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Touch up single stage

Blain

Well Known Member
Doing a color sand and buff on my marginal paint job. Cut through the paint in a couple places mostly on unprotected edges like this. Not sure how to repair.
Ideas?
The paint is Dupont urathane single stage.
 
Do some research on "Blending." You mask about a foot around the bad area. First coat ends at the good paint. On the second coat you extend into the good paint while pulling the gun away. You should find material on the internet to explain this process.

You can then cut and buff the transition area. This is done every day in body shops.

Larry
 
I'm not a paint expert but I don't think you can cut and buff single stage polyurethane. I was taught to paint up the patch then overspay the patch with reducer to essentially "melt" the two areas together.
 
I'm not a paint expert but I don't think you can cut and buff single stage polyurethane. I was taught to paint up the patch then overspay the patch with reducer to essentially "melt" the two areas together.

Randy, I'm no paint expert either, but scores of us have cut-n-buffed our single-stage urethane paint jobs. It is standard procedure in custom car shops.

http://thervjournal.com/paint3.html

Search for Dan Horton's excellent posts on VAF for instructions on cutting and buffing single-stage.

You may have been referring just to repairs, but cutting and buffing will also work for blending non-metallic paint. Requires some technique as stated by Larry, but doable.
 
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Thanks Sam. The single stage I used on my RV-6 was metallic so that's where I probably got my mis-information.
 
Blending

On an edge like that I would tape that edge off with some 2" tape ( for protection) and buff the adjacent panel to the shine you want. Then color sand the other panel and buff that panel. Make sure you maintain a suitable edge distance from that hard edge. Paint is super thin! Then I would take a very high quality paint brush with needle point tip and paint the edge. It is very hard to blend a urethane or poly single stage and make it disappear. Even the pro's ( including my 26 years) won't be able to hide it completely!
 
Also they don't make a suitable blending agent for the new single stage paints!
 
Just realized I got responses. So I did touch up with a needle thin brush. Let the paint flow. Stand back a couple of feet and you can't see it. I was surprised. Now the problem is I know they are there. Hard to get past the need for show quality. Have to keep reminding myself the ship is to fly not to show.
 
05.31.04_0176.JPG
 
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