My hood is the original, stock hood, which I stripped, primed and mounted a 4" Harwood scoop to. I will be painting it Cortez Silver, then adding stripes. I suspect that the SS stripe stencil kits won't work for me....any suggestions? Photo of hood below

Hood Photo (http://users.ev1.net/~jaaustin/chevelle/hood_primer.jpg)

John, how I would do the stripes is first paint the main color(silver) then the stripe color(blue). To me that way is easier. Last I recall you were using Omni but thinking of using a PPG instead.
One product Ill mention I dont believe OMNI makes such a thing and I would NOT risk appling the PPG product over the OMNI base.
The product is DBC500 which is often called a midcoat clear. Basically its clear basecoat. The nice thing about this product is you can apply your color then apply this product over the base to "seal" it. What I mean by sealing it is that you can apply tape over paint and NOT worry about peeling some off when you remove the tape, it locks down the basecoat underneath.

So if I was going the stripes I apply my silver then apply 1coat of DBC500. Allow a dry time of about 30 mins, then you can apply your stripe kit.

One method that I HIGHLY DONT SUGGEST is appling your main color then clearing over that to seal it off. Then resand and apply your stripe color. The reason I DONT suggest this is because you sand that first coat of clear too thin the solvents from the NEW basecoat and clearcoat can and WILL lift the silver basecoat.

When something like that happens its nothing but a downward fight you most often lose. Give ya an ex, a few weeks ago had to redo a hood on a 03 Ram because the glass guy dropped the windshield on it after I got done fixing a dent. :mad: To make a very LONG and frustating story short I ended up stripping that hood to bare metal and starting over!! The solvents from the NEW paint lifted the paint that I just applied.

So I highly DO NOT suggest that you apply the silver then clearcoat resand it and apply the blue and reclear.

If OMNI doesnt make such an animal as DBC500(which is called color blender in PPG terms) then just wait a good hour or so before appling any tape or stencil kit to your silver basecoat.

As always Eric, your advice makes perfect sense and is very much appreciated. I will follow your advice. As far as my modified hood goes, how should I tape off or apply some kind of "stensil" over the 4" hood scoop. Can I make the generic SS stripe stencil work ?

I think you can use the front half of the stensil, however the rear section of them are cut to follow the domed portion of a cowl hood, so i don't believe it will work.

Jim is right, you COULD use the stencil kit. The kit consists of a front and a rear "stencil" and then rolls of tape that you put between the two stencils.

So you could use the front half of the stencil and then using the back half with some careful modifications, and then connect the two with tape just like on an original hood.

As far as paint and clear and striping. I see it differently than Eric. The way he discribed is the "better" way, I argee. The finished product is nicer, the stripe is "buried" under the clear.

However, even with the colorless basecoat before you apply clear the base is VERY susceptible to marks and damage. Because of this, it is hard to pull this off without something happening.

If you apply all the clear and don't sand it thin before applying the stripe, you won't have a problem.

But as I said, Erics way is the "best". What I suggest is if you have never done such a thing, I HIGHLY recommend you practice on a junk fender or something. If ever you want to practice on something go to your friendly neighborhood body shop and ask if you can have a couple of fenders out of the metal bin. Most body shops will have a PILE of near new fenders taken off of late model cars. A Honda or Toyota fender weighs about a pound, they are very small and the paint is usually perfect on them. So they are very easy to work with, a quick scuff and you are good to go.

An afternoon playing with something like these stripes can go a LOOOOOONNGG way when painting your first. Or even your 50th, it just doesn't hurt to give a little practice.

Can you imagine being asked up on stage to do a song when you havn't picked up your guitar in a year?

