Captain America Shield Paint question

Hello everybody.
I have a question regarding a possible paint error. I am horrible at painting, i mean really bad..So for all my builds I have a friend who does the painting for me and he is amazing, but recently he had some family emergency so I took the chance of trying to do it myself, but I think I messed up. I used Dupli-Color Metalcast for the paint, after I painted it I saw some hairs of my dog and some other lint or what have you fall on it while it was drying, so I sanded it down with 2500 grit paper, but it wasn't coming off so I went to 2000 then 1500 all wet of course. Now it seems like the Anodized color effect is removed leaving it looking like a matte finish.



So my question is , if I spray it again (lightly) will it make it more darker and would it bring back that shine again? Or should i start over again? I now know from what people are saying don't sand the base coat only the clear coat. And another question is would the clear coat bring a shiny look to this? Or would I just be making it worse.

Thank you so much!!

So ... here's my thoughts. I would try to stay a few light coats of clear coat. The goal of the base coat (Metalcast in this instance) is not to get it shines. That's the clear coat's job. If you have even color (which it looks like you do) the a clear coat will even things out.

If not. Do not be afraid to strip it and start over. Seriously. Most people who paint their own shields strip and start over AT LEAST once.

Good luck.

Hello,

Truth be told, I'd probably start over. Shouldn't take you any time at all to wipe it clean, an go from scratch. I used the same paint as you, and did multiple coats (5 to 7 minutes a part) until I reached the finish I was looking for. Good luck, and please ask more questions if you get stuck. Here is how my shield turned out.

There is another option. Sand the rest of the paint like you did the damaged section. That will get you a consistent look. Then when you clear coat that will create the shine. It could be alright to just clear coat, but it's safer to make it uniform before the clear coat. Clear coat has a tendency to highlight small, subtle differences. You could also sand it all off and start over, but I think that's a little extreme. Just my thoughts.