Painting with a spray gun...first time..

[Heaving Earth]

The basecoat will have a satin sheen to it. It really doesn't matter tho... After clear it will be super shiny. You could put flat paint on there and still get the same result after clear. Looking good

[egneg]

Looking very good so far.

[electric]

Well, I ran into some problems. The inter-coat is supposed to dry in 30 minutes to 1 hour. After about 1.5 hours it was (hard to describe, not really tacky, but not dry either). It kinda had almost a greasy feel? I tried to tape it off and the tape had trouble sticking and a few other mishaps occurred(don't use newspaper for tape off) that flawed the white paint a little. I waited another 2 hours, came back to it and it was no better.

So, I went to plan "B" since it is my b-day and my family would like to see me some time today. I put two more coats of white on it and went to the clear coat and called it done. It's going to be shiny white boat. I figured better to cut my loses at this point than risk the entire boat and a late night in the garage when I should be with my family.

A few things I learned so far:
1. I need better light when in there painting. Would help.
2. Next boat I am going to keep to a solid color rather than two colors. Pinstripe and go to clear. Once I get a single color good, I will go for the second color taping process. This second color adds a lot more complexity (Inter coat now needed, taping off, extra time and risk of damaging the first color).
3. Don't use newspaper to cover you boat when painting. I have done this in past with no problems, but to risky with the fresh paint. Seems pretty obvious now.
4. Find out what went wrong with the Intercoat? The only thing I can think of here is that possibly the white paint I bought used some slower drying reducer since it was purchased pre-mixed and ready to paint. Maybe that caused a problem?

Pretty happy with the outcome on the paint job overall though. The clear went on good and I am getting a 4" polisher for my b-day so I will put it to use and see what that does. I will share some pics, but it might be later this week because I have to leave early in the morning for a business trip. Would I do it again? You bet. I enjoyed doing it and will give it another try when I get the next boat built. I would like to try some airbrushing as well.

More pics to come later.

[Heaving Earth]

Dude, here's what you do, sand the clear and tape off for other color. Then paint and reclear

[electric]

Dude, here's what you do, sand the clear and tape off for other color. Then paint and reclear

I was pondering that. So what grit paper do you recommend to sand the clear? I think I may do that when I get back and the end of this week should go pretty quick to put the purple on and then re-clear.

[Heaving Earth]

800 grit

[Cooper]

Nice thread, I use rattle cans and airbrush the details. Found some useful knowledge on guns. And the idea of having a "clean" room, I paint in the garage and always battle dust. Might make up something similar for clean dust free air. :)

[Richie the shipwright]

You now know why great painters charge like they do. The quotes they give for faultless 2k paintjobs and airbrush art dont seem so big once youve had a go yourself hey?. Theres obviously the material cost, cost of running a booth/compressor/heater/lights...... Then theres their experience and skill. Great advice gentlemen!! I tip my hat to anyone who paints well. Its never a bad paintjob if you learned something from it i say. You certainly seem to have learned heaps from this experience. Well done man! :-)

[electric]

Thanks for the positive comments guys and the help. I took time to show this process and take pictures for two reasons. One was to get help from people on this forum who know what they are doing. Secondly, to document the good and the bad as I went so that the next person who tries this has some information on good practice as well as what NOT to do. Ok, I have an update.

I got home for the West Coat this afternoon and decided if I wanted to put the purple down tonight was the only time I was going to have to do it this weekend. So, I sanded it with some mild sand paper 1000 grit and worked off a rather astonishing amount of orange peel which I now fully understand what that is. I will also note that the dust comes off really easy and could be knocked off with a much higher grit if needed. I got the dust when I pulled the boat out with the still sticky intercoat last week and really fouled that up.

Well here are pics. The purple went on beautifully and then I went straight to the clear and that appears to have gone very well to. I decided to leave a nice white area where the tape goes on the hatch so I don't rip up the purple and go into depression. I tried some pin striping and discovered I need some practice and to do some research on how to get a nice straight line. Not thrilled with that, but all in all very happy at how shiny my 20 dollar boat is now. If you look close you can see me in the reflection.

The next step I am going to do after the paint dries for a week or so is hit with some really high grit sandpaper(for dust if there is any) and then try out a new 3" Griott's garage electric polisher I got to see how that works. My theory(someone can correct me) is that if you are an average painter you can compensate with a bit of wet sand paper and a really nice polish to get that high gloss shine?

Long day, but happy with the outcome.

[Heaving Earth]

Looks good man.

[electric]

more pics. See that tiny spec of dust on the third picture...arghhh!! I hate dust. chuckle...

[electric]

I have a question. I was on the west coast and it turns out one of the guys that works with me over there is a gear head and had raced dragsters and also done remote control gas boats, builds furniture..etc... Anyway I was discussing the finer points of painting and he asked me if I was painting with a water based paint or an acrylic. I told him I was using HOK paint. He agreed that was great paint, but suggested I try out the water based paints. What is the thought on those types of paints and who makes the best of that??

[electric]

Looks good man.

Thanks. Glad I talked myself(your suggestion) into not stopping and putting the purple down. HOK sure has some beautiful colors and it just looked really nice going down.

By the way. For others who may try this. I used 8ozs of white and just 4ozs of purple on this small boat. A little paint goes a long way when you are also doing primer and clear.

[egneg]

Solvent based paint is easier to use and gives a much nicer finish than water based paint. Be careful with the polisher - the last thing you want to do is burn through the CC.

[electric]

Pulled the boat off the hangers this morning. WOW. Really pleased with the shine and basically no dust. I really don't need to do much of anything more on it at this point. Best paint job I have ever done, but I know I could do better next time!