Spraying Base Coat with a Earlex Pro HV5000

27th April 2011.

With the primer coats now on the car it is important that it was rubbed down eliminating any sign of orange peel or other marks or scratches with 400 Grit Wet and dry . After some time I found that an ordinary sander was quite effective for the flat areas and the curves were sanded down by hand. It was pretty rough after this and it then had to be sanded by 800 grit to make the surface completely smooth. Once this was done some black basecoat was made up with 50% thinners to 50% paint. A small reveal spray was then sprayed on to reveal any further blemishes to the surface. This did reveal some undercoat drips and some cracks in the gel coat some which were filled and others rubbed down. The spraying process had to be done very delicately with the 2mm nozzle as the paint was very thin it had to be flash sprayed onto the surface and then on another before returning the first so as not to get to much paint on the surface in one hit. This prevented drips on the surfaces and lead to a gradual build up of paint on the surface.

Now although this sounds pretty easy it didn't lay on the car very well the first time so I used 240 grit to take it back to eliminate any surface problems before using 400 grit and then 800 grit to get back to a smooth surface that could be resprayed . The final spray of basecoat was much better and I was pleased with the results. I was eager to get on and get the buggy back to my garage to start building it up but the weather was not looking so good as it did and the strong winds made spraying very difficult.

I made some inquiries about the quantities of flake to use in the lacquer as I was ready to apply this. For one coat of lacquer use 200g in 0.5 litre of lacquer which consists of a 40% solution of thinners. For multiple coats use 100g in 0.5 litre of lacquer which consists of 40% solution of thinners on the first two coats.

Next time I would hopeful spray the Gold flake in the lacquer.