Interior painting... for a smooth fiberglass painted finish, need some help plz

Im werkin on my dash 2 rite naw.
The primer/paint/clear im using are
-Rustoleum Automotive primer
-Rustoleum Plastic gloss black paint
-Rustoleum high gloss laquer clear.

Here's some before and afters of sanding the "leather" look grit off of the plastic...

On the other hand, this piece did not have the grit but still sanded it for proper adhesion of primer, paint & clear. Same deal with this one, before and after...

These are all the pieces im duin. After a lot of thread reading and getting tips from diff ppl, the best way so far that i found out was to sand off the leather finish, then primer, then sand then primer some more, then sand some more untill desired smooth finish, then paint and clear.

BUT I STILL RAN INTO THESE PROBLEMS, CRACKS EVERYWHERE THRUOUT THE WHOLE PIECE IN THE 2ND COAT OF PAINT I WAS PUTTING ON...


SO I THOUGHT I SHOULDNT PUT TWO LAYERS OF PAINT... AND I STARTED CLEAR COATING, AND IT STILL HAPPENED!!
Can anybody help a brotha out hea? i got soo pissed off after this, i threw the paint can at a wall az hard az i could!! LOL fuggn frustrated with this shyt guys. help me finish this project!

Hey man,
I say wetsand after every coat of paint, or apply like 3 real thin coats on each piece. Dry thoroughly. Wetsand. Dry. Paint again. Repeat until it is satisfactory to you. I think more sanding in between painting is the key. Sand after each layer of paint you put on until the final layer which you should wetsand then clearcoat.. then apply polishing compound to smooth the finish off real well! Good luck!

also check the cans... not only for age but sometimes 2 different brands/types of paint have an actual chemical reaction on your project... happened to me while painting a guitar awhile back. as i was adding a clear coat its started bubbling.

You could always skim it with some bondo type material like rage gold. Sanding will also help. Also make sure that you use light coats and build up the color slowly. If you need some extra pieces I've still got a good portion of an extra interior if you need some extra pieces.

lashlee said:

You could always skim it with some bondo type material like rage gold. Sanding will also help. Also make sure that you use light coats and build up the color slowly. If you need some extra pieces I've still got a good portion of an extra interior if you need some extra pieces.

Click to expand...

its reeli hard 2 skim the whole project with bondo but another trick of the trade i've learned along the way iz if you mix bondo or any light weight filler with fiberglass resin, and mix it well to make a thick pourable(with the consistency of somewhere between maple syrup and peanut butter) and pour it all over the project, that stuff is pretty easy to sand and makes a nice thick layer over the soft plastic, and also bonds very well 2 the plastic. you dont even need 2 sand the "leather" grain off of the plastic if you do it this way as long as you scuff it a lil bit so it would bond well with the liquid bondo. And then sand any imperfections in the project.

On another note, i wasnt able to work on anything today so no progress on this project as of today, and hopefully i wake up erli and werk on this tomorrow! so i'll post some pix tomorrow of the resulting paintjob on the interior

bondo isn't going to fix your paint problem. is the plastic gloss paint an enamel? if so, you need to wait about a week for it to completely set before you put lacquer on top of it. i've had a problem like that before when i put too thick of clear coats on - clear coats should be fairly thin. i'd say sand it down, put another coat of paint then either you can wait a week to put on the lacquer or get some clear enamel. enamel paint and clear coats should be put on with in an hour of each other so it sets properly. also, don't paint in direct sunlight - causes it to dry unevenly.
...with enamel its good to sand inbetween every coat or 2. laquer just needs to be buffed afterwards to help even it out completely.
hope this helps. post pics when you're done.