. I'd run out of hours and enthusiasm by this point.And wear a decent mask! I used a paper thing from Halfords, next to useless, I was blowing blue snot for days afterwards :lol::cry::lol:

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With metallic the lacquer reacts with the basecoat. You do not need to sand between coats. Prep the panel, 800 is good for final sanding, however, I would sand with 320 or even 180 first and prime the panels, then use 320, 600 and then 800 to get the primer really smooth. (The metallic basecoat is very thin and highlights any scratches etc). Then apply the basecoat, you may need 4 or five light coats to ensure full coverage, like I said its very thin. Then leave the final coat to dry a maximum of 20 minutes. I suspect you left it too long last time and that is why the lacquer lifted. Then apply the lacquer, three coats maximum I usually apply one light coat and then two 'wet' coats (as much as you can without getting any runs) to give you a smooth,glossy finish. You can flat it with 1500 and polish it to get rid of any imperfections, but I would leave it a week or so to fully harden before you do this. Are you sure the polyester basecoat is cellulose? I thought that polyester basecoat would be 2K, but may be wrong.

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Thanks mirafioriman, that's very useful. I'll add some primer to the shopping list - might as well get a litre of it to run through the compressor, as I've only used High Build Acid Etch rattle cans in the past.Interesting comment on the polyester front, this was paint purchased for my previous 405 estate (which was multicoloured, funnily enough...) when I asked for cellulose, I never did get round to painting it though as the new car came up for sale so I just gave the paint to the person I sold it to. I'll doublecheck with my friendly paint man tomorrow.

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Rich, I used to be a car sprayer (many moons ago) I'll PM you with some info tomorrow.Main thing is to spray the red panel white first - it will stop the colour bleeding through and will also mean you can put the same amount of colour coats on all panels. You don't need any wet & dry, a grey scotchbrite pad from your local auto paint supplier is all you need along with a bucket of warm water and a bar of soap.More info when I have more time!S

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