Tried my hand at paint today...

440seven said
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LOL @ “paint booth”. Bud this is just your run of the mill 2 car garage I cover what I didn’t want overspray on and I took my time taping. The biggest thing was for months I keep the car and floor as dust free as I could. After final sanding I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned some more. More than I care to ever do again.

So after I corrected the first two runs I created more problems. The paint seemed to go on more splotchy so I’ve got to figure out how to now correct that or leave it alone. I’m tempted to say screw it. This ain’t ever going to be a show car anyhow, but I do want it to be at least decent and presentable.

Oh well on to next issues. It seems my 14” air cleaner won’t clear the hood. Even with a pretty big drop base. Anybody got suggestions? Maybe a smaller filter assembly. 12” or 10”? It’s a 440 with RPM intake.

I had a feeling, which is why I put paint booth in quotes lol. I'm in the same boat as you are so this just gives me more confidence in my attempt that'll be coming up here within the next year. You see professional guys talking online about having to set up a booth perfectly and then you see pictures of guys who just painted in a clean garage and it looks good enough for 99% of us.

Fred Scigliano said
Hey ESP47 I can give you my 2 cents on painting been doing it for many years and hope I'm not boring you but here goes. Best to paint the car in sections take the doors off fenders and so on and paint one piece at a time so the over spray is at a minimum this will take more time but better in the long run. The worst thing you can do in a shop without a paint booth is clean it and blow all the dust out just before you paint. Best to clean everything and wait at least a day so the dust settles then wet the floor down and make sure you the painter is clean of dust mostly like if you have a dog don't get around it so it's hair is all over you before you paint. Keep everyone out of the shop as you paint and make sure you have good lighting.
The worst thing people do is try to put the paint on to fast read the paint instructions and give it dry time in between coats. Base you can wait about 24 hours between coats without re-sanding.
The biggest mistake people do is put the clear coat on over the base paint way to soon, it might take 6 months but will see little bubbles all over your nice paint job, that's because the base paint was not dry enough and the clear trapped the base solvent in and the only way for it to come out is break through the clear coat.
Paint is expensive as you know and sure hate to see you waist money and your labor.
Again just my 2 cents.

I'm never bored getting good advice. I appreciate it Fred. I'm still in the epoxy primering stage. Actually taking my hood down to bare metal as we speak. I wanted metallic but chose against it since I want to paint it myself and do it in pieces like you advised. Sounds like it's more forgiving that way and if I mess up, at least I'm just fixing one panel and not the whole shebang.