To wet sand or not

[sonictherevenge]

Just wondering if you all wet sand the primer all the time. I just re primed the car and it looks amazingly smooth as is but should I go ahead and wet sand anyway.. I am going for a very smooth show room type finish.

[GeeBee]

Years ago I never bothered, but I do all the time now, looking back at some of my older builds you can see the difference in the final paint finish

[LoneWolf15]

The smoother the surface to be painted , the smoother the paint finish will be !

[sonictherevenge]

I normally use 800 to wet sand should I use another grit ?

[crazyjim]

Wet sanding primer is a must.

[LoneWolf15]

I take mine all the way up to 12000 . Yes , the paint will stick , I promise ! Again , the smoother the surface , the smoother the finish !

[BKcustoms]

What type of paint are you using? If it's Enamel Donn's method works great! If it's automotive paint (urethane) sand with 800-1000 grit, I've had issues with it not sticking that well when I use anything finer than that.

[Art Anderson]

I've "polished" the primer on every model car I've built since the first Micromesh polishing kits were marketed by Tom & Linda Gaffney (LMG Enterprises), back about 1980 or thereabouts. For "polishing" primer (I still prefer using automotive acrylic lacquer primer) I use a Micromesh 6000-grit polishing cloth with water--think of it as wet-sanding primer in scale.

My philosophy? The smoother the plastic surface, the smoother the primer, the smoother my paintjobs come out, meaning a lot less polishing after the finish coats are applied.

Art

[Baugher Garage]

I've always been intimidated by trying to paint anything "shiny" but these tips might give me some courage!

[Modelbuilder Mark]

yup.

[Bandit17]

I have a similar question, which grit sandpaper should I use to wet sand the color before I clear coat?