priming and painting plastics?????

[FireFly]

Can anyone steer me in the right direction on how to sand, prime, and paint a fairing so it comes out good and not half assed?????????
I got a scuffed up right side fairing off of ebay to experiment with.
Thanks

[stoinkythepig]

Wash it,

Clean it with solvent like denatured alchohol to get rid of any wax

wash it again

Dry sand it with progressively finer sand paper until the scrathes are gone and the surface is uniformly smooth but rough enough to take paint. End with 400 grit.

prime it with a couple of coats to fill any scratches. More coats are OK if needed but sand between coats to let the scratches fill. Spot filler, which is really just thick primer may help if scratches are deep

wet sand primer with 400 grit, rinsing often

wash it

clean it with solvent

shoot it with new paint and clear coat if desired

don't wax for at least a month so that the solvents in the paint completely dry.