Hood fitment and paint?

[Jantrix]

Now that my 37 Chevy is done, I'm starting The Mongram Badman 55 Chevy. A few of my more recent builds had a problem where the hood fit just fine prior to paint, but not after. I guess a couple coats of primer, a coat of undercoat, three coats of paint and a coat of clear build up on the sides of the hood and fenders and then .... nothing fits. I'm going to try hard to avoid this pitfall this time around.

What are some methods you use to avoid this?

[Jairus]

Personally I paint one coat of primer and one color coat on any door, trunk and hood jams per model. You can do any number of coats on the rest of the car but the jambs (just like a real car) should only get one coat of color to ensure clean fitment.

When building a quality model car, you can learn a lot from the pros who paint and build the real thing...

[kingiguana]

With hoods, and trunk lids, and the like, I sand the edges to narrow, and/or shorten the panel. This way after primer paint and clear, it will still fit. It depnds on the fit before paint, if the raw kit is tight, then You know the painted verison will be to tight, and result in bad fir, or worse yet chipped paint.

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

With hoods, and trunk lids, and the like, I sand the edges to narrow, and/or shorten the panel. This way after primer paint and clear, it will still fit. It depnds on the fit before paint, if the raw kit is tight, then You know the painted verison will be to tight, and result in bad fir, or worse yet chipped paint.

This what what I try to do, but every few builds I forget. Then, I have to suffer the consequences of a tight hood fitment.

Edited September 23, 2010 by Marc @ MPC Motorsports