Centari cure time

[Jeff Lewis]

I am painting a 41 truck that has a belt line in an offsetting color.Should I paint the beltline first then mask the beltline and paint the cab and doors completely? Or paint the doors and cab completely with the primary color then mask and paint the beltline the secondary color. My impression is that Centari being plastic cures slowly and I am wondering if it could take the masking. Also,with the Centari,when I remove masking between colors,how do you smooth the transition line?Thank you.

[Len]

Jeff
Being enamel the Centari will cure slowly. You can speed the process with heat, if you warm the first color it will cure in about three or four days so that you can mask on it. If it was urethane you could cut that to a half day with heat or an hour for some base coat materials.

I would try to keep the surface warm (70+ degrees F) for several days then wipe the masking tape across your pant leg to remove some of the stickyness. This will help the tape release from the surface without leaving as much of a "tape track". It would be best to do a test area prior to masking the entire job. Try to apply the tape, shoot the second color and remove the tape fairly quickly. I usually apply my "edge tape" last so that I can lift it off without having to disturb the rest of the masking material.

I usually mask the smallest area first because it's easier to cover during the second color paint application.