by mattb » Fri Nov 04, 2016 6:37 am
Strip all that old paint (enamel comes off quickly). Sand lightly do a couple coats of duplicolor lacquer DAP1689. It is a good base, fills, dries in a few hours and sands easy. The big can does 5-8 cars and is a couple dollars. If you want to spend a little more, buy the Tamiya fine spray lacquer primer in the small cans for the high price. Forget enamel all together and use either Testor or Tamiya lacquer. If you want to save a few bucks, buy the bigger cans of Duplicolor. Stay with those brands, I know they all work together fine. You can finish with Tamiya or Testor clear lacquer. If you are clearing over decals, there are issues with the many different kinds of inks used. I find that a light coating of lacquer over the the decal sheet before use and a second coat a day later, helps the final clearing of the whole body not to affect the decals. I start with a fogging coat and let it dry at least 4-6 hours.
Somethng I have been trying with success so far is Rustoleum clear enamel. Local track owner uses it and swears buy it. I've used it once over lacquer and decals and it worked great and dried hard and thorough in a day. I also pre-sprayed the decals with the Rustoleum before I applied them. Unusual to get an enamel that dries hard and is not tacky. This stuff surprised me. I can put the number up here if needed.
As to polishing and rubbing out enamel finishes. Results may vary, but having been involved in automotive painting for all my life, typically enamel cannot really be polished. It doesn't dry all the way thru and it's hard to polish something that isn't hard and dry. With the advent of acrylic enamels which could use an added chemical hardener, acrylic was able to be sanded and buffed, but it was later found that the chemical makeup of dried enamel made for a hard outer shell and softer more flexible base/undercoats. The buffing of the acrylic actually took off this hard outer shell and hurt the enamel durability.
Take heart that "Superclean" will remove paint quickly and chrome plating, and you can start over! If Superclean won't get some of the old finish off, you will know it is dry enough to paint over with any type of paint you want.
The Bowes Seal Fast is painted with lacquer, Indycals pre-sprayed with lacquer and the whole car cleared with Rustoleum.