After the sealer that was applied evenly on all panels we like to allow this sealer to dry for at least 30 minutes or more and we will lightly go over the final sealer with a soft gentle tac cloth to assure there are no lingering dust particles or lint before we will apply our base coat. If we detect any dust or lint we can at this time gently sand these imperfections out with a fine 1000 grit sandpaper before we apply our base coat. We have tested our final color match and we are ready to spray. We prepare our HVLP gun and select our desired air pressure and adjust our gun to a consistent fan pattern. I like to start for just a moment in an area like the lower panel areas to assure the gun is tuned to my satisfaction before I commit to the upper areas. Its very important to be happy with the output and the fan pattern before you really go for it. Now, lets go for it. Come across your hood as steady and even as you can while paying close attention to your fan pattern, you want a even pattern and you will overlap each coat by just a small amount. Try to keep the tip of you gun at a steady distance from your panel, a all around average distance might be 6 to 10 inches ( pay attention how your fan pattern is in relations with your tip distance) Remember we want a even look. One of the most critical item is the speed of your gun, stay consistent, don't slow down or speed up use a nice steady pace. If you see it going on to heavy (speed up). If you see it going on to dry (slow down) find that steady pace.
After you have applied the desires coats for a good even coverage you are ready to apply your clear coat. Let your base coat flash and sit for maybe 20 minutes til its not sticky on the outside before applying your clear coat. You can be cleaning your base coat gun and preparing your clear coat gun while your base coat is flashing. Now lets crank it up. We have our clear coat ready and we adjust our gun again to a little different material. I like to crank the air pressure up a little and adjust my viscosity knob up and really put it on. The first coat is a even medium wet coat that we want to let it set till its pretty tacky, this is going to help hold our next coat up. We are not concerned with pretty at this point. Our second coat we want to be a little wetter than our first, again we are going to let it set for a while because our third coat we are really going to lay it on. I sometimes will adjust my gun again so I can really get it wet and shiny and I often speed up at this point to assure I don't get to heavy. What we want is a wet look not a heavy look ( remember we want to be steady and even). Now your finished with the fun stuff and your arm is about to fall off. But your happy because she looks awesome.
