Re: My First Build!! Top Gun Moto Helmet!!
I do things a little differently with painting. I'm a trained pannel beater/sprayer & I was tought back when cellulose paints were just being phased out for 2k. So I may be a little out of touch with modern techniques but I'll have a go anyway
Firstly I'd have keyed the surface of the helmet with something like a 320 grit, dry, assuming theres are no significant surface imperfections.
Degrease & prime, a few coats to build up a fairly thick primer coat & since its rattle can paint I'd have left it at room temp for a week to sink.
Then I'd have used a matt or satin black guide coat lightly dusted over the whole surface, it drys in a few minutes. For something as curved as the helmet I'd have used a soft block, basicly a rolled up lint free cloth, wrap it in 800 grit, dip it in water & flat the whole thing down. You can use a loose rubber squeegee to check your progress. If there are any surface imperfections the guide coat will show these up.
Assuming theres no imperfections I'd make sure its fully dry & again degreased.
Heres a free tip: at this stage & also for those wanting to check your filler work visually, you can use the degreaser to give the surface a temporary gloss finish by filling an old plastic milk bottle & making a small hole in the top, you then pour it on over the work area & visually check in the light.
Next I'd apply the colour coat, if its metallic you need to hold the can sighly further away & almost dust it on. If you go too heavy you'll cancel out the fleck & it'll look dull.
At this stage I would usually let the colour coat just flash off & then apply the clear coat straight to it.
Personally I would definately not put the decals on before the clear coat & would definately not polish the colour coat as the clear will have nothing to key too & may start to peel after a while.
With the clear coat I'd build up a few coats wet on wet (10 minute in between coats) & then let it dry. I'd then flat it all over with 1000 grit wet, degrease & clear coat again with a couple more coats.
I wouldn't worrie too much about a little orange peel its alot better than runs. Once the clear is fully dry I'd wet flat it with 1500 grit & then very lightly but evenly with 2000 grit. With a helmet I'd then polish it by hand using a soft compound like Farecla g10. I would recommend using a good quality wax polish like Autoglym super resin polish to help protect the polished clear coat as a cut painted finish can be vunerable to damage & staining. Then I'd apply the decals.
As far as the comment on the polish contaminating the paint, its fine to polish a freshly finished surface but you must not get any polish or any other material containing silicones any where near the job during paint & prep.
It causes whats called fish eyes in your paint. Fish eyes are a tiny spec or particle of silicone (usually airborn) that lands on your job during prep & paint doesnt stick to it so it leaves a small crater in the paint.
This is just the way I'd do it, I hope its some use
