Dust in silver paint

[mickbench]

I've just sprayed a SLK body with TS-17 silver, and then I cleared the silver with TS-13 clear. I was very careful, and applied around 5 coats of clear, each time building up the coverage until the last coat was wet. Didn't burn the edges and looks well gloss up.

I had no dust in the paint before I cleared, but during the clear process I've laid a good few dust particles into the clear.. I'm not happy, but will compound remove these dust marks?

Silver is a metallic paint, this is why I cleared, as without it the paint looks dull. But now I've got some dust to deal with...

I've searched, looks like compound course might work, but no one has said does this work on clear, and is it safe to compound clear?

Thanks

[druid_99]

Originally Posted by mickbench

I've searched, looks like compound course might work, but no one has said does this work on clear, and is it safe to compound clear?

Thanks

Well, all my models is clear-coated whether it is a metallic paint or solid and I use rubbing compund on all of it. I use industrial or automotive clear coat though. No problem to me whatsoever.

[RallyRaider]

Compound may not be enough on it's own. I'd start with some fine sandpaper, Micromesh would be perfect. But be very careful not to sand through the clear, especially on edges.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

There is no "clear" answer; some dust particles aren't dark enough to be noticeable once the area is polished smooth w/micromesh sheets and liquid polish. But if the particles are dark and you can see them easily, simply polishing won't remove them. Then it's your call...live w/the spot, or repair.

It's a PITA, but I've been known to get a dust particle on a nearly-finished paint job, and instead of stripping the paint or living w/the mark, I'll carefully mask the panel and "spot in" the area w/my airbrush, covering the dust particle and then removing the masking and applying more clear. It sounds horrid, but it's a lot less hassle than starting from scratch.

[druid_99]

Previously I was answering on the question "is it safe to compound clear?" and forgot to answer on the dust particle question .

I've face the same problem a few times and what I usually do is I sand off (light sand) the particle and clear coat it again (if needed I'll apply a light coat of the paint before clear coating it again) and it works fine.

[mickbench]

Hopefully I can use micromesh (3200 - 12000) to remove the dust spots. I think I might have to re-paint the lefthand door panel, as it looks like I got a run /sag in the silver. Once I sand this down, it will go past the layers of clear. If the dust spots leave a few dark marks I'll perhaps leave them, but I can't leave the sag. It's too noticable.

I'll just do a patch on the door panel once I remove the sag with 1500 paper. The model is a cheap eBay purchase (again) to pratice metallic paint jobs. I mean £3 for a kit, to pratice on, you can't go wrong. This is the perfect time to practice paint touch ups, and dust removal from clear. i've got to learn somehow. What better way then to just do it..!!

Oh - IMO, silver is a total arse to lay down and clear correctly. It was really hard to spray an even coat, and I opted for laying down 4 mists of silver to cover the body, and then 5 coats of clear, with only the last clear coat being wet.. It wasn't easy.. I found black to be much easier then silver - although silver does cover well.

Once patched, and micromesh from 3200 - 12000 I'll compound with finish compound and then wax.. Hopefully should look OK. If not - oops..!!

[Lurchio]

I find metallic paint to be strange.
WIth my first porsche (dark metallic blue) I rubbed down the paint prior to clear - gave it a matt finish but once "cleared" was amazin finish.
Hwoever, I've since done a silver BMW and an off silver Golf and both tinmes I tried to smooth the paint prior to "clear" the paint finsh always comes up darker where rubbed down.
Not quite sure what I've done wrong.

Not exactly an answer to your question but linked nonetheless.

BTW, I would micromesh out the dust - shouldn't be a problem!

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by mickbench

Hopefully I can use micromesh (3200 - 12000) to remove the dust spots. I think I might have to re-paint the lefthand door panel, as it looks like I got a run /sag in the silver. Once I sand this down, it will go past the layers of clear. If the dust spots leave a few dark marks I'll perhaps leave them, but I can't leave the sag. It's too noticable.

