The paint is dry now so its time to take a closer look at how it is turning out.  The stripes are just about perfect.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  The clear has some problems that I will have to fix.  I have a run on each door at the mirror and about a dozen bugs to wet sand out.  I still have plenty of clear paint I can use.  This week I'll get the thing ready for two more coats of clear. 

Lessons learned:

1. don't paint when you are tired, you need patience to take your time.
2. don't paint without really good light, its hard to see how much paint you are laying down in a shadow.
3. don't paint with bugs in your room, they will find their way into your clear and screw up your job.
4. don't try to pull a bug out of your paint while it is wet, you'll push it deeper into the surface and leave legs or a wing in there.
5. don't try to wet sand a bug out until the surface is absolutely dry, it'll roll off and spread your bug around.
6. don't drag a rag over your surface between coats, even if dry you'll leave fibers on the surface that will show up on the next coat.
7. don't drag a tack cloth over the surface between coats unless the paint is really dry, it'll cause the waxy stuff on the rag to melt and stick in the clear.
    

Being tired was my first mistake and trying to put down the paint really wet was my second.  I'll spend the week getting the car ready to shoot again and then hit it when I'm fresh and can take my time with it.

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Last modified: November 15, 2005