Okay, I've been reading heaps from here, and checking out sights, and think I might have it right, but please let me know if it isn't. Also, I apologise for my typos.

1. First I strip car of panels.
2. Wash down with the car wash (one that removes the polish etc). I have a high pressure blaster, so will be using that.
3. Go over car, remove all rust. Where rust has come thru sealant (near front wheel) then do following:
remove sealer
blast
weld hole
rust converter
primer
sealer - thinking of silaflex 227
4. Rust converter in all other places (inside of doors etc) thinking of using Pentrene.
5. Now, fine filler for the small bumps (stone chips/pin holes & very small dents). Hard filler for the larger bumps/repairs that were done.
6. Rub it back dry with 180 grit
7. High fill/Spray putty over car
8. Rub back dry with 320
9. High fill again
10. Rub back dry again with 320
11. Primer
12. Rub back wet with 800 (using some metallic paint, so figur emay as well us 800 all over)
13. Primer
14. Rub back wet again by hand using 800
15. Paint color - solid - first coat
16. wait 10-20 minutes
17. Paint color - solid - first coat
18. wait 1 hour
19. paint color - solid - second coat
20. wait one week for cure
21. Rub back wet again by hand using 1200
22. Rub back wet again by hand using 1500
23. Outline for flames (cover eberything) - use 3m tape
24. Paint using metallic spray cans
25. Rub back again using 2000
26. Rub back wet again by hand using 2000
27. Rub again with cutting compound - helps remove swirls
28. Polish up
29. Polish up
30. Polish up
31. Then if happy, put wax on it

Tell me if the order is right, and I have put enough primer coats etc on it.

Also, any ideas on what is a good product to use, keeping price in mind. I am doing this on what is to be a daily driver.

I am also going to put a sound deader (motosport) under the wheel archs, inside floor of car, inside of doors and back panels, & cargo lid. Should I also be putting it under the engine lid (I have read some ppl do and some don't)

Any ideas greatly appreciated. Sooner the better, as I am planning to do this, this coming week/weekend.

thanks
D4

errrr a very detailed list but u forgot to tell us what you plan to paint the car in, 2-pac,acrylic etc?

depending on what paint yyou are going to use will give you different outcomes as to preperation and aplication..


steff.....................

oh, okay.

I am not sure what I plan to paint in...will check with da man.

I just know this week the color i picked is red. lol. it drives him nuts.

And now he won't allow me into paint shops, but I found a new one he doesn't know about, just around the corner.

Oh, hold on, I think it's enamel. Actually I am sure it is. I remember clean up with thinners, and and and...

okay, sure it's enamel.

can check tomorrow for sure if u want. Is 2pak or acrylic easier to deal with? I have time on my hands to fix, so if I need to do more to make sure it comes out good 9as in more primer etc etc) then happy to do so, just not sure how many coats of each I need, and if I need to rub back between each.

cheers
d4

Acrylic is definetely the beginners choice of paints - it dries much quicker, and as a result it is much easier to paint a complex shaped car like a beetle without getting runs.

Enamel will (my opinion only guys) give a marginally better finish, but it stays wet for seconds after it comes out of the gun - overspray is a bitch with enamel - you will find paint flecks stuck to everything in the shed / booth you paint it in. Acrylic overspray will dry before it hits the ground - all you then need to do is sweep up once you are finished.

Only thing I would question on your list is maybe 2 or 3 coats of clear at the end to protect the flames and give things some depth, and maybe is the 180 a bit coarse to start with ? (not sure its been a while since I painted a car). The last thing you want to do is put swirl scratches in the paint with the 180, and have to chase them throughout the rest of the process.

Finally, there is a really good product for small chips and dents (up to about 5 or 10c piece size) called spot filler, its red and it comes in a tube, but I cant recall the brand off hand. I'm sure there is several.

Have fun, and remember this - the painting is the easy bit, the preperation of the surface is most important !

thanks heaps.

I have put down the puttying/priming enough.

I always read prep is most important, so would rather know I need to do more prep now, b4 we start, then rather when it is finished.

