Share your experiences doing DIY bursts with aerosols...

[bodhi]

Actually, realised after posting that the Orange Flame stuff is an Acrylic spray paint, not nitro...

[powerdroid]

So, I took a chance with Dartford eventually, everyone else seemed to be out-of-stock with the colors I needed for my Firebird project. The colors I got were Dark Rich Mahogany and Dark Brown, I´m trying to achieve the classic brown burst look, and since the body is actually alder I wanted to first get a tinted coat of the mahogany on it. Here´s a pic from today, after the first clear coat.




The paints seemed to run very thin, I had some trouble with the dark brown on my first spraying, it got very runny easily. Definitely was harder to work with than Molotow cans, but as it has been about ten years since I've been spraying nitro I can't say if it's just how nitro is. Anyways, feeling pretty good about how it turned out. Oh, and this is the back from couple of days ago, after the first coat of just the dark brown on it, it really shows the difference in how light and reddish it was , before multiple coats (as seen on the front burst)

[fuzzjunkie]

That looks really nice!

Much better than I expected or could do myself. I am not a fan of Fender sunburst, but Gibson is good for that dark to light brown or French polish look.

[ogpuprison]

I've done two sunburst with variuos spray cans. Did a purple burst which was rad but one thick run ruined it-so I started again and did regular sunburst. Easy-there's loads of online tips for methods of doing it.
advice? Always test the can - some are defective and spit loads. Warm the cans in hot water, spray in a clean area away from draughts and dust kicking up over the job. Proper auto paints, although more expensive, are best and my place (Romart, Stourbridge UK) mix colours (they did me a dakota red once for £8/600ml).
I build a crappy cardboard spray booth with reptile lamps and a UV LED lamp for drying. I prefer spraying flat using a simple jig/prop. Vertical hanging is only good if you're prepared to deal with runs. This is why spray cans are risky...uneven spray volume/blockages can wreck the job and cause you yet more time/work. And it gets expensive. Spray in a warm environment. In my experience, spray light and recoat fast. Over time more dust particles may settle as you open the door to go get a coffee, etc (another reason a simple booth is worth doing. ). Then clearcoats between 3 and 10 times depending on what you want. sanding between clearcoats is talked about but i don't do this-I do it at the end and often 2 more clear after that if I've dulled it in error.
Oh yeah- use knot remover or sealer if you can.. and then there's using filler...which is whole other story