Re: Primer and Paint

[Tony S. Krzyzewski <tonyk@kaon.co.nz>]

Re "wet-on-wet," the topcoat mfr's directions should control. 

I found that without applying wet on wet with Top Gloss I got inter
layer disbonding. My standard spray technique now is to mist on a light
coat, leave for 20 minutes and then spray another two coats at 30 minute
intervals applying as much paint as possible without getting drips (now
there's an art!). 

Absolutely essential with Top Gloss is a good tooth grip - nothing finer
than 320 grit. Miss a spot with the sanding or fail to clean it properly
with Prep Wipe and there's a good chance it'll break and peel back ....
just like the front area of the lower cowling that I painted last
weekend :-( If you have to respray the stuff then it's out with the 320
grit sandpaper before you spray.

Another advantage of effectively building up one thicker coat is that
there is no opportunity to sand through a coat to expose the lower one.
If you do build up a multilayer finish and cut through the top layer
while finish sanding you'll find that there's a tidal mark which is
impossible to remove without painting again.

I would also add that if you get it right then Top Gloss is very tough
and polishes back beautifully.


Regards

Tony