How do you get a deep, deep smothered in honey glossy paint job?

[JollySipper]

A lot of getting a nice shiny paint job has to do with how smooth your primer is...... It's really mostly in the prep work! That, and spray technique... When I spray anything, I always shoot for close, fast passes. That goes for primer, too. Clear especially gets sprayed "wet" so there's little if any polishing needed. This model wasn't polished, I just shot the coats of everything as wet as I could without getting runs.

Again, close fast passes will get you less orange peel than "mist" coats.........

[Plowboy]

12 hours ago, conchan said:

Thanks for finding the missing step!

it is greatly appreciated!!

stay safe and enjoy!

You're welcome Conrad! Do the same technique you're doing. Just sand your clear smooth before polishing. Your technique is almost exactly the same as mine. I typically spray only two coats of clear, allow it to dry a day, sand with 2000, clean and spray the third coat. Allow it to dry 2-3 days depending on the temperature. Then sand with 2000, 4000 and polish. I have just sanded with 2000 and went over it twice with the Course polish. It's about the same difference. 

[TransAmMike]

5 hours ago, JollySipper said:

A lot of getting a nice shiny paint job has to do with how smooth your primer is...... It's really mostly in the prep work! That, and spray technique... When I spray anything, I always shoot for close, fast passes. That goes for primer, too. Clear especially gets sprayed "wet" so there's little if any polishing needed. This model wasn't polished, I just shot the coats of everything as wet as I could without getting runs.

Again, close fast passes will get you less orange peel than "mist" coats.........

Whoa T.J., thats a great looking Porsche.

[TransAmMike]

No doubt sanding to smooth out the finish is the way to go.  My problem is I always seemed  to sand too much so I hesitate to do it anymore. My go too clear lately has been Future (I still have some of the old stuff).   The number of coats will give you the desired shine.  Just my 2-cents?

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

No doubt sanding to smooth out the finish is the way to go.  My problem is I always seemed  to sand too much so I hesitate to do it anymore. My go too clear lately has been Future (I still have some of the old stuff).   The number of coats will give you the desired shine.  Just my 2-cents?

You definitely have to be sure that you have adequate clear coat depth to cut and polish.

That should go without saying.

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

1 minute ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

You definitely have to be sure that you have adequate clear coat depth to cut and polish.

That should go without saying.

 

 

Steve

I do understand that Steven, it's the color coat before clearing that scares me (the sanding).

[Sandboarder]

5 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

You definitely have to be sure that you have adequate clear coat depth to cut and polish.

That should go without saying.

 

 

Steve

Just remember it’s a fine line between adequate depth and that smothered in honey, too thick and lost details.

 

Best bet IMO is to lay smooth Hobby primer, smooth Hobby colour coats and then a couple of layers of smooth Hobby clear paint. 
 

The smoother the paint the less chance you need to sand. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

2 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

I do understand that Steven, it's the color coat before clearing that scares me (the sanding).

I never sand color coats. (especially if the paint is metallic)

As a matter of fact, I don’t do a lot of sanding on the primer coats either.

I save it all until the end, after the clear coats are finished.

 

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

1 minute ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

I never sand color coats. (especially if the paint is metallic)

As a matter of fact, I don’t do a lot of sanding on the primer coats either.

I save it all until the end, after the clear coats are finished.

 

 

 

Steve

Good to know.  I would think a light spot sanding on any minor imperfection would be warrented in some cases.

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 minute ago, Sandboarder said:

Just remember it’s a fine line between adequate depth and that smothered in honey, too thick and lost details.

 

Best bet IMO is to lay smooth Hobby primer, smooth Hobby colour coats and then a couple of layers of smooth Hobby clear paint. 
 

The smoother the paint the less chance you need to sand. 

Of course.

But as I always polish my models anyway, I just do them all the same way.

The more consistent your painting regimen, the less chance you will have for issues.

Luckily for me, my regimen includes nothing but lacquer paints, and an average of 5 coats of Duplicolor clear, which even if applied wet with all coats, goes on thin enough that it won’t hide detail, or exhibit any excess buildup, and provides plenty of depth and toughness to guard against burning through the clear during the cutting and polishing process.

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

8 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

Good to know.  I would think a light spot sanding on any minor imperfection would be warrented in some cases.

If I do any sanding at all to remove debris on a metallic color coat, I will give the entire body another light coat to ensure even coverage.

