Single Stage Paint
- Thread starter Fireman255
- Start date
dennis112
15 Year Member
The most forgiving color is white. You can hide a lot in it.
Using the primers as mentioned is sound advice. Body work can make or break a paint job.
Non metalic single stage is a good beginner paint. Relatively low cost (except red costs more) and you won't have as much to sand off if it screws up.
Once you get the hang spraying the single stage, try a dual stage (BC/CC) and you will love it.
As mentioned already white hides ALOT. Also for your first paint job stay away from metallics, they may look good from one angle but get zebra stripes at another angle. Just remember, block sand, block sand, primer, block sand, primer, block sand, did I mention block sand. Practice getting your gun setup while priming and make sure you have a good setup before you start shooting. With single stage you lay the paint on thicker then bc/cc, bc/cc is the way i would go, i paid 450 for mineral gray base coat and clear coat total price which isn't that bad and it is much easier to match. good luck with what ever you chose
As said earlier - White is easiest - I actually PREFER single stage acrylic enamel over base/clear and it is easy to fix and burn in scrapes and chips -- Red will fade easier with single stage -- as well as any other color in single stage for that matter -- and single stage will get dull without regular waxing - but you can polish it out easily - and even compound and buff if you have a heavy enough coat it will go for decades... 1970 Mustangs were painted in enamel and I have recently had several with ORIGINAL paint still on them that I was able to buff enough to see your reflection in - and it did not take much work. In the thin areas I am able to take an inexpensive ($7) air brush and my 35yr old Sears air compressor and burn it in as needed to save the rest of the paint. This can also be done with base/clear but requires a few extra steps and will yield impressive results.
zookeeper
Founding Member
My Shelby clone is the first car I've ever painted, and like these guys already said, it's white and it wasn't an accident I chose that color. Now that it's finished, it looks great, but I was originally going to paint it blue with white stripes rather than white with blue stripes. I can tell you this much: I know where the boo-boo's are and although they don't show now, they would if the car were a dark color. I'm also glad I chose bc/cc because even though you end up painting the car several times (sealer-color-stripes-clear), it's easier. Like another painter once told me, "with bc/cc you only need to worrk about getting the color coat even, period. With the clear, all you need to do is get it on the car, period. Any imperfections in the clear can be color-sanded and buffed". I found that to be true and since the clear provides UV protection, if the car gets damaged in a couple years, the repair is less likely to show.
