Painting Multi colours Help !

[Finny]

Any ideas on painting multiple colours on a car. Acrylic paint.
Painting experts or anyone who has done this before ?

Assume an FB, Body is Red, side colour is Silver and top half is Black, with Silver roof.
Black borders on Red and Silver is bordered by Red.
Picture shows how colour join.

Now the Black is straight but the Red and Silver are metalic/pearl, so they need a clear coat over the top.

What is the process for masking up and painting the various colours ?

At this stage I am looking at.

1. Mask out all non black parts of car and paint the black areas.
2. On another day, when black is dry. Mask out all non silver areas, paint silver areas, then paint clear top coats.
3. On another day, when silver is dry. Mask out non Red areas, paint red areas, then paint clear top coats. This is the main body colour.
4. When all dried, sand/cut/compound/polish back the top coats.

Any alternatives ? Or can the silver wait before the clear coat is applied ?
But then it couldn't be masked for the red painting without sticky from tape being left on paintwork and under clear coat.

Example pic so you get the idea.

[Harko]

Finny Id just clear the lot , the myth of clear yellowing or crows feet over time is gone , paints are a world away from that now .

I watched a mate spray his little hot rod last week in black , then (I was always against using clear on solid colors) he coated it with clear .

Now if you have painted something before you will know the look of the surface of the paint when it drops on , and you know when you went too thick or too thin .
Well his was a little thick and orange peely - very mild on acrylic but the clear over the surface flattened it and gave it a lustre different to paint that was so deep it blew me away , looked like an average 2 k job.

My opinion ofcourse

[Finny]

Thanks, good ideas.

But I wasn't sure how long you could leave metalics/pearl before you had to put the clear on.

I thought you needed to do it all in the same day.
Not sure what happens if you don't ?

[Harko]

Hmm I know the clear gives them there UV protectant , but I would imagine atleast two weeks before all the thinners dries out of it , If its 2k then apparently each layer sits on the previous where acrylic blends with each previous layer as the thinners evaporates..

I am no expert here just adding what I am aware of.

[bootlegger]

Use the green low tack tape when masking off the areas so you reduce the chance of the paint lifting off. If there are no chrome strips covering the lines then use fineline tape to get a sharp line.

Ive had trouble with basecoat (especially mettalics) not bonding with the primer properly.

[EK JAY]

Finny i painted my wagon over a couple of days
and its turned out good so i would paint all the color
then wait a couple of hours or the next day
if you can keep the dust of it and then clear the whole car
at once just keep going round and round
this could be wrong but ive done both my cars this way
and i think they turned out ok
and what bootlegger said get some decent painter's tape
for masking up

[rosco]

Hi Finny,
I don't have a lot of experience with pearls/metallics so can't help with any of that.
The old chap who led me through spray painting put up a pretty good case for laying darkest colours over lighter ones....

In my modelling (not fashion - sorry chaps) life - I learned to spray a very thin light coat of the masked off colour where the tape edges were - left for a short time and then oversprayed with the contrasting colour - when the masking tape was lifted, this initial run of base colour prevented "bleeding" of the second colour under the edges of the tape.

I haven't done this in an automotive application - yet..... but it is one option I am looking at trying...... most likely will not work as it may impact on the overall layering/panel profile..... but I'll let people know when I've done it and post my results regardless......

frats,
Rosco

[FB Cruiser]

G'day Finny, I would paint all the solid colours first and leave them to dry( a few hours or overnight) then i would lightly rub them with 800 wet and dry. Mask up so you can shoot the silver then remove the masking and paint the clear over the whole car, Get a tack rag and tack of the dust between coats before the clear coat, just don't wipe the tack rag on the final coat. I always paint the biggest of the colours first. I hope this helps. Cheers pat

[Finny]

Thanks for the various ideas.

So I'm planning these stages ?

1. Mask out all non black parts of car and paint the black areas.
2. When black is dry. Mask out the black painted areas, paint car with metallic Red. (Doors, bonnet, guards, tailgate are painted separately as they are still off the car)
3. When Metalic Red is dry. Mask out non Silver areas, paint Silver areas.
4. Clear coat the entire car.
5. A few days / weeks later, sand/cut/compound/polish back the top coats.

Only issue is lining up the Silver on the front guards, front and rear doors and rear section, without having the doors hinged and lined up on the car.

If I hang the doors, then don't get into the hinge areas that well when painting.

[Trev]

Paint the door jams, inside the doors tailgate bonnet etc, then put them on the car and paint it all together!
Trev .

[FB Cruiser]

What Trev said, it would be better to paint the car together, that way eveything will line up and you can also get an even spray pattern of the metallic paint, that way the paint won't look different between panels. Cheers Pat