| I went to a local junkyard back in the day and picked up an old fender with some dents and rust in it to practice on. Painting is like putting the icing on the cake - all the work is in the preparation of the part. Once I had the process down, I prepped my Mazda pickup, which took about two weeks to do in my spare time. It only took me about two hours to lay 3 coats of base and 3 coats of clear. Although it goes quickly as compared to the prepwork, having the ability to lay paint properly cannot be accomplished in short time - it is mostly a matter of experience with the materials (paint) and the tools (spray gun) you are working with. Some paints are easier to use than others - I used Dupont's Chroma system and have enjoyed working with it: the clearcoat has a wide margin of tolerance before it wants to run, which makes it better for the beginner... but I still managed to produce one small run in the painting process. You can sand them out and buff it once the paint is fully cured, which is what I did and you can't even tell it ever had a run. The trick is to get enough paint/clear down that it flows, but not so much that it runs. The margin between these two metrics will make a difference on the final appearance of the paint. You are in for the long-haul if you decide to do this yourself, so be prepared.
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[ agpowers@bellsouth.net ] Enthusiasts soon understand each other. --W. Irving.
Are you an enthusiast? If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.
Albert Einstein
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