2
One drawback of painting with
aerosol cans is the dreaded
“orange peel” effect. Spray
cans do not have the finest mist
patterns, and this causes a dimpled
surface texture, resembling the skin
of an orange. Your next course of
wet-sanding is intended to flatten
the paint, removing every last speck
and dimple on the surface until it is
satiny smooth and slightly reflective.3
You should apply a
few more coats of
paint at this point
and repeat the sanding
process... again. For this
project, I stopped after
applying the second
round of paint, allowed it
to dry for a few days, and
then did my final sanding.4
For the top
panel, I used a
lacquer-based
“candy apple”
metal-flake paint
from Plasti-Kote.
Unlike the solid
enamel color, metal
flake should not be
wet-sanded directly.
In metal flake,
tiny metallic
particles aresuspended on the surface, creating a glitter effect. Sanding this
coat dulls those little metal bits. When applying metal-flake
paint, don’t spray the surface of the work in only two directions.
Rather, cover the surface by using a random combination of up
and down and left to right motions. This helps evenly distribute
the metallic glitter over the surface and prevents streaks and
clusters of particles. Your last coat of lacquer should be as heavy
as can be without creating pools or drips, and it should be
allowed to cure for 48 hours. After that, a few heavy coats of a
compatible clear topcoat should be applied.5
These clear coats must be wet-sanded with 600- to
2,000-grit paper until the surface is smooth, flat, and
orange-peel free.5 MA XIMUMPC MARCH 2005
paintyourcase
1
As with the primer,
shake the can of paint
for a minute or so and
give a 3-second blast of
paint onto a piece of scrap
paper to charge the can and
clear out any dried particles.
Start spraying the paint for a
moment off of the panel and
then across it in a sweeping
motion about 10 inches away
from the surface, ending
each course of paint off of
the panel. You should start
painting at the bottom of
the panel and work toward
the top, holding the can at a slight angle to the work so the spray
pattern is evenly distributed and slightly overlapping each course.
Don’t stop in the middle of your work and change directions
because this can cause the paint to pool and create heavy spots.
Color coats should be applied a little more heavily than the
primer, creating a nice wet-looking surface after a few passes.Color paint takes longer to dry between coats than primer,
so give each one about 15 minutes drying time. After four to
six coats of color, let your work dry overnight or, better yet, a
full 48 hours before beginning the wet-sanding. This gives the
paint time to harden and helps prevent the paint from getting
soft during sanding.Step Six: Applying the Color Coats (and, you guessed it, more wet-sanding)