Painting - how hard can it be....?
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 11:10 am
I’ve got some blank white Skidmarx fairings (both main lower panels and one centre panel) sitting in a box in my house waiting to be painted. I’ve found out what the colours I need are called and where to get them from, and I’ve got a few quotes from people on how much it would cost to have them sprayed, but all the quotes have been really expensive (I think), with the cheapest being around the £300 mark, which seems ridiculous. So I am leaning more toward the idea of spraying the panels myself – how hard can it be?
From what I can gather I need to get panel wipes and clean the surface, then prime with plastic primer, then paint, add decals and lacquer. Easy! But it probably won’t be as easy as that. I’m pretty confident about masking off different section where the colours are different etc but really I want to know how hard it is to do – am I being incredibly optimistic?
I know you have to get a good even covering of paint – so surely that’s achieved with a steady spraying action at a constant distance and that preparation is key, but I want to know from anyone who has had experience of spraying bodywork what the problems are – like am I likely to end up with shoddy looking patchy paint because I’m not a professional?
Also, I’ve read about west sanding down the paint after it’s dried – what’s all that about? If I’m using non-metallic paint and it’s going to be lacquered then that is what gives it the finish I want isn’t it?
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated because I am willing to paint myself but I’m really not sure if I actually should.
From what I can gather I need to get panel wipes and clean the surface, then prime with plastic primer, then paint, add decals and lacquer. Easy! But it probably won’t be as easy as that. I’m pretty confident about masking off different section where the colours are different etc but really I want to know how hard it is to do – am I being incredibly optimistic?
I know you have to get a good even covering of paint – so surely that’s achieved with a steady spraying action at a constant distance and that preparation is key, but I want to know from anyone who has had experience of spraying bodywork what the problems are – like am I likely to end up with shoddy looking patchy paint because I’m not a professional?
Also, I’ve read about west sanding down the paint after it’s dried – what’s all that about? If I’m using non-metallic paint and it’s going to be lacquered then that is what gives it the finish I want isn’t it?
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated because I am willing to paint myself but I’m really not sure if I actually should.