Rosco's paint tips

[rosco]

Moving right along....
It's bushfire season down here and there are some "unhealthy" people in our midst who like to see the local mountain afire.....

I have had to bring forward the cut and polish quite a bit earlier than planned, but have not really given it a solid bash.... just enough to get the grille back on and the car driveable if need be.....

I blocked back the outer (under headlights) baffle using 1200 & velvet soap - until the "flutter" was flattened out.
Likewise I did the same to the inner (next to radiator) but not fully down.

My preferred cutting (hand) is using Meguiar's "cleaners" and hard rubbing blocks with stockingnette bound around them.... as explained above.

The pix you see are after using these cutters, finishing off with their "Paint Cleaner" - there isn't any wax or silicone/sealant in this - I will come back in after a few months for the thinners to escape and the paint to "pull down" prior to the last block and polish....

These are the pix -







As mentioned somewhere in one of the volumes earlier - I had done this prior to the Tenterfield nats and achieved a like result - only to have preceding vehicles in rain throw up a barrage of missiles and chip/crack/dent my work.....

I went to a security door manufacturer and purchased some "offcuts" of black powder coated stainless security mesh. I was going to fit it in one length but found it impossible to fit/remove without damaging (even though I had fitted the surrounding rubber "edges") so eventually cut it into three pieces.
They were held in place behind the grille by gal wire - but this caused issues with staining the "stainless" of the grille.... so I have now obtained some 1.6 mm stainless TIG rod and will bend and cut this to shape to retain the mesh.
There isn't an overlap of the pieces, but instead made them to form butt joints - which exist at the second vertical bar from each end.
This makes the joint undetectable from the front, but a quick peek in behind the mesh reveals how it has been concealed....

These are the three pieces - this material is almost bullet-proof and hopefully will curtail any further damage - the rectangular hole size is 1.6 mm but the rod is a very tight interference fit.....



That will be all for some time...... watchers may now "stand down"....

frats,
Rosco

ps - happy to answer any questions concerning this "project".... PM me if you want more....

[ekdave1962]

rosco your a ledgend mate .. the finishes you get out the old acrylic finish is just amazing clearly a man with a eye for perfection

[EKjimmy]

WOW! the paintwork looks absolutely amazing. hopefully I can follow your tips when the time comes to do mine and end up with a finish like that!
Very helpful and detailed information Rosco, thanks heaps
Jimmy

[rosco]

thanks Jimmy,
probably looks much better in the pix than it does in real life...... cameras can kill or over inflate reality..... this one is an over-rate....

Let me know if you want any suggestions - not always right - but I can back up anything I've done so far with hands on....

frats,
Rosco

[EKjimmy]

still looks good in photos-some paint jobs dont even do that! haha. yeah if i have any queries when the time comes for paint i'll give you a yell

[rosco]

Sure Jimmy,
pm's get through to me pretty quick - I go "off line" on the forum for long spells .... please excuse any delay if you post instead of pm.....

frats,
Rosco

[EKjimmy]

no worries at all mate, I'll do the same thing if i really get stuck into something I go off the face of the planet
Jimmy

[muza]

Not sure if PPG (Pittsburgh Paints and Glass) owns PPC or not.............though PPG have been on a buying spree of late.

Whatever coating company they don't own probably isn't worth owning.

I think I'll amend my earlier post.....don't know who reads this

thousands
this is the best thread i've ever read, hats off rosco!!!

[rosco]

BUMP!.... wow, it's been a long, long time coming back to this thread....

If any rep from "Mother's" is reading this - I'm happy to take some reward pressies for the following post.....

Acrylic - black.... product - Standox acrylic solid black... as used in my engine bay ... I learned just a bit more about the stuff today - and what works best with it....

All "blacks" actually have a base "colour" some are brown, some are blue.... and if you try to touch up one with the other - you won't ever get them to blend.... white is another so called "colour" which has to have the exact base compound to effect a touch up blend...... touching up either with an alien base will result in one being great - and the touch up "dirty" or super "clean".... so, folk - you've now got some more tools to use when looking over a vehicle.....

Let's walk back to April, 2008 when I finally got to spray the top coats of acrylic inside my luggage compartment... and it was photographed quite a bit at Yamba.. the last time anyone here has seen my old bus....

If I hadn't done such a great job spraying the stuff (my arms won't go all the way over my back for a big pat at present... too blasted well spent) all over the exposed parts of the boot - I'd have finished this project almost 6 years ago - I still don't know why it ran so well from the gun..... but it did.... and flowed out almost perfectly.. with just a bit of dusting here and there - which were removed a week later with some compounding. (See page 4 of this thread for the results returned to today.)

I didn't have enough time to block it back and compound the acrylic before Yamba (June) sprayed in April - I like more time than that to compound... and just left it untouched and unwaxed.... but rubbed off the overspray "dusting" to present something which was attractive...

