[Spits] Singe stage ot two stage paints

[Stuart Greenwood]

To me it depends on how experienced you are at spray painting and how good a
spray booth you have.
Base coat clear coat systems are very foregiving. You don't get any runs in
the base coat since you are not after thickness so the spray gun is set to
deliver a fairly paint density.  The clear has to go on much heavier and you
can get runs but these are easily buffed out with a 3000 grit compound and a
rotary buffer. If the spray booth you are using is not looked after ( i.e
clean inside and the filters reguraly changed)  you will get dust  specks in
the clear. You can also get orange peel due to inexperience with the spray
gun. But if you wet sand the clear with 2000 or 2500 grit you can most of
these problems. Put 3 coats of clear on to give you some depth to wet sand.
I've just finished my 71 Spit  with base coat/clear coat in Damson Red, it's
original colour. I knew I was going to get dust since I inspected other cars
which  used the same spray booth ( one at a local College) and orange peel
because I had never sparyed a  car before but I was amazed at just how I could
get this out with a wet sand and then 3000 grit buffing to get the shine
back.
The Damson red does look lighter and more glossy than the original paint... as
I could see by looking at areas of the car which still had the original paint
like the underside of the trunk lid.  So I repainted inside the trunk lid,
inside the doors and inside the bonnet.
At 5 foot distance the paint job looks really good, close inspection shows
some orange peel and remanants of dust.  To the normal layman, who doesn't
know what to look for in a paint job, it looks terrific.
With some single stage you can't  wet sand so you can't get rid of your
mistakes without starting again.  The guys who used single stage at the
college booth were stuck with runs and dust spots. Maybe there are some single
stage paints that can stand a wet sand I don't really know. But to me you must
be able to wet sand

Stuart a Greenwood
71 Mk IV Spitfire, 71Mk 1 Stag