Will put on clear coats. Will three be enough?? Also, do I need to sane between them also, if so what grit...2000??

cheers
d4

you need to ask Dave, he knows all about paint

which dave...thre are so many of them now..

ok i am a 2-pac man myself not acrylic but i have used it a little bit since i moved to australia.... so i will try to help as best as i can....

rubbing with 180 is fine to start with but you will need to go over with 320 dry after and then 800 wet... so the list is as follows


1.. strip car down, panels off rubber out etc etc etc

2.. sand back and look for rust,holes,dents etc etc

3.. repair holes rust with what ever is needed and sand area for a high fill primer

4.. double check panels for dents and so forth so that when your prime the car you dont swear and curse about the one u missed and have to strip the primer back off in the area affected and start again

5.. when totaly happy with repairs and such a good prime, now if it was 2-pac it would be three to four heavy wet coats. with acrylic i have no idea so have to find out that one...( dont forget to guide coat when done with black )

6.. when primer has cured you can rub back with a long block with 180 grit dry, doing it this way will cut the primer down giving a smoother finish than if u did it with a higher grade paper cuz it does not need the pressure to cut back there fore will glide over any wobbles and smooth the finish out.

7.. re guide coat and rub back with 320 dry. doing this will take any 180 scraths out of the primer and give a smooth finish.

8.. re guide coat again and rub with 800 wet and dry paper. do it wet this time and you will have a finsh that u can paint anything over with no scrathes showing after you pain... it also washes the car down a bit and helps with getting rid of the sdust and such from the car. when you have rubs with 800 give the car a bloody good wash down , rememeber not to use a wash and wax or silcone based product as you will get nasty problems when you come to paint.

9.. the car is now ready to mask up and paint.

this is where u will need advise from people that have more time with acrylics but from what i have seen u put 4 to 5 coats of colour on then the same of clear coats

sorry i can be of no more help , i hope it all goes to plan and u have one sweet looking ride when finished


steff...........................

sorry forgot to put DON'T do any sanding of primers with air sanders or such!!! do it all by hand... you can use the machines but it takes a lot of pratice to do so and i wouldn't attemt it becasue it can make for a very ripply panel and finish. i have seen a few jobs over the years that people have spent ages getting there cars ready only to ruin them by using sanders to finish off



steff...................................



steff................

Definitley use a combined primer filler as it saves a lot of time and work. You dont need to multiple putty, rub, putty, rub, prime, rub, prime, rub etc

If you get your body work straight, the putty will fill the sand marks in the filler which I like to finish with 180#

Putty doesnt fix dents.

Acrylic will give you lots of flexibility. Even experienced painters still get runs and dry spots in two pac, and that is another experience job getting those cut out. Although there are some poorly skilled/ lazy tradesmen out there.

Dulon by Dulux, or Standox acrylic are good choices. I know they are a good product used in good hands.

Standox was good for me too, and I am far from experienced

I am far from a pro too but am happy with how my garage paint job turned out. This won't explain every step but may give you some details of how my project turned out (done in base coat clear coat two pack):

for body work:
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/gallery/album148 

for paint:
http://www.netspot4u.com/~manxclub/gallery/album192 


here is me having a crack at it:



cheers
alan

thanks das...

1 - sand back rust

2 - dip brush into housepaint

3 - paint car

kikko - urs sound so much faster....but still, think i'll skip...

maybe for edith - but not for elton...and definately not for gene

sounds like ur gonna do a mighty fine job donna, hope all goes well with plans

i just have to work out the darned color scheme...for elton...the others are sorted, but elton...drives me crazy...

i'm looking for wild colors scheme...

thinking if it were elton john, what colors would he be wearing...

sparkly purple with cream - so purple pearl with cream flames..
red and cream - like old school kool
blue and silver - blue with silver ghost flames..

just not sure...

any ideas...

here is what the blue and silver ghost flames would look like for ya, sorry bout it being on a crapodore but work is work

.


now u get an idea...


steff......................

what paint colors were used....

what about more solid tips....i like it...just looking to make elton that little bit more of a stunner....

did u do the work??

the colours were holden bermuda blue (the colour of the whole car) and the silver was with a simmering sliver pearl by ppg, it one of the true lines that does not have an opposite flip like normal pearls.