I can now categorically state - 6 years is far too long to leave acrylic before compounding.... what I endured today was a series of diamond hard blockings... and I had to go down as far as 800 wet and dry just to break through the surface.....
With velvet soap as the lubricant and cleaner - it eventually let go and I could hear the cutting of the paper beyond that incredible surface .....

I am going to give away some more secrets here - so get your pen ready or print this out... for acrylic paint compounding.

My previous technique was a process of 11 steps... starting with 1200 wet/dry and velvet soap... replacing the paper as soon as it got the very first clog .... just one speck is enough to gouge deep into the soft layers underneath.
I then had another 10 steps of cutters, compounding pastes and then cleaners, polishers and waxes to reach my end goal..... time consuming - you bet......

After today - I'm now down to five....... pens ready?....
Ferrobrite "Buff the Scuff" - initial cutter, hand worked with solid metal backing plates for flat surfaces - "rolled" for curved ones. My technique is to "cross hatch"... at 90 degrees to the previous pass until the surface is an absolute flat dull finish with no "glossy bits" or voids....

Next - Meguiar's Diamond Hard 6.0... it says it's for machine compounding... but I find using the above - it absolutely leaps up a great polished finish after only a few passes with a lot of pressure....

For both of these, I use clean "stockingnette" - and ditch it as soon as it looks like the pad has shiny parts.....

I continue to work and work away with the 6.0 until I remove all cutting scratches - it is now very shiny, but not deep gloss.... there are now no cut marks in the finish.. it's just a bit semi-dull... but absolutely mirror (like it's fogged).

Now we come to my prize.... please, Mr Mother's.....

I have been through every polishing system know to the handy man.... and believe me, there is some crap out there.... some of it, which claims to be soft as a kitten - will rip layers off your paint... and others, which claim to leave a turtle shell hard coating - make the surface dull and "slimy"....

I found the AutoGlym stuff pretty good for a while.... but it wouldn't hang on.. and needed regular coating of the "resin" polish to protect the surface...

Then, along came Meguiar's (who did not ever forward me any retribution for my well know promotion of their products).... and I have used all of their products - some great.. some crap....

Something changed a couple of years back - my much loved "NXT wax paste" formula went feral......the stuffed up what was a great product - on the "old stuff" - we drove our little Hilux on a half lap around Australia with the caravan in 2010 and did not wax it once..... 4 1/2 months - just a wipe over when it rained - and a wash about once a month when we found a caravan park which allowed it..... I was sold on the stuff - cleaning the little truck up at home - not a mark... no abrasive micro-scratches from any of the "hard" washes... all the bird crap had not broken through... and salt, desert sand, mud, gum trees .... nothing - not a mark on the entire truck....
We upgraded (bad choice of words) to the 200 - and the very first thing I did was apply the entire Mequiar's wax process to the new vehicle - this was a new can of the 2.0 wax paste.... one week later - at Port Fairy........ bird crap on the bonnet - and it cut right through the coating, clear coat of the paint to the silver base beneath... that was the last time I used NXT 2.0... and have been searching for something to replace it with......I went back through what I had used previously - nothing came close to the old 2.0....

A friend has been raving about "mother's" for some time now... and I paid my $50 for a tub of Mother's Gold wax paste..... and haven't looked back... in fact - I now use the entire 3 step process of "polish", "ultra-fine renovator" and "wax paste".... it is (so far) working.. and yes, I have had bird crap on my cars - with no detrimental effect on the finish....

So, Mr. Mother's - if you change your formulae - I'm going to belt you for six on this forum.. and all the others I post to...
So, please play nice and keep me supplied with this great system......

Ok - back to my post.... rant over (you had is so good for so long, Gerry Mequiar - and you lost me)... even your rep couldn't give me the answers I needed.....

We've now got our target up to a "fogged" mirror finish - and I'm quite happy to announce the next three steps will bring it to full plated mirror finish.... provided you got to ground zero above....

I applied the polish with a foam applicator (there's Scot in me - so I cut my applicator disc pads into halves then cut them into 8 segments - that way, I get 16 pieces out of one pad).... this time, rubbing in circular fashion.. and overlapping each pass by one third (sound familiar?...you bet - just like I spray my patterns).
I leave it to haze then work it pretty hard with a microfibre cloth... and then repeat the process again... by now, the "depth" is beginning to show....

Next I go to the ultra fine (step 2 on the bottle) and repeat the process above.

If you have any problems at the end of repeating this second step twice - you need to go back.... back down to the polish - or even to the 6.0 - anything you failed to achieve will now show up like the proverbial "dogs ---- "..... no amount of applying polish or ultra-fine is going to bring any joy to your result.....

