What’s the difference between a good paint job and a great paint job?
It's the preparation and this is what is involved as explained by the owner of this prestine Lotus Esprit.

First up, all of the trim is removed and doors, bonnet and tailgate. Every nut, bolt and bracket is removed.
Everything was dismantled, to get a flat paint finish all of the way under the trim edges.
Then lots of sanding with an air sander and 120 grit - dust mask a must!
17 layers of paint (2 paint schemes on top of the original).
Tried hard not to go through to the fibreglass and expose pinholes.  

 

Any damage, or cracks was repaired with a fibreglass repair kit and minor chips were filled with 2-pack filler.
My shed was converted to a spray booth and sheeted with plastic, two fans drew the paint spray out,
The car was cleaned with grease and wax remover and wiped with a Tac cloth.
1st up was 2K sealer/filler by Chemspec. A really nice product that layed down smoothly, 3 coats.
24 hours later, I applied 3M guide coat and wet-sanded everything with 800 grit to get all of the panels straight.
If the car popped through the primer, then it was all painted again. This took me 3 rounds to get perfect. 

  

After I was happy with the primer finish, then it was 2K Chemspec A23 Lotus red 4 wet coat, with 15 mins between coats for flash times.
2K Satin black in the bonnet and bumpers etc.
Always use an active charcoal filtered mask.

 

I'm not a pro-painter, so there was some 'orange peel' on he paint surface, so I colour-sanded the whole car with 1200/1500/2000 wet sanding.
Then buffed it with a powered buffer and 3M rubbing compound.
Like a mirror!

Reassemble is the best part of the job :)

Never painted before - if you have basic hand skills and time, it's all possible. More pics to follow soon.

 

Project update 7th September 2013

 

Project update 14th January 2014

 

Project update 17th June 2014