[airbrush1]

The pic above of the tail light is about all you can get without wetsanding and buffing the final clearcoated product......

My sidemarkers look the same as the tails in that picture..... same quality finish as the OEM paint

 

[Full-Bore Motorsports]

Did you guys use a buffing compound after you were done sanding? And what polish did you guys use?

 

[kissingurami]

http://www.miata.net/hakuna/polished lenses.html

i'll do this one of these days. right now it doesn't bug me soooo

he also has a lot more tutorials
http://www.pacificsites.net/~hakuna/miata.html

good site

 

[FooSchnickens]

Did you guys use a buffing compound after you were done sanding? And what polish did you guys do?

I did. Some 3M polish works wonders.

Here's the method i used:

http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92114

Some of the pics don't work, but the directions are VERY detailed.

I used the spray version and it yielded much more uniform results with a lot less hassle. I wager if you used a craft spray gun you do just as well, but that's another $50 on top of the cost of the paint to do it that way unless you already have the equipment.

 

[gwilo]

airbrush1, your info is good.

They should follow what you have put down.

The way I did it was a little different

1 electric hand drill

Flap wheels 300 - 400 - 600 grit

Scotch Pads

Buffing wheels coarse (jute - sisal) to fine (cotton)

Buffing compounds (tripoli to jeweler rouge)

Sandpaper/ emery paper 600 to 1200 grit.

This is not recommended for the average person, but it is fast.

I call 400 grit sandpaper 'coarse' and fine only starts at 1000 grit.

As you can tell I am not a 'body guy'. I did spend a few years polish acrylics (incl black) when working in the fiberglass industry.

The taillight on my car where in bad shape and now they look better than new.

A few hints to anyone doing this

- take your time (you can do one lens at a time/day)

- soft touch

- keep the surface wet

- check you progress often

- if you get tired STOP and do the work latter

 

[Full-Bore Motorsports]

Did you guys use a buffing compound after you were done sanding? And what polish did you guys do?

I did. Some 3M polish works wonders.

Here's the method i used:

http://www.g2ic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92114

Some of the pics don't work, but the directions are VERY detailed.

I used the spray version and it yielded much more uniform results with a lot less hassle. I wager if you used a craft spray gun you do just as well, but that's another $50 on top of the cost of the paint to do it that way unless you already have the equipment.

So you just used a spary can for the clear on yours?

I used to build a ton of models when I was younger, so I have an aire brush and compressor. It seems that the tail light might be to large for how small the air brush is. Do you think this is the case? And I could just use Tamiya clear right? Or would it just be more easy to buff them?

 

[FooSchnickens]

Yeah, picked up some UV automotive clearcoat in a spray can.

The model paint spray can gave a nice even coating for the large area so you'd be better off using that for the tails. The turn signals and side markers will be fine with the small spray gun.

http://clubroadster.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4572

There's the stuff I used and the results the second time around.