spraying question

[PercyBigun]

I?m going to spray a plastic number plate surround in metallic green using aerosol to match my car, the number plate surround is silver at present and has the original ford factory spray job of silver.

Can I just clean it off and spray it with plastic primer, then a few lights coats of metallic and then laquer it, or do I have to roughen it up a bit, and if so what grade of sandpaper.

its going on the back of the car so it wont get many stone chips.

[One_Nine_RS]

Roughen it up a treat, until the finish is dull and matt, then clean it up, then give it a few coats of primer, set it for 24hours, rub down with fine grade on the primer, then spray loads of light coats with your colour of choice (15 min intervals) , and then once dried, laquer spray it, remember Percy, the finish quality will all depend on how much time you spent on the rub down and prep.
childs play..

[FF_Mark]

At least your wrist is used to plenty of rubbing action

[andy]

i sprayed the steering wheel cowling on my mk4 escort to match the colour of the car, tasman blue, i rubbed the bare plastic down with 1200 sandpaper and loadds of water until it was pretty smooth then i dried it thouroghly in the boilerhouse at work, after leaving it to dry and warm up i gave it about six VERY light coats of primer with about ten minute intervals then i rubbed down with a scotchbrite pad to key it then gave it a few more LIGHT coats of primer, the next day i added my metallic paint 4 coats ( each made up of about 5 VERY light coats ) throughout the day with 1 1/2 - 2 hours inbetween coats, also giving a light rub with scotchbrite between coats to give a good key , i then left it to cure for a day then rubbed the paint down with 1200 grit paper and loads of soapy water to take the shine off then dry thoroughly again, then left over night, the next day i applied the lacquer in the same fashion as the paint ( 4 or 5 coats made up of 4 or 5 very light coats each with light rubbing using the scotchbrite between coats)

then on the last coat of lacquer i applied about 7 very light distanced coats to give an even finish and i left it until the monday to cure

in the end it took about a week, monday to monday but the results were great, very deep colour with a great shine, polished up nicely it did, a bit excessive but i wanted to see how good a finish i could get, also i did everything in the boilerhouse at work so it was always kept very warm, if you have time to do it then i would do it this way, hth

[PercyBigun]

cheers andy, some good advice. i have done some dash bits on mine and got good results but is scratches easy, maybe i should have rubbed it down better. as you say leaving the stuff in a hot place makes it a better and harder finish