Hi guys I just learned how to post pictures so watch out !! Here is my recent work from my first attempt at painting I am as newbie as they come , but have learned a tremendous amount of intel from everyone on this site . Just reading others conversations is helpful when its people who know what they are doing thanks for all the help so far I have much to learn check out my pix and give me some feedback if you could is the OP severe or manageable the pic with the hood ornament closeup shows the OP really well thanks

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/gs45572/

By gs45572

By gs45572

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By gs45572

By gs45572

By gs45572

By gs45572

By gs45572

By gs45572

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By gs45572

The orange peel isn't any worse than what you are going to get out of a collision shop. Are you planning on sanding the clear flat and buffing for a "show" finish, sanding some of the peel off to reduce the texture but leave some behind, etc? Depends on how many coats of clear and how crazy you want to get

That car looks awesome, especially for your first shoot. That OP is very manageable, as AmateurPainter said, you could get real crazy with it and basically eliminate it. I'd wet sand that thing with some super fine paper and buff it with a good compound. Just gotta be careful when you do that though, depending on how many coats of clear you laid down you could burn through.

In fact, maybe it's just me but the clear looks like it got sprayed on a little dry. You could even sand the clear enough to get through most of the orange peel and respray the clear. Add a few coats, let it cure, wetsand it with some super fine paper then buff it. She'd shine then!

thanks amateur painter and ritualsin, I appreciate your feedback.Han suggested 800 , but I think for my skill level or lack thereof I should take a less aggressive approach and spend the extra time sanding. I could go less aggressive w/ 1500 and see where it leads . this is not a sprint but a marathon , dont want to burn through or ruin what I have done so far .I am going to let the machine do the work . I am going to do some test sanding on trunk deck and see what happens , but I am doing 1500 with a Mikita 9227 that just arrived today , so I have some learnin to do on it . When I am confident that I am ready to roll I will go for it . Ijust got the 3M system today at the local Paint World for 99.00 bucks and am ready to explore . I never thought this was going to be this much work OR this much fun Thanks

Han said 1000. DarrelK said 800.

1000 > 1500 > 2000 > 3000 is the ticket. Don't just do 1500. Finish sanding
to a finer grit will make the compounding stage MUCH easier going.
Burning through clear while trying to buff out courser scratches happens,
and not so much durring the sanding stage.

You're right Han that's probably the best way to go. I resurfaced bowling balls in a Bowling Pro Shop for a while, and when I first started I thought "Why not just jump to the finer paper, or skip some steps?" I learned quickly that it always turned out better and ended up being less work in the long run to just do it an increased number of smaller steps.

Taking your time and working your way up from fine to extremely fine is the best way to go. You've got a better chance of removing more of the imperfections and it'll make it that much more worthwhile in the end.

thats a good looking car i had a 72 hard top but i was young and stuped and turned it in to a dirt track car wish i had never done that

I love the car