[AlligatorJesie]

Pretty straight forward question. My bug's door panels are in pretty rough shape and I'd like to re-paint them.

Whoever owned him before must of had a dog because his panels are all scratched, in some spots pretty deeply.They're kinda soft... Which may explain how the dog was able to scratch them so easily. I found when I first got my bug that if I scrubbed too hard with a sponge I was able to remove some of the material so I don't think sanding it should be a huge problem. Also after seeing some other bugs with nice color matching almost metal looking panels I decided I liked that better anyways. So I wanna sand 'em down and give them a nice coat. But I'm not sure what I should use to sand them and insure the new coat will apply smooth.

This is my color plan:

Which is based off this alligator character design I've been drawing for some time meow:

My plan is to eventually have all the dash parts and door panels painted like this but first things first; How do I sand them down smoothly enough for painting? Also what type of paint would you recommend for something you plan on clear coating?

 

[rayn]

Lean them very well, then sand by hand or in the softer spots leave it be. Use a high build primer and it should smooth out some minor imperfections. Not sure if it is a available in a can, but a eurathane high build will do the trick. Wet sand smooth and do your thing.

The high build primer is gonna be your friend here helping to take out the high spots that most plastic panels have.

 

[caherbst]

If the black is the same material as the dash you probably wont need to sand them at all. I used rubbing alcohol and a green kitchen scrub and it takes that top gooey layer off completely. My dash was also scratched by a dog and doing this took all the scratches out. I did do a wet sand with 1000 grit fine wet-sand paper afterwards to make sure it was super smooth.