Surprise!

I checked the Weather  Channel last night and the updated forecast was for a perfect day to paint outside. It was a chilly morning, but calm, and the prediction was that it would remain much the same all day. By 9 am, I had everything ready to go, and by 10, the first coat was applied, and looked really nice. With only a light, intermittent breeze blowing, I went ahead and sprayed a second coat. The sun was higher and the temperature getting hot, so the second coat had some minor orange-peel and dry overspray, but overall I'm satisfied with the results. Best part was that the new sprayer worked perfectly and that I was able to apply two coats without a single run!

When I selected the paint, I chose a single stage polyurethane for three reasons. First, it looks period correct, unlike the extra high gloss B-C paints today. Another reason is that because I had to paint outside I expected minor issues that would require color sanding to fix, and this product allows for that. A final reason is that it's about half the price of the more popular paint products. Since the car will be babied and garaged, any lesser resistance to weathering shouldn't be a problem during my lifetime.

Besides the two minor problems already mentioned, a few gnats decided to commit suicide by leaping into wet paint, but no biggie to sand them out and touch-up if necessary. The tiny bugs are not nearly as troublesome as the huge yellow butterfly that landed on the freshly painted hood of my truck several years ago! That took a lot of work to repair.

Now I must wait a minimum of 72 hours for the paint to cure, but that's okay considering I didn't expect to be painting for at least ten days.

I'm really glad I chose to buy the DeVilbiss SRI pro-quality paint gun, as I'm certain I saved myself many hours of rework and repair. The only criticism is that it's small and considered a touch-up gun, so it took a little longer to paint the entire car, but it does such a good job, that I shouldn't even mention it. Unless you plan a steady diet of big projects, it's the perfect size for the hobbyist. Another great point is that it's made in Great Britain, where quality is still important!