I GET MY STRIPES

Greetings! I laid some cool stripes on the hood of the El Camino Saturday and wanted to share the experience. 

For the first step I sprayed most of the hood with base coat black over the sanded and cleaned primer and then left the shop, intending to lay out the stripes first thing in the morning. The instructions tell me that I had 24 hours to clearcoat the black base, otherwise I'd have to re-sand it. No problem. Little did I suspect that early the next morning my daughter-in-law would go into labor and present me with another grandson. 

Needless to say, the new arrival trumped the hood stripes so I dedicated all day Saturday to getting the painting done. Since I'd waited longer than 24 hours, I re-sanded the base coat black before proceeding. Follow along and I'll demonstrate the procedure I use to paint graphics, and one of my rules is to mask the smallest areas and paint the big areas instead of vice-versa. You'll see what I mean:

Sanding the basecoat was difficult; even sanding wet, the paint balled up on my 600 grit sandpaper. It may have been easier to use a Scotchbrite pad. The gloss will be restored when I paint the clearcoat in the last step. So, to get started, I laid down two 3/4" tape lines that would become the space between my two stripes and to help guide my application of the 3M Fine Line Tape. I'll pull this masking tape off before I paint, it's just for a guideline as I pull the tape around the hood.

Next, I used a series of short lengths of 2" tape along the front-to-back contour on the hood to help me get my spacing correct for the length of 3/4" tape that would merely help me to make a straight line with the Fine Line tape. 

In the picture above I use the Fine Line tape and run a line from the inside of that green tape line, across the front of the hood and back up the other side to the windshield. Underneath the Fine Line tape it would remain black and become the outer edge of the paint stripe. To make a clean curve, as on these corners, you need to stretch the tape as you make the curve, otherwise it will pucker and leave a gap that the next color can seep into. I use the back of my thumbnail to impress the tape onto the black basecoat.

Here's a picture of the 1/4" Fine Line Tape. I used a tack cloth to rub any contaminants off the sides of the tape roll. If it's not clean, little debris & dust can prevent the tape from sealing well and allow the next coat of paint to get under the tape and ruin your clean line. For those who aren't familiar with them, a tack cloth is a sticky loose-weave cloth that small particles & dust stick to. It's an important preliminary step to any paint job.

In the above picture I've removed my green masking tape and used a roll of 1/8" tape to make a border all around both stripes. Usually, I use the thinner 1/8" tape to follow along the edges of each stripe, but in this case I wanted to see how it would look if I didn't go up the middle but just bordered both stripes as you can see. I think I like it.

In the next step I masked the two black panels but left the 1/8" Fine Line tape line exposed. At this point I'm ready for the color coat and I can't wait too long because the striping tape is so delicate that if it isn't painted over it will begin to pull loose. The paint coat kind of glues it into place.

It took me a while but I've finally got color on the body. It feels great to get to this point. I gave the color a few coats to cover evenly, let it dry for about 30 minutes and then I unmasked it and looked for places where the orange may have seeped through onto the black stripe. I didn't see any! Either I haven't lost my touch or I've gotten so ancient that I can't see well enough to spot them.

I used a tack cloth to remove any paint debris away from the hood stripes followed by a thorough rubbing with the tack cloth over the entire car. I wet the floor with a hose, mixed my clear coat with the catalyst and went back to work. The paint is sensitive before the clear topcoat is applied and you can't sand it (a metallic paint) or wait too long without the clear. If clear isn't applied within 24 hours at 70 degrees, it must be re-sanded. 

With the basecoat/clearcoat paint systems there is no shine to the finish until the clear is applied, but by using this two stage system I can make repairs much easier than if I was working with a single-stage paint that goes on shiny and needs no clear coat. There are many legitimate uses for the single stage, such as acrylic enamel. Door jambs, trunks, inner fenders, interior parts and such don't need a clear coat because the difference in gloss is not so great that it will detract from the job. It's also cheaper and easier to apply. But as you can see the results from a basecoat and clearcoat is very nice. I may take the time to sand the clear coat wet with fine sandpaper and then apply another coat or two of clear. By doing that the final clear coating lays very flat and smooth, producing a much higher gloss. That shine is measurable and is quantified in terms of Distinctness Of Image, or DOI. Man! It's a good feeling to get to this point. I'll come back tomorrow and inspect things up close. I always make it a rule to vacate the shop as soon as I clean up the spray gun and put things away. If I stick around I always end up touching it or dropping something on the wet paint. Thanks for looking!

Doug