Sanding metallic paint can cause strange blotches that might not be entirely evident, but can be greatly magnified under clear coat.

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

3 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Of course.

But as I always polish my models anyway, I just do them all the same way.

The more consistent your painting regimen, the less chance you will have for issues.

Luckily for me, my regimen includes nothing but lacquer paints, and an average of 5 coats of Duplicolor clear, which even if applied wet with all coats, goes on thin enough that it won’t hide detail, or exhibit any excess buildup, and provides plenty of depth and toughness to guard against burning through the clear during the cutting and polishing process.

 

 

 

Steve

I  do appreciate your input Steve.  My paint jobs recently have been Createx  pearls and I have yet to perfect the process. Multiple coats of Future does smooth it out tho,

[Plowboy]

14 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

Good to know.  I would think a light spot sanding on any minor imperfection would be warrented in some cases.

I sand the entire body before primer, before paint and before clear unless it's a metallic paint. That way, every layer has some "tooth" to stick to. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

6 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

I  do appreciate your input Steve.  My paint jobs recently have been Createx  pearls and I have yet to perfect the process. Multiple coats of Future does smooth it out tho,

I understand Mike.

We all need to experiment and discover a process that works for us, is consistent, and as close to fool proof as possible, and that can often take years to perfect.

Everybody has different limits and expectations, and sometimes, no matter how much advice we receive, we just have to figure it out ourselves.

 

 

 

Steve

[peteski]

4 minutes ago, Plowboy said:

I sand the entire body before primer, before paint and before clear unless it's a metallic paint. That way, every layer has some "tooth" to stick to. 

The way I look at applying multiple layers of paint is that the solvent in the paint being applied softens (or melts) the surface of the previous (dry) layer, so no "extra tooth" is really needed.  To me sanding just to get some "tooth" is not needed.  But if the dry paint has some schmutz in it, sanding will be beneficial to sand the flaws out.

[StevenGuthmiller]

6 minutes ago, Plowboy said:

I sand the entire body before primer, before paint and before clear unless it's a metallic paint. That way, every layer has some "tooth" to stick to. 

I also sand the body prior.

I don’t generally worry about too much primer sanding, unless I feel it’s necessary.

I figure that the lacquer paints that I’m using have enough natural “etching” ability of their own that adhesion won’t be an issue.

At least I’ve never had any paint adhesion problems with the lacquers that I currently use.

But I can absolutely see the benefit depending upon the processes and materials being used.

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

6 minutes ago, peteski said:

The way I look at applying multiple layers of paint is that the solvent in the paint being applied softens (or melts) the surface of the previous (dry) layer, so no "extra tooth" is really needed.  To me sanding just to get some "tooth" is not needed.  But if the dry paint has some schmutz in it, sanding will be beneficial to sand the flaws out.

Agreed.

At least with lacquers, the solvent should take care of the adhesion issues for you.

But I can absolutely see the point of sanding for extra adhesion if you’re working with enamels or acrylics.

I will attest to the fact that I myself have had adhesion issues with enamels in the past.

Part of the reason that I no longer use enamel for bodies.

 

 

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

Well can't say I have ever had an adhesion issue over primer with acrylic paints, craft or Createx.

[StevenGuthmiller]

10 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

Well can't say I have ever had an adhesion issue over primer with acrylic paints, craft or Createx.

That’s not to say that you will have issues with adhesion, but I can see the possibility with a low solvent paint.

 

 

 

Steve

[conchan]

On 6/21/2022 at 3:01 AM, Plowboy said:

You're welcome Conrad! Do the same technique you're doing. Just sand your clear smooth before polishing. Your technique is almost exactly the same as mine. I typically spray only two coats of clear, allow it to dry a day, sand with 2000, clean and spray the third coat. Allow it to dry 2-3 days depending on the temperature. Then sand with 2000, 4000 and polish. I have just sanded with 2000 and went over it twice with the Course polish. It's about the same difference. 

Thanks for the reassurance. 
Will add the "extra missing" step on the next go around.

[Zippi]

I spent most of last year trying different primers, paints, and clear coats.  I never could achieve a mirror like finish that I was looking for but, I did get a paint job that I'm happy with and it looks more natural to me.  My 30 Ford coupe was painted with Tamiya acrylic paint thinned 2-1 with Mr. Color Leveling thinner.  I did not use a clear coat.  I just polished the paint.  

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Zippi