Wonder Woman Mod- The End

I got a chance to shoot the primer tonight. It didn't lay down as flat as usual so I'm guessing it's a little older than I thought it was. Not a problem because it gets sanded anyway before the paint goes on.

I shot a fairly heavy coat on. It will let me sand it without cutting through.

Since this paint job alone is going to break the bank I will be looking for sponsors to help out on hardware. I'm torn because of course I want to use the coolest thing out there but on the other hand, all my wife plays is Peggle and Bejeweled. Very Happy

Hmmm - what would Wonder Woman want??

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There are different kinds of cool PC's, all you have to do is pick one direction and go with it to the max. For hers you could make it the ultimate power saver or completely silent. It doesn't have to be top secret hardware on the verge of meltdown to be a righteous mod.

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xer0
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station...

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xeromist wrote:

There are different kinds of cool PC's, all you have to do is pick one direction and go with it to the max. For hers you could make it the ultimate power saver or completely silent. It doesn't have to be top secret hardware on the verge of meltdown to be a righteous mod.

^ agreed

its not all about how fast you get it done, its also about having fun and making a master piece at your own pace (Can only go as far as your mind goes Very Happy

).

I worked a little more on the painting today.

I wet sanded the primer. You can see in the picture that the primer wasn't perfectly smooth. It's thick epoxy and it was a little old. You can see where its starting to cut through and flatten it out.

Once it's perfectly flat all the darker spots will be light gray like the rest of the area. One thing you try to avoid when wet-sanding is cutting into the bare metal like this -

It's easy to spot repair with some primer and sand back down though.

After cleaning it really good and wiping it down with a tack cloth I sprayed the first heavy coat. It looks better already!

After 3 full wet coats it was done. And it looks way better than the rough texture.

Then I noticed this little beauty -

A nasty sag/run from getting a little too impatient between coats. It may look disastrous but once it dries I will show you how to fix things like this and it will look like it never happened. .... I hope. Rolling Eyes

Here is the side that will get the large mural. It has a little orange peel but once I wet sand it and buff it out it will look like a mirror.

It has to cure for a while first, so until then, thx for watching.

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Atticus wrote:

D@m# nice paint job...

And thinks for using the imperfections to teach us all how to fix such things.

Thanks.

It has flattened out a lot more now that it's dry. I could almost leave it alone and not wet-sand it. But, I want it like a mirror.

I will definitely show you how to fix sags and runs. I know it happens to the best of us. Wink

I get too impatient between coats. Since this is a single stage paint I should wait a little longer between coats but I just can't wait to see it done!

I'll let it cure another day and then get after it.

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Paint update time -

So it cured long enough that I can get back to work on it.

The first thing I need to do is take care of that run. It requires a LOT of patience which is something I don't have and ironically is what made the run in the first place. Evil or Very Mad

There is a special tool for removing runs like this ....a new razor blade.

I use it to scrape the bad part off. Very very carefully hold the blade straight up and down and drag it towards you taking off little shavings.

So keep doing this until you see and feel the bad spot disappear and it feels smooth. It will be ready for sanding at this point. Pretty easy huh?

It works great until you tilt the blade a little off and then you leave a gouge like this --

^^^^ THIS = VERY BAD Embarassed

Except that I put a lot of paint on so I might be able to save it!

Time for some sanding. I started with 800 grit just on the spots I scraped down. Follow that with 1000, 1500, and finally 2000.

Not sure if the gouge is going to come out..only one way to find out....keep sanding...

I started on the other side panel and this shows what a few passes with 1000 grit will do.

It looks like I'm ruining the paint but this is what you have to go through for that showroom shine.

You will quickly see any tiny imperfections like a speck of dust or a bug that flew in. They sand out really easy so don't panic.

Here is a critical step when sanding and buffing. You need to protect edges. Put some tape along the edge about 1/8" in so that when you sand of buff you don't take too much off. Edges will cut through really easy.

Here is the side panel after a 1500 grit rub down.

And after a 2000 grit rub down. It looks like a foggy paint at this point.

And after I hit it with a soft cloth and a little dab of rubbing compound you can see the finish it will have. I'll be using a small power buffer to make it a lot faster. And the end result will be a mirror finish.

Oh, remember that little gouge I had to sand out? Turns out it was a little deeper than I hoped so I sanded through to the primer. Notice the small grayish round spot? Rolling Eyes

Ya, that one!! Now I get to repaint the panel. Oh well, stuff happens. Mad

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Lookin' good man!

