This is a mini hood that I got at an airbrush workshop several years ago. it's an aluminum panel stamped into a hood shape but it's about half size. Think the actual width is 28" or so. Mainly did this panel to keep me motivated while I slog through the body work and mechanical issues on a build I'm doing for the wife - A fiberglass bodied dune buggy. Wanted to see if I liked the main blue color (and I do). The base is Tamco's slick silver coarse metallic silver. The darker blue is Tamco' SoCal Candy. The lighter tealish blue is Tamco Monaco candy. This hasn't been cleared yet and it may never get that far- I'm gonna experiment a bit with some interference pearls in hopes of a ghost effect of flowing water. - Anyway, I thought I'd share. Apologies for the crap photo.

Painted this car with a single-stage metallic (Tikkurila Temadur 90) yesterday for a friend of mine. This was my biggest undertaking so far. I've learned that single-stage metallics are extremely tricky. I practiced on one fender, four doors, and two hoods (some of them more than once) to get the gun settings right for my WS-400 1.3HD. Despite all that, the first panel I sprayed at my friend's garage immediately started showing tiger striping. If you spray too wet, the flakes start swimming and you end up with tiger stripes or blotchiness. I was constantly struggling to find the happy medium between acceptable orange peel and good flake control. This paint definitely needed a control coat, and that's what fixed the sunroof, too. There were some dust issues in his space, but he's very happy with the result. No runs, no tiger stripes, and the orange peel is relatively uniform. His own attempt at painting the car hadn't gone well, and taking it to a professional shop wasn't within his budget. He also wasn't willing to switch to a basecoat/clearcoat system. Personally, I don't think I ever want to touch single-stage metallic paint again. I lived under constant stress for a couple of months planning this spray, and I'm so happy it's done! 😆

Has anyone tried the DeVilbiss DV1s and Anest Iwata LPH-80 mini guns? I think Bill has the LPH-80. Any feedback on these two guns? I've just started researching mini guns, and these two seem to be the most obvious top-tier choices. I can get the DV1s with both 1.0 and 1.2 mm nozzles for €365 / $425 after deducting VAT (sales tax), which seems like a pretty good price for the DV1s.

Does anyone have any advice about mixing products from different manufacturers? If I am out of PPG slow hardener, any harm in using High Teck? Assuming they are the same mix ratios? I realize the isocyanate ratio needs to be correct for it to cure properly and mixing brands may leave some unbound. But does this cause a problem in the real world or just on the chemistry white board. What about using a wet bed from House of Kolor and PPG Omni basecoat?

The next step after priming is to restore the interior soundproofing elements, and then to perform the factory interior coloring. The car originally received an interior paint that matched the exterior color of the body, which was restored. It is important to note that the paint did not originally receive a top coat. So painting with a base color would have been the right step. PPG offers a solution for this by strengthening the base color with a maximum of 10% hardener if necessary. However, for me, this protection I thought was not enough, so I chose an unconventional solution that has not been documented anywhere before. PPG's Deltron 880 MS topcoat is normally mixed in a 4:2:1 ratio. It uses the same hardener and thinner as Deltron BC (basecoat). The mixing ratio of the base is 1:1. However, during the topcoat mixing, it can be changed with different additives, for example, with a matting additive. In extreme cases, up to 50% additive can be mixed. I thought that if I mixed the basecoat material instead of the matting or elasticizing additive (which is based on the same chemistry), I would get a mixture that had the right color and coverage, but also retained the protective ability of the topcoat. Accordingly, I mixed the mixture of 3 parts varnish, 4 parts base, 1 part hardener, 1 part thinner and sprayed it with an Auarita 989-2 LVLP gun. I set the pressure and other parameters according to the viscosity of the topcoat. The coverage was good, the final result can be seen in the pictures below. Unfortunately, there was one place that flowed, but on such a large surface, I don't feel that only one single mistake is catastrophic.