painting classes

[Kemo]

anyone here on the board take painting classes? Just wondering as I am currently enrolled at Austin Community College taking night courses.


here is a blending exercise...blue over existing green. In the sun, the clear has a sag, but is fixable

[jgilliam914]

I should have done that two years ago. Are you taking one class or the whole course?

[Kemo]

im not following the suggested course schedule for the degree or certification route. I have been cherry picking what courses to take. Ill be taking the "advanced" refinishing class this summer. Ill have the opportunity to spray an entire car. So far only panels and fenders.

I did take the plastics and fiberglass/carbon class. that was cool and I would also like to take the welding class.

if anything, Its much more cost effective than just trial and error at the house. all the paint and supplies are included in the tuition. All I have to bring is the paint gun and safety gear.

[Kemo]

finally got to paint a full sized car, and when I say full sized, I mean a Caprice Classic cop car. this thing was huge, I could barely reach the middle of the hood. In any event, it turned out "ok" will see on Thursday if it will buff out. couple of runs and a decent amount of orange peel... hopefully there is enough clear to make it all look good.

[Kemo]

the original paint of this car was sanded to 600 dry with DA sander, then hit with a primer sealer, then Lesenol solvent-borne base-coat with Shop-Line JC620 clear coat. Not expensive stuff compared.

[Kemo]

some more pictures from night school...painted a dodge neon. much easier than the caprice classic. i think I might be ready to paint my 78SC track car in the spring. im not the tallest guy at 5-6" so the caprice classic was a real test. I think i can get over the 911 without issues. here are some pics...getting better every car. Im hoping to paint this neon one more time before the semester ends.

[962porsche]

looks good .
are you still painting with a stiff arm or are you becoming loser with it .
as you will find out new people to painting always tend to not relay there arm when they paint .

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Kemo

...painted a dodge neon. much easier than the caprice classic.

Occasionally, I paint a car and ask myself, what did I do right?

What was the different between the "little" Dodge and the "big" Chevy that you can share?

Neon looks as good as anything I have painted. Even if I have more dust in the paint in my garage than a spray booth, the orange peel tells the story for either.

Really nice job.

A little knowledge goes a long way. Outstanding.

[Kemo]

962,

i have been using my arm and wrists alot more these past two paint jobs. especially on the clearcoat and the metallic orientation coats. im still a little stiff with the basecoat now that you mention it. maybe because im not so concerned about making it wet. any tips in this area is greatly appreciated.

Bob,

having to reach over the top of the Caprice Classic was very difficult for me. Mainly because I was trying so hard to get the spray pattern even. the most difficult was the center of the hood and roof. i had to stand on a chair and even then had to put my thumb on a pinchweld to stop from falling onto the paint. the neon was a breeze in this area...much easier to reach everything. I stil used the chair on the roof, but didnt need a brace to hold myself up.

[962porsche]

one of the people that painted for me was short (she was 5'1" ) we never made fun of her height as she did not have any to make fun of .
any way she could not reach the center of roofs and even some hoods were a problem for her .

I bought two fondling steps (one for each side of the cars) for her that was about 3 feet long so she could walk along the length of the roofs and spray them .

the only way to get rid of stiff arm is to spray more . the more you do it the more you will become comfortable with spraying then the more relaxed you will become .
most people new to painting over think things this makes you tense . this is because there are things you have to remember as your painting and it's not second nature yet .

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by 962porsche

we never made fun of her height as she did not have any to make fun of .

Ha! That one's going in my back pocket.

Kemo - thanks for responding. I am always a bit scared of big honkin' panels. I can't seem to get a decent finish. However, I recently watched a few videos and found the overlap % used was something like 70. I gotta say, I used about 40% but have not done a monstro-car since to test. A little less paint a little more overlap.

Mind you, they all look pretty good after a couple days of rubbing but if I did this for a living, I would be sucking hind tit.

[Jrboulder]

Looks great

I'm curious about the cars used for this. Do the owners just have to pay for supplies?

[Kemo]

the cars we get to paint in class are donated and get painted over and over. no engine or interior to speak of...just the shell. im sure this neon probably weighs about 500 lbs more than it shoud

i have to admit...this is the most fun ive had at school.

[962porsche]

most painting classes/schools used body shells . as they keep getting painted things like door gaps will start to get filled and close up until the point were there are non .

there is a trade school here in CT. that does take on peoples cars to have the kids work on and paint . and yes the car owner pays for all materials used .
many years ago we had the shop Van done that way . the funny thing is you could walk around the van and see how good or bad the person painting that area of the van was . because they had each person from the class in the booth at one time spray one section of the van .