With all this work going on, how does the wife not suspect something by now?

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BizSAR

BizSAR wrote:

Lookin' good man!

With all this work going on, how does the wife not suspect something by now?

Oh ya - I forgot to mention...I had to let her in on it so she could release some funds. Wink

And I thought maybe she would be excited about sharing in the build and may have ideas of her own. She thought it was really cool and we talked about some different ideas for it.

Wife Happy = Me Happy

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I just sprayed the side panel over again and it came out flawless. I discovered my spray gun had a small issue which might have been part of the problem. I got it dialed in and you can see the difference in the pics.
It is so smooth and perfect I could almost not even buff it or sand it at all.

Check it -

Now that's more like it! Razz

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Paint Update-

I buffed out the paint today. It turned out great! Just the way I wanted it.

I bought new compound and new pads since this is black and it will show every flaw or scratch.

I started out with a pad made for cutting the paint and used rubbing compound. This is the compound I have always used and trusted.

After I cut the paint down with the buffer this is the reflection I got without getting to the polish yet. You can see my hand reflection.

Next up is the polish. It brings the shine out and gets rid of any swirls or light scratches. The pad is specially designed to eliminate swirl marks.

And here is the reflection you get when done. This is a picture of the case itself but it looks like I just took a picture of the driveway. See the indentation of the side panel on the right?

How about now??

Now that's what I call mirror black!! Cool

Remember the original texture??

This is much, much better.

Now I have to do a little work to the plastic front panel to give it a good shine too. It's plastic so I may try to sand and polish it or just go right to painting it. You can see with the panel on the case it does not match. I'll get to it next.

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We're going to have to put an electric fence up around your mod at the LAN to keep it from getting any finger prints Very Happy

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xer0
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station...

● ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z ● Intel 2600K ● DangerDen cooling ● 8GB G.Skill Trident ●
● ASUS GTX670 ● Patriot PyroSE SSD ● Antec Signature 650 PSU ● Antec Mini P180 ● [ ASUS G73JH ] ●
Picture Association Thread: http://www.pdxlan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7466

bling bling... doesn't match the front now... figure you have a plan for that?

Thx guys.

I will be getting to the front piece next. It might get air brushed completely so I won't need to do much. I just have to hammer out the details with him to make sure.

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Nice point job!

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GamingNW

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Oh Dangzzz....front page!!
Thx Vector.

Now I better get cooking.

I actually have the front pieces painted and just have to buff them out in the next couple of days. Then it's off to air brushing. Razz

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that is an amazing mirror finish..

at first i was like why was he taking a pic of the drive way

then i was like woooah he took a pic of the case. Shocked

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I am the original stage monkey

I am going to use my new spray gun for the first time this weekend. Material is UV green acrylic and I have already primered white. Using Createx paint which is water-based. Any suggestions? How long do you let the paint cure between coats? What distance do you have from your spray target?

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DarthBeavis wrote:

I am going to use my new spray gun for the first time this weekend. Material is UV green acrylic and I have already primered white. Using Createx paint which is water-based. Any suggestions? How long do you let the paint cure between coats? What distance do you have from your spray target?

There are a lot of variables when painting.

Dry times depend on humidity and temperature. Also the amount of air flow in the area you are spraying.

Hopefully you have an HVLP gun. You can use low air pressure and you won't stir up a lot of dust that way.

I have heard both good and bad about the new water based paints. I suspect they are good but a lot of guys don't like change.

Make sure to set your pattern and flow on a test piece before you start blasting your parts. Stay back about 9" for small parts. Try to spray the parts flat so the paint lays out and won't decide to run on you.

Good luck on it and make sure to show us how it goes. Cool

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BOBDBONE wrote:

DarthBeavis wrote:

I am going to use my new spray gun for the first time this weekend. Material is UV green acrylic and I have already primered white. Using Createx paint which is water-based. Any suggestions? How long do you let the paint cure between coats? What distance do you have from your spray target?

There are a lot of variables when painting.

Dry times depend on humidity and temperature. Also the amount of air flow in the area you are spraying.

Hopefully you have an HVLP gun. You can use low air pressure and you won't stir up a lot of dust that way.

I have heard both good and bad about the new water based paints. I suspect they are good but a lot of guys don't like change.

Make sure to set your pattern and flow on a test piece before you start blasting your parts. Stay back about 9" for small parts. Try to spray the parts flat so the paint lays out and won't decide to run on you.

Good luck on it and make sure to show us how it goes. Cool

here is the setup without the water filter installed will try to spray flat where possible

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