I'll just do a patch on the door panel once I remove the sag with 1500 paper. The model is a cheap eBay purchase (again) to pratice metallic paint jobs. I mean £3 for a kit, to pratice on, you can't go wrong. This is the perfect time to practice paint touch ups, and dust removal from clear. i've got to learn somehow. What better way then to just do it..!!

Oh - IMO, silver is a total arse to lay down and clear correctly. It was really hard to spray an even coat, and I opted for laying down 4 mists of silver to cover the body, and then 5 coats of clear, with only the last clear coat being wet.. It wasn't easy.. I found black to be much easier then silver - although silver does cover well.

Once patched, and micromesh from 3200 - 12000 I'll compound with finish compound and then wax.. Hopefully should look OK. If not - oops..!!

Sounds like a plan. Silver, gold, and any of the very metallic/pearl colors lay down quite differently than solid colors. You have to lay down more of a mist coat to get the overall surface to have uniform color. Even laying down fairly wet clear over the metallic still leaves a paint finish that needs a lot of attention w/micromesh, and I always go through two stages of clear anyway...first stage to cover all the color, second stage to add depth and come out smoother. So if you are successful at smoothing out the clear, repairing the dust, and refinishing the clear-the overall paint finish will be that much better. Just keep plugging away...be proud that you didn't resort to chemical warfare to strip perfectly good paint that can be repaired. Just take it slow and steady, and use Tamiya tape to mask off the area that you will be repairing. And if the repaired area doesn't look right, then don't hesitate to mist a bit of silver over that area before clearcoating. It should work. Don't strip that paint unless your panel lines get buried!

[mickbench]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoomMX-5

Sounds like a plan. Silver, gold, and any of the very metallic/pearl colors lay down quite differently than solid colors. You have to lay down more of a mist coat to get the overall surface to have uniform color. Even laying down fairly wet clear over the metallic still leaves a paint finish that needs a lot of attention w/micromesh, and I always go through two stages of clear anyway...first stage to cover all the color, second stage to add depth and come out smoother. So if you are successful at smoothing out the clear, repairing the dust, and refinishing the clear-the overall paint finish will be that much better. Just keep plugging away...be proud that you didn't resort to chemical warfare to strip perfectly good paint that can be repaired. Just take it slow and steady, and use Tamiya tape to mask off the area that you will be repairing. And if the repaired area doesn't look right, then don't hesitate to mist a bit of silver over that area before clearcoating. It should work. Don't strip that paint unless your panel lines get buried!

I won't be stripping if I can help it. As you can see



I'm not that far of from getting a pretty decent silver finish. My FIRST silver paint job and considering how hard it is to lay silver down, I don't think I did too bad.

Now that it's had a few days curing time, the dust marks can (if you look really close) be seen, and there is three marks, plus two that are really light, and will almost come of with a rub of a cloth, so this might be OK.

Thanks for the help guys.. Knew you would help, you always do.

[LS1Aaron]

It really depends how deep in the paint the dust is.If its near the surface it will rub out easily.Also consider getting a tack rag,I was getting very frustrated with dust as I paint on my porch.Now I wipe it with the rag between coats and have much better results.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Originally Posted by LS1Aaron

It really depends how deep in the paint the dust is.If its near the surface it will rub out easily.Also consider getting a tack rag,I was getting very frustrated with dust as I paint on my porch.Now I wipe it with the rag between coats and have much better results.

Another consideration is the clothes you wear when painting. Cotton shirts and pants give off a lot of dust/residue from tiny fibers shedding from the material. If you wear an athletic shirt made of polyester/coolmax and similar nylon athletic pants, you will cut down on some ambient dust. It's made a difference for me.

[kaho]

Originally Posted by ZoomZoomMX-5

Another consideration is the clothes you wear when painting. Cotton shirts and pants give off a lot of dust/residue from tiny fibers shedding from the material. If you wear an athletic shirt made of polyester/coolmax and similar nylon athletic pants, you will cut down on some ambient dust. It's made a difference for me.

:22yikes: Holy I have never thought of that! Luckily I have been used to wear track pants (nylon). When I spray I used go to the bathroom with fan running, that should also help keeping some dust away?