[A horse with no name]

Hi there... You say you 'sprayed' putty' then painted it. Could you be more specific on the 'sprayed' putty?
The main thing with any paint job is cleanliness and prep work- Etching priming is not always a must - On Aluminum it is. But if etching primer is not used on a stripped bare metal then a very high quality euathane primer should be used. it will keep any mositure from ever getting to the metal. You can then do your body work on top of it. and then reprime just the repaired spots .

I have done 4 ground ups...Only one was stripped by "Ready Strip" where they dip /svsubmerged and when out it is done it is a very shiny tin work.- These strips have to be painted with a urethane two pot primer ASAP to prevent surface rust and particulary prevent moisture and give you it gone base. It sticks- It's the best base.

The others I did Was automotive/ aircraft stripper - from there it was power washed well then hand washed-

Then it was machine sanded with 800 to take all 'burn' marks plus any residue to until the the" whole body was 'shiny' - At that stage it was sprayed with an etching primer due to the smooth bare metal. The primer under coat needs it so as to adhere to it- All of the body work had been done and what was left was very light fiinishing with Wurths spot putting which was done after the application of the Primer-undercoat.

Once that was done then came the days/weeks of blocking - spot putty filling- repriming and block sanding - In time I had it ready to paint. As you may know that even before re spraying primer the body has to be grease free and is wiped down with a grease silicon cleaner. - When the body was 'spot on' it was ready for the top coats- I preferred the solid colour of a three coat two pot mix of acrylic Urethane . It was then blocked with 400 and then I sprayed another 2 coats of the same two pot mix of acrylic urethane.

Now it becomes a labour of love- Colour sanding. I always use 1200 + 1400 3M . it was then a matter of putting whatever time was needed to get it blemish free and flat.. It was then machine polished with 3m and if any minor blemishes were noted as I went-Then back to blocking colour sanding with 1600 3m then Machine polishing it out to a super gloss.

I can't highlight enough about everything needing to being cleaned properly throughtout every stage/ process. If not it will - one cause fish eyes in the paint and the real bummer is of the paint not adhearing, It will flake easy and or chip very easy...They are a small body so you just may have to take it down again and redo it- Go speak to any of the major brand paint rep for product and method- PGG is as good as any. This may not what you wanted to hear but if you havdn't proceeded in a similar way you most likely will need to strip it down and start offer. - Big Bummer ay.

Ps- where you paint it should be warm and dry with no dust. Often easier to rent a paint booth over a weekend. Many shops will do this fora couple of hundred max.

cheers