Paint gun for hobbiest?
One thing I think is worth mentioning is make sure you have high flow air hose couplings. Otherwise paint gun won't get enough volume to atomize the paint and end up with rough texture.
I have done several cars for my kids and I do all the rust dent repair, body work, block sanding and get the cars smooth down with 400 grit. Then I hand them over to a guy who has paint booth in his barn with 30 years experience and let him spray the base clear. Since the cars are stripped of all trim and fully prepped ready to spray the guy can turn the car around in one to two days and usually $1400 in labor plus cost of paint. End product looks like a pro did the whole job. It typically cost me around $2,000 in materials to prep the car cause I am inefficient etc.
Since I don't have a paint booth and other equipment like a pro painter would have the $1400 or so I pay in labor and the time it saves is well worth it to me.
I been using the Harbor Freight guns for epoxy and surfacer primer. I can get them to lay primer down flat and smooth. But the guns are usually only good for one car then they seem to become uncleanable and have to get thrown out.
Picture of my daughters '93 Civic Si I did a few years back. It had bad rust around both rear wheel wells and dents on every panel. Factory black car. My paint guy would come over to my garage look at car and say "nope body work not good enough for black" and "would be ok for any other color but black" and tell me "keep blocking you need a higher level of prep for black". He refused to take the car for final paint until it was done to where he thought it needed to be. Yeah that was fun.....avoid black cars if at all possible.....
And my local auto paint store supplier he knows who in the area can take a fully prepped car and do a great job. So if you establish a relationship with a local auto paint store supplier they have a lot of connections to help you find someone who can spray the base/clear if you want to go that route.
One thing I think is worth mentioning is make sure you have high flow air hose couplings. Otherwise paint gun won't get enough volume to atomize the paint and end up with rough texture.
I have done several cars for my kids and I do all the rust dent repair, body work, block sanding and get the cars smooth down with 400 grit. Then I hand them over to a guy who has paint booth in his barn with 30 years experience and let him spray the base clear. Since the cars are stripped of all trim and fully prepped ready to spray the guy can turn the car around in one to two days and usually $1400 in labor plus cost of paint. End product looks like a pro did the whole job. It typically cost me around $2,000 in materials to prep the car cause I am inefficient etc.
Since I don't have a paint booth and other equipment like a pro painter would have the $1400 or so I pay in labor and the time it saves is well worth it to me.
I been using the Harbor Freight guns for epoxy and surfacer primer. I can get them to lay primer down flat and smooth. But the guns are usually only good for one car then they seem to become uncleanable and have to get thrown out.
Picture of my daughters '93 Civic Si I did a few years back. It had bad rust around both rear wheel wells and dents on every panel. Factory black car. My paint guy would come over to my garage look at car and say "nope body work not good enough for black" and "would be ok for any other color but black" and tell me "keep blocking you need a higher level of prep for black". He refused to take the car for final paint until it was done to where he thought it needed to be. Yeah that was fun.....avoid black cars if at all possible.....
And my local auto paint store supplier he knows who in the area can take a fully prepped car and do a great job. So if you establish a relationship with a local auto paint store supplier they have a lot of connections to help you find someone who can spray the base/clear if you want to go that route.