At last - Voxy 's Primer - Done!

Happy New Year!

2012 will hopefully mark the start of great and better things for all of us. It is fitting to start the year by showing everyone how voxy will transform to becoming a better bug. The past weeks have shown everyone how Voxy was prepared for this step - the actual painting. So far, I have removed all of the bad stuff in voxy to make way for this change (something we should all do this new year right? put away our bad habits to make way to positive change) but you have not seen much improvement in how she looks - I even made her look worse by scraping away everything that covers her imperfections and showing everyone what's underneath -  paint bubbles that hid rotten rusted metal, cracks that will eventually lead to bigger problems and dents brought about by her vast experience (the road from 1966 to 2011 is a pretty long one). But revealing all of these gave both of us the opportunity to deal with them and fix the problem correctly (kinda like how we should all deal with our issues :) )

After weeks of preparation, we are finally ready for the first step towards beauty - the primer! Wohoo!

After scouring the net for info and reference materials, asking numerous car painters and paint shop owners, I bought myself a half horsepower belt driven taiwan made Vespa compressor. TIP: You can see numerous compressors at surplus shops with a higher HP but they are all direct drive. From what I've read - they tend to be noisier than the belt driven type and prone to breaking down since the motor is subjected more vibration. Aside from that, most direct drive compressors have smaller tanks (the ones I saw at SOS, HMR, etc) and with auto paint jobs, you have to strike a balance between the tank size/capacity and the motor. It would have been nice if I could have bought a 1HP compressor but my pockets aren't deep enough for one. :) The 1/4 HP compressor only costs half of how much the 1/2 is but is way too small for a decent paint job. The 1/2 HP compressor not only fits the tasks I will do but fits my budget as well.

A 10 meter air hose bundled with an HVLP - High Volume Low Pressure - gun (aka inverted spray gun) complete my equipment. My initial choice was between the eagle spray gun found in Ace hardware (around PHP 600+) or the Lotus gun in Handyman (Php 1500+). The lotus gun was nice but it costs way too much. The eagle gun was right within my price range but I was not confident if it will be a decent spray gun (had some bad experience with eagle tools in the past :( ). After inquiring in the forums - I was adviced to take a look at spray guns from the local hardwares and paint shops. One brand - Muzi - was mentioned as a decent gun for DIYers like me. Luckily, I found one and was suprissed to see that its build quality was like that of the Lotus but for almost half the price (cost me Php 870) - Muzi then! :) (Thanks MCP for the advice)

All ready for paint!

Making sure that there are no leaks in my lines. I also bought an eagle water separator to make sure that I will have minimal moisture in my paint. I used some teflon to deal with the air leaks :) Notice that I am also wearing an old pair of jeans and cap in the picture, my complete gear includes an old longsleeves and some rubber globes -  this will make clean up easier later on.. take my word on this :) TIP: It is imperative that you use a good quality face mask/respirator when painting in this scale! I've been spray painting using rattle cans for years and it is nothing compared to the overspray and "fumes" generated by a project like this - urethane paints are really harmful to your health.

Used highbuild primer to cover up the minor imperfections I've left behind (I was too lazy to deal with them - hope this doesn't affect the project's end result). I used a 1 is to 1 primer and thinner ratio - you could add in more thinner but it might affect the number of passes you would have to make to cover the surface.

Always apply several thin coats - see that the panel still shows the red paint underneath. Allow the coats to dry off/ flash off (around 20 to 30 minutes in between) before applying the next one.

After several coats - the shade will even out. TIP: Always be mindful of your gun angle, position and distance as this will affect the way your paint spreads out. Angle and position should be parallel to the surface - failure to do this will result to a powdery overspray in most areas and you won't have a smooth surface (learned this the hard way - I forgot what I read in my reference materials and paid for it by sanding a lot!)

Apply putty if you need to after spraying on your primer. Afterwards, sand down everything again in preparation for your base coat :) The white color is a fitting shade for voxy's rebirth don't you think?

Getting help is always good... especially if they look like angels :)

Here's a preview of what's next! Couldn't resist a test spray of my best coat :) This will inspire me to push on! 

More to come! :)

Happy New Year again everyone! Wishing everyone more happiness and success this year! Wishing everyone luck and success in bringing about positive change :)