I decided to paint the color band first - for several reasons. The most important is that because it is smaller, it's easier to mask completely when it comes time to paint the white body color. Also, I have pretty good confidence that once cured well, it will allow masking tape removal without peeling, being an oil-based hard enamel product.
And I had it and I was ready. :)
I haven't masked like this in a long time. And when I have in the past, I've gone Mr. Cheapo. I know, that's kind of surprising isn't it! I usually use newspaper and basic yellow masking tape. But DS left us a masking roller tool with some tape and paper so we tried it. DW has used it recently in the house and I tried it on this job. We both like it. And the paper is pretty darn inexpensive. Like everything, there's a learning curve, but this one shot heavenward like a home-sick angel. Well okay, after that one wall.
Of course, first I sprayed the whole camper down with air and swept up the floor with the garage doors open. Then I damp wiped the color bands and nearby those with lacquer thinner so the tape would stick. Then after masking, I wiped down again with lacquer thinner. With the non-OEM white feathered out like it is, the thinner did not raise it, and it was also just damp, not wet. Those were kind of tests and by this point, I'm still not sure there will be success, especially on that V-nose, once the oil-base spray sets on the surface.
After that final wipe down it was spray time. The self-etching primer says to apply in 2-3 thin coats for best results. I can't remember the re-coat time (for primer) now, but it was pretty quick, maybe it said a few minutes.
While the primer was wet, and even when initially dry to the "look" but not yet overnight, you could see the feather-edges underneath, as a sort of tiny ridge or build-up. I was nervous and wondered if what I was seeing was the primer raising that edge of old paint. But it didn't bubble it or raise it in obvious ways, so I turned of the lights and went inside for the day (help keep the dust down). The instructions said I could cover in top-coat after 3-4 hours and that was going to put me too late. I'll paint the next day.
The next morning I found NO evidence of that feather edge visiblity as I had the day before. The whole surface looked excellent. I was happy. This primer is sandable, which means for a perfect finish you can use it as a slight filler and sand and spray until ready for top coat. I don't have wet sanding facilities, which is a drain in the floor, so I chose against sanding (small water flow while using, say 400-1000 grit wet/dry sand paper).
And because I wanted that sprayed texture, for my paint to stick to, and there wasn't any visible dust settled on the surface, I chose to spray the paint over the primer with no further prep.
The paint (different from the primer) says to spray two or three heavier coats at a moderate speed. That's for the hammer effect, and it's a learning and experience curve. Too heavy or too slow and you get an increasing chance for runs and much larger "fish-eyeing" in the surface. The fish eye effect is, I think in part, the "forged" portion of this "forged hammered" effect product. Too thin of a coat or too fast of a spray gives not enough paint to create either a hammered or forged effect and rather, makes kind of a "plain paint" effect.
I learned a long time ago how important it is to spray left to right (or right to left), or up to down or zig to zag, but you don't just get in there and shake your hand willy-nilly and spray where you THINK you want paint. Keep it moving at the right speed, and evenly, and in the same "this way to that" pattern you chose when you started. And start spraying off the object and keep spraying until leaving the object at the other side, then release the spray. That's important. Usually spray straight on, but generally there's an angle in one way or another and it is the far angle edge that gathers more over spray than the near edge. Use that fact. In other words, build your lay down pattern from near to far and cover those over spray areas with a nice even fresh coat of intended spray, keeping a wet edge that you run your new line into as you make a next pass. That will give you a nice smooth finish, even with a spray can.
And then there's the real world and you just get better with age, until you turn vinegary. Like not always having control over your arm movements when they choose to spaz out on you. Then you just tell people "I meant to do that". ;)
I sprayed two heavier coats, following the diamond pattern rows as my "left right" spray pattern, so they would get some good overlap - with about 30 minutes between coats. The instructions ask for recoat within 30 minutes to 2-3 hours. If longer than 2-3 hours, wait seven days. That tells me the subsequent coats are interacting with the first coats to accomplish the hammered effect.
Then I let that sit for about four hours, and sprayed three coats of
clear. The clear said not to use over a couple of products, I think "Bright Coat" and "Aluminum", but the "Aluminum" mentioned was a Rustoleum paint CALLED aluminum, or something like that. I figured what it meant was that it's not for a silver metal finish paint product because of whatever is used in that paint to look like silver metal. I had already test sprayed this stuff on the chestnut and was satisfied.
After several hours I pulled down the paper (saved it for wood-stove tinder because we recycle) and opened the doors.
Now I'll let that all cure up good and hard for about a week before I do anything to the surface, like wipe dust or mask on it.
Mom's here for a little more than a week too, so my posts and work will be curtailed. I'll be back in one thread or another one of these next days.
