Voxy Masked Off!

Ready for Paint?!? - well almost... before I can apply my first coat of primer - I still need to do a couple of things: 1. Sand the whole car so that the primer will adhere properly. 2. Hose down the car to remove the dust and dirt from all that sanding. 3. mask off everything that needs to be covered - whew! and I thought I was all set for paint :(

Sanding down the whole car is easier than it looks as you are just roughening up the surface so that the primer will have something to hold on to. I wetsanded the car with 220 and 280 grit sand paper. TIP: It is good to have sanding blocks ready (I bought mine from the 66 peso shop) but some blocks of wood and old slippers cutouts will do fine.

I also bought a surplus orbital sander which helped me a lot. This is useful but not necessary. It is relatively easy to sand down the car without this.

Sanded down the fenders and running boards

Expect a lot of milky sand residue :)

Be on the lookout for any bumps and uneven spots you might have missed - remind yourself that preparation is very very important. Not preparing the surface properly will result to poor results. Even if you have bought the most expensive paint and equipment but failed to  repare your surface properly - the end result will not justify what you have already spent and all that hard work will go down the drain.

Applied several coats of rust converter on the underside of the running boards just to be sure.

Here's how it looks like after it has dried up.

After you have cleaned the entire car and prepared the surface - time to cover what needs to be covered.

Masked off the rear windshield - see the fenders hanging from above? This way - its will be easier to paint.

 
If would be best if you could have a paint booth but most DIYers would have to settle for a makeshift booth. I decided to just use our garage but made sure that everything was properly covered. As you can see - the walls are covered with newspaper to make sure that it doesn't get any overspray (of course - I don't want to get kicked out of the house because of this project)

Covered the engine and wheels.

Covered the windshield with newspaper as well.

The windows - paint is sprayed on as a mist thus it can reach every nook and cranny - cover the things you don't want to get painted. TIP: It is always better to remove everything that you can be removed easily i.e. side mirrors, door handles, antenna, lights, etc. Masking these off would be difficult and yet the result of painting without them is better. Just make sure you know how to place them back again :) Be careful - if you can't pull something out - double check if you missed a screw or a clip - these things can be expensive to replace or fix.

To make sure that I get an even shade of red - I decided to include the door interiors and the inside pillars - so I masked them off as well. I was supposed to remove the sidings but they were already brittle and cracks when I pull out the clips. Better leave them in there - be safe than sorry :)

Masking off the big opening where the door used to be is a nightmare! TIP: Never skimp out on masking tape! It is better to buy branded one like armak or 3m. I found some cheap masking tape - 60 pesos for 6 half inch rolls vs the 35++ pesos for the armak brand - and there were times when they don't have enough stickiness for the job. Also - they sometimes let paint seep in so you still need to clean what you covered afterwards. If you can - buy the better tape. They'll pay for themselves in the long run.

Everything's set! Time to buy me a new compressor! :)