Hello Everyone,

Just getting my game plan together before I spray my base coats. The scenario is:
I have a 1968 Mustang Coupe that I am restoring. I have a Devilbiss Finishline gun with a 900 CC cup. The paint manufacturer recommends spraying 3 coats of their base (Matrix Premium Base), or whatever it takes to get coverage, with a 1.3 tip at 23 PSI inlet pressure.

My questions are:

1) When I get to the step where I am ready to apply the base coats, should I mix all the paint I think I need for all 3 coats, at that time (the product has an infinite pot life as long as No Activator is Added)?

2)Also, how much spray-able material do you think I'll need per coat? I'm doing the entire exterior including: trunk, all jambs, underside of hood and deck lid, everything except the bottom of the car.

Thanks for your advice ~ Lenny B

I just found "68 Coronets" post on how much paint per panel and using the 8 oz per panel rule, I come up with I need about 96 ounces of spray-able paint to apply one coat on the entire car.

Hood (2 sides) = 2 panels
Deck Lid (2 sides) = 2 panels
Doors = 2 panels
Fenders = 2 panels
Quarters = 2 panels
Roof = 1 panel
Front and Rear Valances and Jambs are all small = 1 panel

Total 12 panels x 8 oz = 96 ounces of spray-able per coat.

Does this sound about right? And is it a good practice to mix enough for all 3 coats at once? I plan to apply all the same day after flash times.

for base that's close, there are a lot of variables but that's a good place to start. you should by a gal. and if you run short you can mix more.
Jay D.

I like to activate my base coat so I only mix a quart to start with and see how far it gets me.
Not sure what your overall plan is but I recommend you remove the hood, trunk lid, doors and front fenders.
Shoot the underside of the hood, inside of the doors, jambs, interior, etc. with 3 coats of color and 3 coats of clear. Let that set for a day or two in order for the clear to harden and then reassemble the car making sure to get all your gaps correct.
Mask off the gaps and the shoot the whole exterior of the car at one time. When you get to this point you can mix enough for 1 full coat and then gauge what you used and adjust accordingly.

i use the process above, but ive never put activator in my base (wat benifits are there??)
to mask up the jams, i use the foam with gum on it, then you get a soft edge, its cheapish and easy as hell!!
krem

Basically it helps with repair issues.
Reduces/eliminates the chance of wrinkling the base with solvents during repair.
Last sand through I had when doing a cut and buff was a fast simple fix by just shooting more clear.

X2 on the foam tape for edging.

agree with above,^^^^ some base coats now recommended or require a catalyst. Chromabase years ago was no catalyst but now is, same with Nasons so it must be good for something. years ago if you tried to spot a sand through you had about a 50% chance it would lift. now with the catalyst you don't see it much. also it helps adhesion below and above.
Jay D.

The tech sheet for the base I plan to use says, "mix the base and reducer 1:1." It also says that adding 5% activator is optional. It sounds like adding the activator is probably a good idea to me since there is a good possibility I'll need to fix mistakes later.

I just get an extra can of clear coat activator and use that.

i'm in the same situation with my first project. a small 1979 rabbit and i have typical mixing cups from local dealer. just putting one coat of sealer on the outside of this car with no panels on it used more than the max i could get from one mixing cup! so i was freaking out and mixing on the fly. i would rather not. so my for dinky car i am going to probably need 4 of those mixing cups full to get my 3 coats.

so obviously i follow my products techsheet as far as potlife.

but do you just mix a few batches up and then dump all the paint into one bigger container and put a lid on it, then mix and refill paint gun when needed with a strainer?

sounds dumb but i was worrying about how to do this, and never thought of a bigger container lol. should the paint stores sell larger mixing cups so you can do bigger batches at once?