i just wanted to give back some to this forum, and tips to anyone new who might be reading this and is doing a first time paint job of mistakes I have so far already with painting, to the experienced guys this is common sense stuff, but after watching 50 hours of videos and tutorials before I started, I just started making silly mistakes that didn't help my paint job

If an experienced painter can validate these are valid points it would be much appreciated

1 - the tiniest of scratches will show in the base coat, so fix it before hand, base coat is so thin that it wont hide anything, a primer might get away with it..... but if its not flat after the primer, the paint wont hide it either

2 - not holding the gun correctly! with my panel laid flat on a table in front of me, i kept forgetting to hold the gun perpendicular to my object, and instead at a 45 degree angle, just out of not thinking

3 - a small compressor, - when using a small compressor, if it cant keep up with the flow, the pressure on your gun will drop so you need to try adjust it on the fly if you are using a slow/small compressor , and try get an ear for listening to the pressure drop out of your gun, easier said than done as your compressor kicks in and makes a noise though

4 - stop chasing a wet look on base, i kept doing this and then with great regret would see orange peel on base, if you can see orange base on peel - its too thick anyway (correct me if I'm wrong experienced painters??)

5 - between base and clear... you might be washing out your gun - dry it aswell! or you might drop liquids on to the clear coat panel as i did.

6 - consider temperature, cold environments, mean thicker fluids, heat your clear and activators up in a tub of warm water with plenty of time to allow them to heat up and get warm so they flow better. ( base coats should not be heated i assume)

7 - spraying distance, i may be wrong, but i see videos where they spray a pinky to thumb distance, and this might be ok for the big funs, but a smaller gun should be held a bit closer - (experienced paitners can you verify this!)

8 - spraying back over a section I've just sprayed because i missed a bit - i found this causes you sometimes more damage, as the air pressure on the gun blows the "older paint" dry and flicks it around and doesn't let it dry , i found it better to just leave it and try catch the area i missed on the next base.

By no means - do i know what i am doing, but i just wanted to share some experiences so far, if i am wrong then please tell me guys so other people don't take my advice for gospel.

Yep, every single one is correct.

If you've learned just these lessons in your first job then you're on the way to making this a fun and productive hobby, maybe more. Learning never stops though - every day I learn something new.

One more to add.... Don't use anything other than a degreaser on panels! I was trying white spirit thinking it would be better... To discover despite wiping it dry my pain would bubble on top!

NFT5 wrote:Yep, every single one is correct.

If you've learned just these lessons in your first job then you're on the way to making this a fun and productive hobby, maybe more. Learning never stops though - every day I learn something new.

I have you thank aswell by the way. So helpful and a massive support on this forum

fabio1605 wrote:One more to add.... Don't use anything other than a degreaser on panels! I was trying white spirit thinking it would be better... To discover despite wiping it dry my pain would bubble on top!

White spirit is, I think, what we call Mineral Turps. Used to thin oil based house paint.

Yes, keep that stuff away.

But, for final cleaning a mixture of alcohol and water (50:50) will leave your panel clean and without the streaks that you might get from Prepsol.