Two-tone paint job

[bboyle]

Hi everyone! I have a question about two-tone paint jobs.

I'm painting a two-tone 71 westfalia and am still unclear about the sequence for laying down the two outer coats. The van is currently yellow below, white above, and I am going to paint it blue below, white above. The paint store suggests I paint the *whole* van white, then lay down the colored lower half. Also, they insist I need a special, more costly type of top coat designed for multi-colored paint jobs...not the OMNI epoxy primer and MTK that a different guy at the same store originally sold me...*!*##%%!!

Is this really necessary, or just an auto show obsession to avoid thickening or seams at the overlap? I want an attractive, durable paint job, but not a show-stopper. Mine is a working van not a show van. The non-original paint job I am covering has a seam which you can see if you look really close. I never even noticed it until I started sanding, and won't mind it on the new paint job. Especially not while camped out on a nice white sand Yucatan beach with my freshly painted van.

Isn't it possible just to primer the whole thing, mask the upper half, paint the colored lower half, tape that off very carefully, then paint the white upper half? Should the two layers abut exactly? Overlap very slightly? Or should I just shut up, spend more money, and do what the nice man at the paint store says?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[inthecurl]

Sounds like the paint store is trying to sell you a urethane base/clear system. Looks great, but for what you want, a single stage would be just fine. I would lay the white first, wait for the paint to dry but not harden too much and then mask that half and shoot the yellow. You can overlap the paint, no biggie. Just make sure you are using all compatible primers for the final type of paint your using. Have fun and wear a mask..

[Squall67584]

I'd paint the entire body white then mask the top off and spray the blue. 3M masking tape is what all the hotrod magazine articles recomend; I've used others and they left glue residue on the paint. There will always be that seam where the tape was, but if you want to remove it just wet sand it down and buff it.

[Big Jim]

Paint it all white first or at least go well past where the yellow will start. The p sheet should give you a recommended tape time. Mask with 3M and shoot the yellow. Carefully remove the tape as soon as you finish so the edge can flatten a bit. When you spray, go from the masked area toward the car. That will help keep any yellow from blowing under the edge of the tape. If you want an even better job, use 3M fineline tape first for the edge and then, mask past it. To really smooth out the edge, get a small can of 'blending reducer', read the sheet on how to use it. A little bit sprayed along the fresh edge will soften it a lot. A little bit is the operative word. It is a very powerful reducer and too much will give you big runs.

[bboyle]

Thanks everyone for all the useful info!

[bboyle]

One more question. After spraying the upper white topcoat and masking, how should I prep the remaining exposed topcoat below the tape where I will be laying down the blue. 400 wet sand up to the tape? Sounds tricky...

Thanks for your advice!

[Big Jim]

Simple - apply the blue within the recoat window on the P sheet. If you are within that window, the paint has not fully set chemically and the fresh paint will adhere just fine. There is a decent amount of time between the white being dry enough to tape and it being too dry to recoat.

[willz0072002]

hey...hope its not 2 late..but when ur laying ur tape on the fresh base..especially if your doing base/clear, stick the tape to your jeans b4 you lay it over your fine line tape...(and only jeans..no fleece or fuzzy stuff)....this will make it less tacky...and less likely to pull up0 the paint when u remove it.....just a trick from paint shop experience