Spraying

Hey, don't know if I have the correct thread or not.

I'm planning on spraying my Zip SP.

But I need to know basic instructions about what paint to use and what amount of grit paper to use.

I'm thinking of painting it gloss white, with black off sets i.e the grills.

What spray should I use?
What primer?
What lacquer?
What sand paper?

Thanks a lot, for your help.
:mod:

 

any paint really as long as it is good paint. have you got a air compressor?
primer try to get the best match of colour primer to the colour you are spraying your bike like if yas was spraying light blue for example use grey primer.
lacquer again as long as it is good quality but i make my own as my dad did spray painting.
use really fine wet and dry because if you use rough paper when you spray it you will see all the grit line in plastic so use really fine

 

use grey primer for your white parts
and black primer for your black part it will be easier to spray :good:

 

It really depends on what kinda condition the bike is in at the moment really.

are their any deep scratches that'll need sanding back to the plastic? if so you'll need a plastic primer on there first of all. a couple of layers of that is all thats needed.

primer of any sort isnt actually needed unless you are going back to the base layers of the banel, ie taking off the paint and primer thats already there.
the one thing it does for you though is to even out the tone to give you a nice even colour across the panels.

personally i would start by keying everything with P600 paper used wet with soapy water on any areas that aren't badly damaged. this'll give you a nice smooth dull finish and a good bond for the layers of paint to come. a grey primer is a nice and easy one to cover in so if you want you can do with that but you dont need it. If you have any paint that is a similar colour to that you are going to be finishing with then you can give a layer or 2 of that over the panels to get them closer to finishing shade without having to layer on too much of the final paint. Once thats done and dry you can flatten it with P2000 used wet as discribed above. this'll just take down that elephant hide like texture you get with the paint and give you a ver even finish later on, particularly with metalics.

dont do too deep with flatting it though, you don want to take the paint back off, just flatten it a little. with that done you can go at it with finishing colour. give it at least 3 even layers of it and leave plenty of time in between for it to harden in between. i know its always said and seldom followed, but dont be tempted to get it done in a single coat. just put down a dusting layer at first, then a thicker later when thats dry, and repeat until its well covered with no light or dark spots coming through from base layers.

Give that overnight if possible, if its particularly warm where your doing it then it wont take as long. then go at it with a clear laquer. the trick with laquer is to spread it thickly, but not thick enough to start a drip. get at least 3 good coats of laquer on there, maybe more if you have some left and when thats well hardened you can flatten it with the P2000 or P2500 paper as above. it'll start to look dull and scary looking, you'll think you've fuked it up but dont panic, just continue until its nice and flat. you can test it by scraping off the water with your hand and when its dry you can see the big difference between the flattened and non flattened sections.

With that done, get hold of some G3 compound or some t-cut and rub it in with a cloth. give it a good going over and spend some time on each panel. you'll instantly see the shine coming back into the laquer and the paint starting to pop beneath it. with all that done, give it a wash and when dry you can wipe it down with some hand glaxe or wax for maximum shine.

 

Thanks for the help, it has really helped.

I'm thinking of spraying it Kawasaki Green, i really love the color lol.

What do you think.