Two questions before I shoot the color

[charliekwin]

Sorry if this is all a bit precious, but it's been almost a year since I got started and I don't want to screw up so close to the end!

First question: I'm in the middle of -- what I hope will be-- the final blocking before shooting color (single stage paint). I'm at 320 and for the most part, things are looking good, but I have a couple of spots where I've sanded through the primer and back to metal, and a couple spots where I need a little spot putty that the high build didn't get. Like this spot on the fender, which is probably the worst of it:

I see three ways I could go here:

1. Put some spot putty on the low spots, continue blocking to 400 and just shoot the color. That's the easiest; but I worry a bit (perhaps unnecessarily?) about adhesion.
2. Spot putty on the low spots, re-prime bare metal, block to 400 and shoot color. The biggest issue is that i only have a little bit of primer left: enough to do a few spots here and there. Definitely not the whole car, and I don't really want to buy a whole gallon.
3. Spot putty, block to 320, then do a sealer coat or two with reduced epoxy primer (which I have a lot of), then shoot the color. A lot of people on the SPI Forum seem to like using their epoxy as a sealer. Time spent shooting an extra coat or two of paint is probably a wash with only blocking to 320.

I'm leaning towards option 3. Any thoughts?

Next question: what's the best way to deal with the two-sided panels -- the hatch, hood, doors? I'm shooting them on stands, off the car. I don't care too much about the back sides (I didn't even do any bodywork on the underside of the hood), as long as the front looks good. My intuition says to shoot the back first, wait for it to dry, then flip and shoot the front and not to mask or sand either time, but I'm just guessing. What's the best approach here: front or back first, mask or no mask, sand or not?

[grannyknot]

Not precious at all, paint is in a different category careful, option 3 would be my choice. Those bare metal high spots are still going to be high after the sealer, you might consider using your lightest body hammer and giving those high spots a love tap then fill with spot putty, block to 400 and see what the results are.

[wheee!]

I agree with granny. Sealer with epoxy prevents any off gassing or reaction between the paint and filler etc. Safest bet. Looks good so far!

[charliekwin]

Thanks for the input guys, looks like #3 it is. Which is great, now I don't have to fret about running out of paint and can be a little more aggressive with the sanding. I'll give the high spots some love taps, too.

Any advice on the best way to paint the hatch and hood?

[wheee!]

Watch Jeff’s videos from the thread Home Built by Jeff. He has a series at the end of the thread on how to paint in stages.

[Patcon]

What single stage are you using? Metal flake or solid? What is the final color?

Jeff's videos are really good. I would paint the under sides of the panels and let them flash around the edges and dry for a couple of days. Then prep the top of the panel and sand back to the edge. Then mask off the back side or the overspray will make it rough feeling. If you are shooting a flake paint, you will need to paint the car assembled the way Jeff is doing it or the panels will look like different colors when the flake orients in different directions. You may need to let the panels dry for a week if the paint cures slowly. I have turned over panels after a couple of days before and had them stick to the stand, which is really frustrating!

Have you shot some paint on a test card yet? The paint will look different over different base colors.

[charliekwin]

Yeah, I've been watching and enjoying all of Jeff's videos as well. I'm shooting a solid single stage, so I should be okay doing panels.

After some more Googling, and in line with Patcon's suggestion, it seems like the best bet is to mask the outsides near the edges and shoot the hidden side. Then re-block around the tape line and shoot the outside. I propped the doors up on some propane tanks when I shot epoxy, and other than being a little low, it worked pretty well. Looks like I've got a plan.