Tips on how you fix paintwork errors

[Captain Mark]

Hi folks,

I'm working on (sometimes nearly throwing) an NSX at the moment, and have had some masking tape pull up a tiny patch of the silver topcoat. Small, but noticable.

I've done quick sand and respray of the effected area which is starting to show promise, but will take more sanding and spraying yet.

Unfortunately, on my last spray attempt I nearly dropped the body and accidentally brushed a part of the wet paint and marked it slightly... DOH!!!


Anyway... when (or if perhaps) you guys have these kinds of problems, do you find they are generally things you can fix up without respraying the whole body, or do you mutter some choice R rated words and just respray the whole thing?

Cheers,

Mark

[Ferrari TR]

I've done both...
It is easy to spot touch up solid colors, much harder to fix fancy pearls or colors with a base, color, clear finish.
I spent a fair chunk of my weekend hobby time, stipping and repaint a pearl yellow hood in hopes of a better match to my repainted (3 times) body. lol

[Captain Mark]

Yeah, frustrating huh... I suppose it all pays off in the end though.

The body colour for my NSX is silver, so it's being a little temperamental, but not too bad.

[ToyTundra]

I've dopped a few bodies and i get a dog hair or a plant part in the paint. I mask at the nearest panel line and spray, but then again im not a master at painting

[Captain Mark]

TT - I thought about that, but there's not really any panel lines handy for it on this particular kit. I'm experimenting with a few things though...

By the way, in your signature, the left most picture... is that a kit of yours, 'cos it looks totally real! Either it's real, or you've built and taken a great kit and photo!

[99civichic]

The worst paint "mistake" ever made was my first 35th anniversary Camaro. My bro and I were working at the same table, and he knocked over a bottle of flat black onto the freshly painted bright red car. This was before I knew you could strip the paint, so the kit got scrapped-Will took the seats and engine and the rest was slightly well, crushed. Other than that, I built a yellow Corvette that took a nosedive off a can of paint onto my cat's bed not two seconds after the final wetcoat (that was fun!) It somehow managed to not get any hair in the paint, and the only damage I could find was on the tip of its nose.

If I see a hair in the paint right after I've painted it, I usually pluck it out with an ultrafine needle so the paint can settle into the hole or whatever and needs less sanding. I don't think I've ever had tape lift up paint though, been lucky on that so far...

[Martbee]

I reshoot the thing.. completely. It's often less painful than masking from panel lines to panel lines and you don't have to worry about the glue that the tape can leave on the surface.