Acrylic enamel noob question

[Deegatron]

So, I'm a total noob with anything paint related. I've always used tung oil in the past to finish my projects.
This time around I opted for white paint with a matt clear coat. all automotive Acrylic Enamel from Dupont. Also used DuPont sandable primer in grey.

So far I've laid down a couple coats of primer followed by 3 coats of white Acrylic Enamel. wet sanded everything flat. 2 more coats of white. touched up 2 spots. at that point I couldn't see any primer so I figured the white was thick enough. laid down 2 coats of matt clear.

My question is... is 2 coats of clear enough? it looks great... absolutely EXACLY how I want it to look... being a noob... I'm particularly tempted to say "that's perfect" and leave it at 2 coats of clear.... as I'm liable to botch it trying to lay down more clear.... but I'm not sure if 2 coats is enough?

help?

 

[djohns74]

The nice thing about a matte or even satin finish is that the additives in the paint that make it look that way also help it to lay down and dry nice and flat (at least with the nitro I use). Also, you can't polish that finish after it's done or it won't be matte any more, so my last step is to spray that last coat then I'm done. For gloss, I have to add a ton of clear because it has to be sanded perfectly flat before polishing and those processes remove a fair amount of the finish, so having a thick enough coat to avoid sand throughs becomes critical.

Ultimately, 2 coats sounds minimal, but if it looks good and coverage is complete all around, there's no reason why it shouldn't be fine.

 

[karnivorus]

^this

With matte clear you don't have any sanding to do. Or what you can do is spray a few gloss clear before spraying your matte clear. This will give you added protection. Make sure to scuff the gloss with 400 so the matte paint can stick.

 

[Deegatron]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I think i'll just leave it at 2 coats. it looks phenomenal as is and I sure as .... don't want to mess that up....

 

[shredfreak]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I think i'll just leave it at 2 coats. it looks phenomenal as is and I sure as .... don't want to mess that up....

Pics pretty please

 

[Deegatron]

Here ya go. its REALLY hard to get good photo's that accurately show this. also didn't help that it was 6:30 AM... I may try again in better light...

full build thread can be found here...
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/lu...ustomizations/306263-deegatron-build-6-a.html