It is recommended that you water clean and solvent clean BEFORE you start to sand or media blast.  If you sand or blast before you clean you are potentially driving contamination directly into your substrate which you may never remove.  You need to wipe dry before the cleaner air dries so that the contamination can be lifted off by your wiping action.  If the cleaner air dries, the contamination just went back to your substrate.

Water clean is either with HOT Soapy water or water based cleaners designed for the purpose.  Water based cleaners also disperse static electricity which is a good thing on plastics and fiberglass.  Water cleaning will help to remove water contamination including but not limited to:  Tree sap, bird droppings, Dirt, Acid Rain etc.

Solvent clean is using your wax and grease removers.  This will remove oils, road tars, etc.

Preparation is 90% of the paint job.  It is difficult work and some tools are needed to do it correctly.

If you can feel body work by taking your WHOLE hand (not just finger tips) than you will see the body work

The finer your sanding, the less surface area you have offered to the solvents to penetrate and you will have a better gloss with less sand scratch swelling.  It is best to sand to 240 grit BEFORE priming of filler, paint and fiberglass.

After priming, sand with 400 grit.  If you must use a coarser grit to start, step down gradually to 400 never jumping more than 100 grit at a time.  IE, do not go from 180 grit to 400 grit.

Painting,

This paint can be applied directly to sanded primer, cured paint etc.  You can also apply a sealer first.  Please verify compatibility, Vintage Paint can only recommend the proper products which are also offered, please check out the website.

The 1K acrylic comes ready to spray.  If further reduction is desired, use a urethane grade reducer.

Adding Hardener is optional and available from Vintage Paint.  This is offered and has been verified to work with this product.  11:1 ratio.  Other hardeners can probably be used, but Vintage Paint has not tested them.

Air pressure to the gun, please check your paint gun manufacturer's recommendation.

Tip Size, In a gravity feed gun, generally a 1.3-1.5 will give great results.

If using a HVLP paint gun, verify adequate air supply and we recommend the use of "full flow" air couplers/fittings.

Apply 2 to 3 medium coats with 10 minutes flash time at 70 degrees between coats with a 75% "overlap". 

Heavy coats can hurt coverage and will require longer flash times.  

I recommend base-coat colors on heavy metallic finishes, but if using for single stage paint on a metallic color, a extra "metallic orientation coat" may be desired for the final coat.  Back the paint gun up to about 12 inches, raise air pressure and give a fairly light coat while the previous coat is still somewhat wet but flashed adequately.

If paint is going on "rough" or with excessive orange peel, check air supply, increase air pressure, decrease fluid setting on the paint gun, increase overlap, add some urethane reducer.

To minimize runs, keep a proper and consistent gun speed and distance.  Distance can vary by gun type, but generally 7-10 inches.  Also increase overlap, allow greater flash time, decrease fluid setting.

This is a SINGLE STAGE paint.  Clear is not required nor is it recommended.  If you wish to clear, you are better off using the base-coat version.

If this product is allowed to cure, then sand with 800-1000 grit then clearing should work.  I would then recommend adding the optional hardener when spraying the 1K acrylic.

Base-coat

The directions above remain consistent with the following changes.

Hardener can be added for better adhesion and metallic control.  1 ounce of hardener to a quart of paint.

Allow proper flash time before clearing.  30 minute minimum at 70 degrees.

On metallic colors a extra "metallic orientation coat" may be desired.  Back gun up to about 12 inches, raise air pressure and give a fairly light coat while the previous coat is still somewhat wet but flashed adequately.

Urethane upgrade

The same recommendations as the 1K acrylic with the following changes.

Hardener is required, not optional.  11:1 mixing ratio.

I recommend base-coat colors on heavy metallics, but if using for metallics on metallic colors a extra "metallic orientation coat" may be desired.  Back gun up to about 12 inches, raise air pressure and give a fairly light coat while the previous coat is still somewhat wet but flashed adequately.

This is also a SINGLE STAGE paint.   Clear is not required nor is it recommended.  If you wish to clear, you are better off using the base-coat version.

2 coats is generally all that is required to obtain proper mill thickness but 3 coats can be applied.

Aerosol Single Stage

The same recommendations as the 1K acrylic with the following changes.

Adding hardener is not optional

Be careful not to flood the surface especially with metallic colors.  Lighter coats will generally give better hiding and better metallic control.

I recommend periodically cleaning the tip in thinner or carburetor cleaner

If the can stops spraying, clean the tip and purge the pickup tube

Shake the can.  2 minutes to start with, and 30 seconds between coats.

Aerosol Base-coat

Vintage Paint can upgrade aerosol paint to a clearcoat.  This is recommended for high metallic finishes.

Adding hardener is not optional

Be careful not to flood the surface especially with metallic colors.  Lighter coats will generally give better hiding, metallic control.