the whole idea of a ghost flame is to be hidden and not stand out much, to be honest they are not a true ghost flame as they are done in silver, a bifferent blue pearl would have been a true choice but i like the affect of the silver

yea i did the work, i used to do a whole heap of custom work. still do some but not much call for it round my way.... bummer really as i enjoy it more than just painitn the cars/bike/ etc etc:duh


steff.........................

here is a link of what i'm thinking....silver and blue should be good...

http://personal.cfw.com/~ctvert/flames.htm 

but then i think it's too subtle....

thinking is ...if it were ht real elton, woud he settle for subtle...i kinda want to take it out there...but tastefully so...

any ideas??

where is c-qld r u??

[Edited on 16-3-2005 by bugeyedbabe]

myself i wouldn't flame it at all but thats me, i would come up with some other artwork, but as i say its a personal thing and everyone has there own taste.........

if you go the flame road then the beetle screams for whispy flames not short dumpy ones. they need to have a long flick with plenty off curves to match the car shape... try to imagen the ones i did on the crapodore but roughly twice as long on each flick .

the other thing to think of is flames that peak in the middle(like on the link u showed me) tend to make the car look miss shaped, almost shortened where as having the sides go back down the guards,even just into the doors makes for a longer sleaker look, also will make the whole car look lower.

sit down and really think about the car, what wheels, seats,stero etc etc everything and go from that. if your doing a car that will stand out and make people look but being loud,mad etc then your paint should match, if your building a subtle style then ghosting is the way to go... give you an idea i am in the middle of a babj build and its the sorta car that really stands out so it had to ahve a stand out paint job, cant give a stand out car a subtle paint job ... u knows...


i am up in Gladstone, fair bloody way from brissy

steff..............................

was thinking i have family in roma and townsville, so may not have been...

in my head i have long whispy flames, in two colors over each other....
but just can't seem to get it out...

and nothing to play with...like build a bug, sort of thing..

like the above...thinki need to go back to elton himself, look at his color choice in costumes...then think of how to apply it....

anything else i can look at...send pics, lots of pics....

also, should prep be different...more coats of something need to be aware of...

also, do u have pics of a geeko and frog for edith?? in my avatar...to go on one of her guards...

sorry to be a pain dub crazy...let me know if it gets to much

prep is no different to when you get the car ready for its main colour, infac tit is easier. you get the whole cr painted in its main colour and finnish it so that it is a one colour finished paint job.

then when you have the car to that stage give the panels u plan to flame a light scuff with a grey scotchbrite,mask up the whole panels then mask you flames so that only the bits you want to colour are showing.

apply your colour-s and when completly happy remove the masking (for the flame work) leaving you with the whole front end masked up and apply the coats of clear. doing it this way will give you only slight bumps where the flame edge is instead of a solid line. when its all cured properly you can nib back and polish and have a totaly smooth finish:thumb

as for pics give me a couple of days to hunt around, i have heap but they need to be found also to get ideas just flick through car mags. even the ricers ones as you mite find a style of flames u really like and having a picture is always a help.

Another thing you can do is draw a outline of a bug on paper, photo copy it a heap of times then sit there and play, get friend to do the main drawing if u suck at it:P but its a great way to get an idea, its not perfect but u get to see the genral idea infront insted of your head, its easier trust me!!!

steff.................................

thanks for all that steff...

not bad at drawing..

and my daughter is even better...she is 12 and sits in advance art classes...one day i ill scan a picture she did last year...it was amazing...and for her it was a rough copy...

but yeah, the painting is what was scarying me a little...but thanks for advice...

cheers
donna

your welcome, if u ned mroe help just holla :thumb

i am guessing you will change your mind a few times, thats just normal. the baja i am doing was going to be totaly different to how it is now, the only thing i went with is yellow,the patten,colours both changed about 20 times and right up to the masking stage, masked it up one way... sat back didn't like it riped it off started again and ended up with what u see . i do it everytime i do a car for myself,change most thigns a million time before i get to where i want u knows....

best of luck and HEAPs of pics

steff..............................