With the HIN Honolulu show two weeks away my attention is back to esthetics.

First up is color sanding. I know, boring. Since this step along with all the buffing is about a 40 hour project by itself, I spent a little time reading up on tricks and tips.

As this is the 5th car I've painted I'm not new to the concept, but when you don't do it everyday it's good to read up. Especially since one slip means repainting the panel.

I've typically started with 1000 grit. But in reading some tips from professionals some start with 600. The reasoning being that 1000 grit can ride over some imperfections (nibs) where 600 will cut through the nibs.

600 was scary for me so I tried some 800. So I tried 800 for most of one of the quarters. But I could see that 800 still tried to round over the nibs. So being careful, and not getting close to edges, sanded the next panel with 600 to the point that 80% of imperfections were gone. Then a once over with 800 to the point that 95% of the imperfections were gone. Along with speeding up the process I can tell I'm getting a flatter surface.

One of the other items I read while studying up was the concept of shrinkage. I've noticed a few places where this was happening. It happens around areas that have been patched and filled. As the bodywork/paint heats up in the sun and the carrying agents evaporate some shrinkage occurs. I believe if the paint is baked after shooting this happens sooner than later. When I wet sanded the rear deck a few months back, my first test panel, I could smell the solvents still in the paint. Today the smell is more stale smelling, no solvent smell at all. So now is really a good time to sand as hopefully all the shrinkage has occurred and can be sanded out without popping up again later.

Here is an example. Inside the red circle is where I deleted the hood pin. This was fiberglassed and then smoothed with filler. The surface is after the first pass with 600.

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Then gone after a second pass

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Tomorrow I should finish getting the entire car sanded to 800. The plan is then to go to 1500 and then to 2000, black takes extra work!

And if all goes according to plan, next Saturday I have an appointment with a photographer for some professional shots.