My project truck, El Guapo, is a 1986 F150 that was started back in 2010 and has been in pieces for the last 16 yrs. I took it to a guy who was going to paint it, but things happened, and after it was stripped and sprayed with primer, he moved back to California. I was left with a truck in primer, and no good way to finish it. That was 2014. Fast forward 12 yrs and I have it ready for paint. I built a paint booth and I'm now ready to get it done. A couple days ago, I finished the interior with epoxy and a couple coats of a single stage hot rod black. The next day, I did the inside of the cowl, hit it with seam sealer, and a couple coats of hot rod black. This morning, I sprayed the underside of the hood and the inside of the doors with black SPI Epoxy sealer followed by Tamco Shadow blue metallic (code 7B) and Tamco clearcoat. It's not perfect, but it came out pretty decent, and for my first attempt at painting a vehicle, I'll take it.

Currently working on a fiberglass bodied dune buggy. Other than the original gel coat, the body has been painted once around 2016. That paint consisted of a layer of primer (definitely not a high build) and a base color + Clear coat. I've started the bodywork, correcting the previous repairs that used a regular body filler rather than actually repairing fiberglass and using a body filler made for fiberglass. The areas that need repair get taken down all the way to bare fiberglass. My question is how far down to I need to sand the other areas. I know that there's no way to see all of the potential problems without removing the latest respray, but can I stop at the original gel coat layer or do I need to strip EVERYTHING down to the bare fiberglass? My original thought was that I'd take it down to the gel coat, cover with an epoxy primer and follow that a high build primer to block it? While I don't want to waste time sanding if it isn't needed, it would be way worse to waste the sanding time, the materials cost, AND additional time to re sand because of a skipped step that causes an issue. Any guidance greatly appreciated.

Aaron, Wanted to share pics and extend many thanks for your help and advice on all the processes!! Thank you for all you do!! I finished spraying the 65 Mustang on Saturday!! As you may recall, it’s Sherwin William’s “Ford Poppy Red” base and their DC5020 clear. Spraying the clear was tricky with the back to back “wet on wet” coats with no flash time - per the TDS. I’m letting it cure, and will begin the cut and buff process this upcoming weekend. I had some dust that settled on the clear and two small runs (wet on wet clear was tricky to spray - finished a panel and then resprayed the same panel again). Next project is the Mini-Bus in “Hawaiian purple pearl”. Will be diving into it as soon as this one is reassembled. Thanks again!! Talk to you on Saturday!! Bill

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.

Hi to all. I am beginner in the automotive painting world which I challenge my self to complete my project car and paint myself. I bought the Volkswagen Caddy with a light front collision damage which I replaced the front bumper, sidewings, hood and it’s a different colour which I need to paint it silver colour which I learned that is most difficult, but I don’t give up from this challenge and start to learning on Internet and on YouTube and recently joined this community to learn more about painting from the professionals like you and I hope I will get very good tips how to do my first painting job and I hope will be great. I bought the one cheap spray gun from Temu I believe is copy from DeVilbiss GTI pro lite with TE20 cap. I bought the silver colour and clearcoat. I try first paint on the damage hood. The paint come very rough, is feel like a sandpaper. I belive my paint mix was not so good as well the pressure setting was the problem. My second attempt was much better but still the base colour was more rough than the original. Is good I have test panels where I can learn and compare the colours.