PAINT?

[Zach929rr]

FWIW, here is the proper way to paint your abs plastic.

1. Wash the part with warm soapy water very thoroughly.
2. Clean the plastic with a plastic cleaner. It must be a cleaner made for plastic. Wax and grease removers will not work correctly. The wrong cleaner and it might not stick.
3. Rub the plastic with your finger and if it is squeaky clean then it is good. If it still feel slick repeat steps 1 and 2.
4. Next scuff the plastic with a fine scuff pad. 3m has a grey pad that works well. If you need to sand anything, wetsand with 320 grit sand paper.
5. Now clean the plastic with the plastic cleaner again to get ready for paint.
6. Once you have it all set up for paint, apply to coats of a plastic adhesive promoter with 5 min flash between coats and 20 minutes before sealer.
7. Spray on your sealer with a flex additive in it. let flash.
8. Check your paint rep for adding flex to the base.
9. Spray your clear with the flex additive in it.

Edit: Just read fiberglass. Process is similar but needs a shitload more progressive sanding applied, especially since you will painting from raw fiberglass.

[extremepaint]

first im typing this from my droid and its impossible to edit so i appologize for errors in my writing. zach if i may make a few corrections u have most of the process but just a few things. wax and grease remover works like a mild solvent to break down oils waxes and other non watersoluable debris and residuea that the first regular parts wash does not recieve. they also make a scuffing agent that works well with platic parts prep. but in my 15 years of paint ive never used a plastic specific cleaner
id anything this is similar to a wax and grease remover but has less solvent to hopefully keep from releasing the oils in the plastic used for the mold release agent brittle plastic has this issue. the flexible kind has less of this problem think laquer thinner and lexan/polycarbonate. the adhesion promotor is usually the big issue when it comes to getting things to stick.

0the other thing is the sand paper
320 is mainly used dry, to sand and get ready for a high build primer or primer surfacer/sealer
400 wet will be used to sand the primer for base coat.
-sand with the 400 till u see no more imperfections in the consistancy of the primer no light dark or roufh spots should be visable. infact if u look down side of a wet sanded part u will see the shine.
3m makes a few diffrent scuff pads. RED is equivlent to a 400 gritt gray is a 600. so i leave red for scuffing primer or clearcoat for repairs that will see base coat. gray i use on cleared or basecoated parts that will see thin layers of color.

also follow the instructions to a t on ur msds sheet or directions on the can. humidity and tempvqill have a large effect om dry times and dried out texture.

to a certain extent leas is more especially when it comea time for base and clear only apply as much aa needed to avoid cracking yellowing and peeling to much paint at once can trap the solvents and cause them to lift. so like i said reading the directions is important!!

use good technique for your application of material . consistancy in ur method will show in your paint generally a 5050 or 75 percent overlap will leave u with good results. along with keeping your fan pattern horizontal to your surface at a constant distance will help.

if u or the OP have any other questions about basics ill be happy to help.