65 Cobra (pics)

[autoX]

I've been reading this forum for quite a while off and on and have just never posted before. Just wanted to show a few pictures of my project. It's a '65 Cobra replica that I painted myself. It's the first car I've ever painted (first time I've even held a gun really...)

I used all House of Kolor products (mostly because the Tech Manual says if you use any other products lighting will come out of the sky and strike you down). Primer was KP2CF. I sprayed 2 coats of sealer KS10, 2 coats of the white base BC-26, 4 coats of the Tangelo pearl PBC-32, and then 4 coats of the UC-35. I went back 24 hours later and wet-sanded with 600 to remove all the orange peel and sprayed another 3-4 coats (does the tack coat count?) of the UFC-35.

The stripe is just some white pearl mixed into the intercoat clear and sprayed over the white base BC-26. It was by far the most difficult part of the paint job. It took me 8 hours to lay out the stripe. Because I was worried that spraying the white pearl down the center of the body would show through the tangelo, I decided to tape off for the stripe first, and then reverse tape the stripes. You can see that in my pictures...

I was very happy with the HOK products. I found them to be very easy to use and the HOK Tech manual was fantastic for a first time painter. Do all companies make a tech manual? Also, I found this body shape VERY difficult to spray with so many curves. Painting was BY FAR the most satisfying part of building the car. Bodywork I could do without, but put me in a spray booth ANY TIME! Painting is very addictive! Wish I had a booth so I could do it more often!

I also found two videos to be very helpful for me. Len's spray painting 101 as well as Jon Kosmoski's Kustom painting Secrets were two videos that I watched over and over before I even picked up a gun.

Anyway, here's a few pictures for you if I can get this to work...










-Mike

PS - Gun used was a SATA RP 1.3 for base and RP 1.4 for the clear coats. I was in love with this gun the second I pulled the trigger. A HUGE improvement over the Finishline II that I sprayed the primer and sealers with!

[autoX]

And the rear of the car:

[Ragdol]

Nice job. I'll bet it's even nicer in person. Pics don't show the pearls real well.

[Len]

For a first paint job not only did you do a great job but it had to take some nerve to pick up a spray gun and shoot a Cobra for your first effort.
Beautiful work, congratulations.

[Phil V]

All I can say is WOW! what a great job you did ! It is rare to come across a person like you who has an innate talent for painting. its one of those things that either you have it - or you don't. It is very apparent you do have the talent.

[Phil V]

How was that Tangelo to spray ? I've never sprayed it and I'm curious how susceptible that paint is to tiger stripes and blotchiness ?

[PachecoJ]

Just curious how you got the paint booth...

[dt196]

Really a great looking job for the first time. The car is very striking. On another subject, nice paint booth also.

[picklesnouts]

It came out gorgeous!!!

[autoX]

Thanks for the compliment guys. I probably just got lucky, but thanks...

The booth is sweet, huh? I figured you guys might like it. That's one of the reasons I put the booth pictures in instead of just the after shots! I rented it from a guy in my cobra club.

As for the tangelo to spray - I was very impressed with the HOK paints. I had a lot of pros badmouth HOK when I told them I wanted this color. That's partly the reason I wound up doing it myself. It didn't tiger stripe on me at all, but is that the paint, or the spray gun?

Here's what impressed me the most about that paint. I was pretty afraid to paint the car with the hood, doors, and trunk off the body. I was afraid they'd wind up a different color than the body. They didn't. They're a perfect match. Also, there was one spot where I was reaching over the nose of the car and my painter suit brushed the tangelo (you can see the paint on the front of my suit in one of the shots) and wiped it down to the base. I thought I was screwed. Well, I sanded out the texture after it flashed off and then lightly feathered in the tangelo until it was a nice blend. You can absolutely not tell where I had to fix it. It blended in awesome...

-Mike

[86camaroman]

excellent paint job i love the color but for all of you that were wondering about the tiger striping and so on he used a pearl base coat thats why there is no striping and also the reason it blended back in to the right color on the front if he were using a actual pearl it would have never matched up i love hok colors especially there candys wich are very hard to spray with out blotching striping but once again awesome paint job how much did they charge you to rent the booth

[style]

anyone know where i canget a decent spray booth at a reasonable price,also any ideas on who makes the one in the pics...