Once you get that deep mirror finish (and only then) should you apply a sealant wax....... it won't give any further depth or shine to your work - the wax just protect it and seals out the nasties.......
I leave the wax on for about 1/2 hour in warm weather.... then buff it off gently... you might just have to push a bit harder with any build-up... the canubra will dry that hard - and if you leave it too long - you are in for some very keen EG (elbow grease) to get it off.....
I repeat the wax coating the next day.... and again, only a 1/2 hour wait before a gentle buff.....

So far, folk - I have now applied this new 3 step "polish, renovate and wax" treatment to three of my cars - and they stand up pretty well....

I will take some pix of the boot tomorrow and post them up... I've only done half of it - every exposed piece from the seam joint of the inner/outer wheel arch to the centre of the back-board.. including up under the rear deck and all one side of the back board - 34 degrees for 10 hours with no air movement whilst crouched and laying down in the boot was more than I should have done today - but I have a smile on my face tonight.... very sore and stiff - but knowing I only have another 10 hour day to finish off a project which has been "wanting" for nearly 6 years.....

Hope some of this helps others..... it's my current method - and may change when I find something even better......

"Just" in case someone reading this jumps onto their fresh paint with 800 and wants to polish it with the above process...DON'T!!! the 800 will ruin any soft paint..... 1200 and lots of Velvet soap is the coarsest I'd suggest.. no gouging - or you'll be blocking back with 600 and re-spraying.

I only used 800 because the acrylic had pulled down so hard that 1200 wouldn't break the surface tension.....

Any question - PM me - and I'll answer what I can.....

frats,
Rosco

[rosco]

Ok, folk - as promised...... blasted well hot day here today - but I slipped into the garage for a few box brownie pix of yesterday's efforts....

Just before I add them to this, lets just take a stroll back through the recent history of this refurb.
I suppose I started stripping the body deadener I painted on back in the early '80's in about November of 2007.... we'll go back to January 2008 when I finally got it all off and treated the problem areas with de-oxidine and scoured it up....

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... 8c4cda.jpg

After this came the 1K etch primer - forget the lovely gloss finish on the backrest partition - that blistered up as soon as the acrylic primer hit it... I forgot that it was only enamel house paint on top of oil based primers....

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... b264e8.jpg

Then came the primers and guide coats until I was happy that all voids were filled and the surface was ready for top coating..

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... 38ae3f.jpg

We have now also applied Upol isolator to the back rest partition and primed that up a number of times to get a blemish free flat finish.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... c5e61b.jpg

So, after a few top coats and blocking backs to get a sound base of colour (excuse bad term) - we sprayed this final coat in a number of different masking sessions.
the confines of the area demanded that this be done - or the dust simply stayed wet enough to damage previous passes....
This next shot was where I left off in April of 2008.... the only other work done about a week later was a wipe down of the accumulated paint dust....and set course for the Yamba nats in 2008..

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... e76385.jpg

This now brings us to yesterday's cutting and polishing... as you have read in the above post....

Here's the results of 10 hours in the boot on a very hot/humid day.... half done - the left side is yet to be brought up...
See what you think.....

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... 841813.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... cde9af.jpg

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... c42a70.jpg

Also note the use of super-bright LED's in the channel space behind the upper boot-lid seal.
there are 30 on each side, which light up when the boot-lid is opened... there is also some security wiring and sensors built in....

Ok - my current arsenal of working acrylic...
These are exactly what I used to bring the finish up.... on top of the wax paste - you can see the two rubber backed metal flat plates I used for the 800 and the two cutting compounds.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17 ... 751b10.jpg

I used segments of foam applicator for the final polish/wax process...

More story to follow when I finish the left side...but it will be brief this time - just a repeat of the above... so more than likely - pix and not much narration....

frats,
Rosco

[muza]

Can't wait rosco. I reckon this is now the 4th time I've read this right through!!

[rosco]

Thanks Muza,
I feel so very sorry for you having to trawl through my dribble..... hopefully, you've got something from it and your efforts have brought a smile to your face...?

No more work done of late..... three week holiday down to the Lakes, an overhaul of the outboard motor cooling system and a lot more work on the caravan have curtailed anything further.

Now back on deck for a few weeks before the next break away.. but I have to pull the engine/trans out of the little Corona to change a pressure plate... and my daughter's upcoming wedding - so, I'm hoping to get back into the boot before the Cowra nats..... tick, tick, tick...

And anyone here who falsely believes you are going to get bored in retirement - is in for a very big shock!

Oh, and by the way - my having ditched the Meguiar's NXT paste (waste) wax for the shown Mother's Canubra has proved thus far to be effective..... 3 weeks in the sand/salt/dirt and heat.... after a scrub down with Mother's wash..... all good... not as slippery, but the surface is in good nick....

Like to hear from others who are also using this wax...

frats,
Rosco