Originally posted by MARTINSR:


If you apply all the clear and don't sand it thin before applying the stripe, you won't have a problem. OK Brian, let me understand this. I can go ahead and shoot my entire hood Silver BC and then apply 1 coat clear. At a later time, I can then apply my dark blue basecoat stripes and clearcoat 2 or 3 coats of clear over all of it ? No sanding between silver and blue stripes ? I know I have been kicking around this paint issue for a long time, but I have just returned to the project and am ready to go. Thanks to both you and Eric for all of your input. graemlins/thumbsup.gif Thanks to Jim also. I will have to use the stencils the best way I can.
John

Oh, no, not at all. You would have to sand the clear before you apply any base coat, you just don't have to sand it enough to sand thru as Eric described. If you sand the clear thin or thru as Eric pointed out, you are in for some big time trouble.

I have done this a few different ways. If the clear was smooth enough either because it had been cut and buffed or it was simply laid flat with little orange peel, you could....

Wipe down the hood well with a surface cleaner, then tape it up for the stripes. Then scuff it with a gray scuff pad. Paint and clear, done.

Or if the clear was a little rough and you wanted to smooth it out some, you could do the following...

Color sand the whole hood just as you would to buff. Right up to 1500 or even 2000, THEN tape off the stripes. Paint the stripes and then clear and unmask and rub the whole thing.
OR, paint the stripe and then unmask it and clear the whole thing burying the stripe under the clear.

I usually do the first method.

I have to say agian, Eric's way is just fine as long as you have some expericance with taping and spraying on the base. If you clear the whole thing and shoot the strip you are much better off as far as a "safety net". I feel it is much easier to have a clear coat on there protecting my base.

Custom painters do the layers and layers of base with masking over and over and shooting a colorless base coat over and over, that is how those wild murals and graffics are done. I am no custom painter, so I like to protect the base with clear before I do anything like stripes.

Wipe down the hood well with a surface cleaner, then tape it up for the stripes. Then scuff it with a gray scuff pad. Paint and clear, done.
I can do this. I will be shooting my silver base and 1 coat clear today. When I get my stencil kit and blue paint, I will then follow your instructions above. :D Thanks Brian

I must have missed something, you don't shoot "one coat of clear" you shoot at least two. Only one coat of clear will DEFINITELY cause the problems Eric mentions.

Originally posted by MARTINSR:
I must have missed something, you don't shoot "one coat of clear" you shoot at least two. Only one coat of clear will DEFINITELY cause the problems Eric mentions. OK, I've got it. Shoot silver base to cover, 2 or 3 coats clear, then later.....scuff, apply stencils, shoot blue base, then 2 or 3 coats clear over entire hood. Is that it specifically ?
Sorry about the confusion

Texas if you are spraying OMNI 160 or 161 clear spray 2 coats of clear. 1 coat of that and then sanding could cause some problems.
Since basecoat has some pretty strong solvents if you dont have the proper film build of clear, the solvents will work past the clear and bite into the silver base.

You can scuff the entire hood mask stripe apply blue then reclear the whole hood. But as Brian said mask off the stripe first then scuff inside the masked portion spray the blue then clear JUST the blue. Either method will work.

The reason I dont suggest the clear method is because too many people just apply 1 coat of clear and then sand it down way too thin.
Can you get by with 1 coat YES, has it been done before YES, has it been done before with no problems YES. BUT you go too far ya'll give your neighbors and good education on the usage of the F word guaranteed smile.gif

So if you spray the clear go with 2 coats and NOTHING more then a light scuffing is needed. A real nice product I think would really work good in this case would be a sanding paste. Its kinda like a gritty hand gel, you apply it on a gray scuff pad and scuff the paint, use with water. It leaves a super nice finish behind and hardly removes any paint thickness. 3M makes a product I believe its called final scuff, PPG makes this product also with a part number of DX101

Thanks Eric....2 coats it is. I just shot 3 coats of silver base on the underside of my hood and will hit it with 3 coats of clear tonight. I still have alot of wet sanding to do on the top surface of the hood as it turns out. One thorough going over with 400 grit wet and I should be ready for the base and clear on the top side. I'll take pic's. I did notice that by only going to 240 grit wet on the underside, I will have a few minor hairline scratches showing thru. The 400 grit makes the primer/surfacer super smooth. , like "butta" :D . I appreciate the follow up Eric. You and Brian have taught me a bunch. graemlins/thumbsup.gif