Overall I am pleased with it and an excited about the result.
As with every other paint job I have done: "Expect the unexpected, be prepared" is probably the best rule to follow.
Monday...other than very few dirt nibs and insects, the reduced epoxy/sealer went down great, and was easy to nib out.
Independence Day Tuesday was another story. I was a little concerned as the temps were supposed to hit 88F, a little higher than I had ever sprayed the product in before, and humidity was super high, 90%, and I was not sure what to expect with that. Overall I was confident the basecoat would not be all that super difficult and I had it figured out well enough as I'd sprayed the trunk and trunklid. Wrong on all counts. Got an early start in the shop at 5:30a to attempt to beat the heat and thought I had a chance of being done with base by noon, wrong again. Tacked off, masked for seam sealer. Started working on seam sealer. What I didn't know was the high humidity sped the seam sealer up so much, that I could hardly pull the tape fast enough as it set up too quick around the edges, and that caused alot of problems and clean up.
So, after all those slight messes were cleaned up (a couple hours at least) I cleaned up stringers and small amounts of stray seam sealer and started mixing base. Thankfully I'd seen it one time before and was prepared for the sight of opening the can and seeing what appeared to be Orange/Brown basecoat (something lighter floats to the top...binder maybe?). I was also prepared for the big sticky clumps of what seems to be aluminum at the bottom of the can. This A4 color has to be mixed until you can't stand it anymore which I did.
A half hour later I was ready to spray. The car looked like it would never be any more ready than it was. Fluid, fan, air pressure adjusted, check the fan pattern, hit it. Laid down the first wet coat, and it looked absolutely horrific in the areas I had just spent a ton of time on seam sealer. Great big streaks in the base, everywhere I had wiped the car down to clean up seam sealer. After I fixed it I figured out the solvents that I had wiped the car down with, even a half hour later, were still coming out...in spite of the car looking perfectly clean and dry. Did not know what to make of that but got past it, waited 15 minutes or so and decided I would try to fix that before continuing. It was a little early for an orientation coat but I laid one down to preserve my sanity....it looked much better and could then see the end of that issue, and got my mind straight/felt better that I could fix anything that came along.
Why didn't the wipe down solvents fully evaporate in a half hour? Because the humidity was about 93%. It didn't matter that my improvised booth fans were running full blast the whole time. At that point I knew in my gut that this is also why the seam sealer sped up...it is actually designed to, it is a moisture cure product. I had just not experienced it first hand until that point. High humidity: Seam sealer speeds up, basecoat slows down.
By now I had been in the shop about an hour longer than I wanted to be, it was getting hotter, and was in the mid '80s. It is no big deal but working in a non-breathable spray suit made it much more uncomfortable, adding to the difficulty. Wasn't feeling good at all and just had to get past it. I know most guys working at home would probably not bother with the moon suit, but I found a couple cat hairs and clothing fibers in the very first item I sprayed, and after that went to the spray suit, $14 on amazon, and problem solved.
Waited 20 minutes (10 minute flash was adequate in low humidity, I took a guess at doubling it based on appearance). Laid one more wet coat of base. Still looked good except a couple minor inconsistencies in pattern. Had coverage by that point. If I was skimping on material I could have done orientation coat at that point and been done (as I had done 2 wet/1 dry in the trunk and it worked perfect.) Decided with wear and tear + UV exposure, a few more mils would be smart. Laid down another wet coat, was getting physically tired at this point and it showed in the spray pattern...there were lots of inconsistencies and I wasn't too happy with it, it looked pretty bad. I then decided the first orientation coat I had laid on earlier, though It repaired my bruised ego, wasn't exactly the effect I wanted. I then just followed intuition and started to experiment, raised the air pressure 5psi higher, started an orientation coat and it did exactly what I wanted it to do: Loved it. laid down two orientation coats that way for insurance and it looked fantastic. I have read most pros lower the air pressure for orientation, but I didn't like it, that was not working for me at the time.
I understood my products and worked with them previously, but did not understand exactly how the products would perform in high humidity and that's really what caused the biggest struggle. What got me through it was staying flexible mentally, and also there is a confidence that comes with purchasing plenty of extra material, knowing you have way more than enough to repair any problem that comes if you just figure it out and learn, right there on the spot. I learned, now I know, and I still prefer to work in lower temps and lower humidity!
Walked out of the shop 10 hours later at 3:30. Near total exhaustion, could have went to sleep right then but didn't want to mess up schedule too badly, but was in bed at 9p with the intention of laying clear the next morning.
In hindsight: I am SO glad I did not use activated basecoat, which would have potentially risked trapping solvents. Those same wipe down solvents that showed streaks, and the solvents in the base, could have been trapped underneath activated basecoat, caused huge problems later on and could have wrecked the whole job. Instead I walked away, left the fans on all night and being air dry basecoat, I let as much of the solvents out as possible for 14 hours.
