Re: The Duchess Project: 1940 Super 8 Convertible Sedan

Posted by John On 2011/6/25 16:14:06

This is how I clear coat our parts at Grain-It.
Once the woodgrain print is dry or has dried overnight I apply a coat or two of Bulldog adhesion promoter. I don't use SG-100 these days but it should work also if you already have some.
Note : the Ink will most likely not be completely dry, But The bulldog will lock it down and work as a adhesion promoter / tie coat. If using SG-100 you might want to wait till the ink has dried for a few days longer. With bulldog you can work faster.
To test to see if the woodgraining compound is locked down good, degrease with Naphtha or our U-Pol Degreaser after the Bulldog has dried.
If you can degrease and don't wipe off the pattern you should be ready for clear.
Tack rag lightly you don't want your rag to stick to the bulldog by accident if it's still a little tacky, and Then put on a wet coat of clear. I like the first coat wet so the solvents can bite the inks and base coat. We don't really rely on cross linking but depend mainly on a Mechanical adhesion.
Once the first coat has flashed off put down the second coat, once that has flashed put down a Third coat and let dry overnight.
The next day I wet sand "using 500 Grit Wet Dry sand paper " sand out nibs and what looks like dirt but this is ink most of the time. Remember you are not painting over a perfectly flat surface. Once I have the parts sanded I put on two more coats of clear. This should dry overnight, then be sanded with 1500 to 2000 grit wet dry sand paper. Than you can buff up to the gloss that you like.

Most of the time the First Three coats is plenty of clear. It just depends on the look you are after.
I do the extra clear to try and get a real flat finish.. If you are going with just the three coats you won't use 500 grit paper. You will use 1500 to 2000 grit paper than buff.
Hope this Help Jdee

PS: always do a test part..