Building a Portal Turret with motion controlled audio and lighting

Step 8 Painting

I didn't really do anything special here to paint these pieces.  I just used a lot of layers to build up the finish I wanted.  I started out putting down several coats of white primer to cover up all the bondo used to smooth of any problem spots in the casts.  After the surface was completely covered with white primer I went over the whole surface with fine sandpaper to smooth out any bumps or specs of dust that were on the surface.  I also checked the entire piece looking for any low spots I might have missed and filled them in.  After I was happy with the primer, it was onto the satin white.  Two coats was all that was needed to fully cover everything.

The final stage of paint was the most important and by far the most time consuming.  When all was said and done, each piece received 6 coats of clear lacquer.  Each coat was applied and allowed to dry.  After it was dry, I would check the surface to make sure no dust or fuzz got stuck anywhere.  You would be surprised how many tiny black particles showed up caught in the clear coats.  Any imperfections were sanded out with very fine sand paper.  Then the next coat was applied.  Your probably asking why I applied 6 coats of clear onto the turret and the answer is that I really wanted the shine to pop and for the clear coat to look as glossy as possible.  You'll notice in the pictures below that the final result was well worth the effort.




Materials used for this stage
Valspar White Primer
Valspar White Satin Spray Paint
Valspare clear Lacquer

Tools used for this stage
hand sander
various grades of sand paper

Comments

[mjungels]

Beautiful work on the paint