Spraying Plastic

[HAIRBear]

Im spraying some interior plastics tomorrow and was just looking for a few tips and pointers on how to get the best finish out of a can.

Got the paint, primer, wet and dry sand paper grit1500 and laquer,

Any help would be appreciated, cheers.

[Barnsley-Arosa]

heres how casper does it, i asked him the other day and this was the reply

The 'casper' method:-

I sanded the plastic down with 400 grit,

Filler primed it, sanded it, filler primed it again,

Wet sanded it with 800 grit.

After that i put on grey plastic primer, 2 thin coats.

Sanded it with 1200 grit, then sprayed it with 2 coats of gloss black.

Then wet sanded it back with 1200 grit again.

Then one last coat of colour.

Then i thinly applied the laquer in layers, lightly sanding with 2000 grit inbetween, built up about 4 layers.

Then sanded it back with 4000 grit and machine polished it with menzerna and a polishing pad

Then buffed it off and polished it with the machine and a finishing polish

After that, i added two coats of AG SRP polish

Then 4 coats of zaino and then sealed it!

[lupo_gg]

you need to put the plastic primer on 1st before the filler primer, as the plastic is there to help everything else stick

[Barnsley-Arosa]

have you seen the finish caspers got?!

[BenLAST]

I'd agree with what Lupo_gg said. With the process Casper went through, not a suprise he got a good finish, but the plastic primer is to be used first.

[CasperGTI]

I used plastic filer primer..... Thought that had to go on first?

Ah well, there done now. i dont think it makes that much difference. I think i went way over the top tbh, but i got the results i wanted... and im hardly a painter!

Its all about DIY, homebrew hobby jobs!

[jamiea7x]

You could cut a few stops from caspers method as it's a bit too much really I would say

I would sand the plastic back till the texture is removed and gi e it a few coats of plastic fille primer

once dried I'd flat that back with some 1200

few thin coats of colour( depending on the colour if metallic don't flat it laquer straight on top)

if not metallic flat back with as dine a paper as u have I'd use 1500 to 2000

few coats of laquer make your finalcoat of laquer a wet coat try to avoid runs

this should be suffice really if u wanted u could flat the laquer and machine polish it but personally I wouldn't bother

[HAIRBear]

Cheers for the replies, im going to crack on with it now, ill take a load of photos and let you know how it goes.

Whats the differance between plastic primer and filler primer? i only have plastic primer

[heartagram]

As far as I'm aware its used because plastic doesn't like being painted on directly with paint. Plastic primer is specifically designed to be the intermediate which lets paint go onto plastic well without it just flaking off. I'm sure you've seen badly painted plastics before and the paint is just flaking off and it ends up looking crap.

[HAIRBear]

ok but is filler primer and plastic primer two differant things? Am i going to be okay using plastic primer, paint then laquer, or do i need a layer of normal primer in there somewhere?

[REDLooP]

Haha i've just done the same as casper except didnt bother with the laquer at all.

Used audi brilliant black metalic then just 6000grit paper and polish like a mad man (as i have no machine polisher).

4 hrs of polishing latter they come up bling hehe

[HAIRBear]

been at it all day, sanded the plastics down, the plastic was a bit too harsh so has marked it a bit too much so had to use a shed load of primer.

Put 2 coats of plastic primer on, wet and dry sanded between each coat.

Now the first coat of filler primer is on. Going to sand that down tomorrow morning and hopefully it will be ready for paint, if not ill stick another layer of the filler on.

So dont sand down metallic paints between coats right?

[Little Green Giant]

haha, yes! that would make them not metallic! haha

what colour have you gone for in the end?

[lupo_gg]

lol yeh sanding the plastic primer you dint need to do but shunt really matter cus its not an exterior pannel,

might do mine this weekat work now lol

[HAIRBear]

well the reason i sanded it was because there were lots of little bits on the plastic from when i sanding it initially.

Ben, it is metallic!

[CasperGTI]

You could cut a few stops from caspers method as it's a bit too much really I would say

I would sand the plastic back till the texture is removed and gi e it a few coats of plastic fille primer

once dried I'd flat that back with some 1200

few thin coats of colour( depending on the colour if metallic don't flat it laquer straight on top)

if not metallic flat back with as dine a paper as u have I'd use 1500 to 2000

few coats of laquer make your finalcoat of laquer a wet coat try to avoid runs

this should be suffice really if u wanted u could flat the laquer and machine polish it but personally I wouldn't bother

Id like to see yours up close, i can guarantee that they will not be flat if they have come from a rattle can.

I spent the time on mine to go for a paino black french polish sort of finish. Hance the mountain of steps.

[jamiea7x]

Id like to see yours up close, i can guarantee that they will not be flat if they have come from a rattle can.

I spent the time on mine to go for a paino black french polish sort of finish. Hance the mountain of steps.

i didnt do mine that way

i perosnally painted it in flatted it back it tcutted it up.. but im going to redo as i cut through the colour in a tiny wee spot on the corner..

all i was saying is that they guy shudnt fret if he doesnt have a machine polisher to flat back after the laquer as you can still make good job without it..

[CasperGTI]

aye i agree, The finish could still be acheived without a machine polisher.

But it would take, alot longer. Depends on what finish your happy with really.

[HAIRBear]

The plastic im spraying has like a bobbly effect/texturem its not smooth. Does this need to be made smooth with the primer or will the paint still give a smooth finish after a few coats?

[Little Green Giant]

primer needs to be smooth really if you want a smooth final finish

[PaperWeight1]

Caspers method is most similar to the way I'd do it, although I wouldn't flat between clear as I always do my clear wet on wet when the previous coat is still tacky.

Then flat with 2000 or 3000 and machine. Home sprayed paint is much softer than factory or bodyshop stuff, you can get the 2000 marks out by hand easy enough.

[heartagram]

It's all in the prep work. Really you should sand the majority of marks out on the plastic then any small ones should be filled with the primer. Shouldn't rely on the paint to fill anything.

[HAIRBear]

wow im sh*t at this

[jamiea7x]

sand th eplastic smooth before primer, if u dont you will need a large amount of filler primer on there to smooth it out

[HAIRBear]

last coat of laquer, and i had it standing up right and it bloody ran!

Whats the best thing to do now?