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On my first build, I'm down to the finish. Literally. I have just sprayed the final coat of finish (Aerosol Nitrocellulose Lacquer). I am very pleased so far and have plans to keep building. I've learned a lot. Most of the mistakes would never be noticed but I see them. I may have to give this one to one of my sons and let number 3 or 4 be the one that I keep for myself.

When sanding between coats, I have found that the sandpaper gums up pretty quickly. I can only imagine how quickly 800 and 1200 grit paper will become useless. Does anyone have any tips on preventing this. I will scuff up the lacquer tomorrow and let it set for two weeks. Maybe when the finish has had the full two week cure time it will be harder and not gum put the sandpaper. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Steve

I use 3M Fre-Cut Gold up to 800 grit. I does not build up like others do. After 800 I wet sand.

Your lacquer may not have cured enough. I also do wet sanding, this floats the debris out and the paper lasts longer.
I use 400 - 600- 800 then once lever I hit 3 fresh coats on top , then let cure again sand only start with 800 1000 1500 buff and polish
Sometimes the cans can take up to 3 weeks to set.

I had this problem on my first one so I did like you and came to the forum for a solution. I wet sand and I also add a few drops of dishwashing liquid soap to the cup of water that I use to wet sand with. I go through the grits like everyone else described.

This is a quote from someone on the forum but I don't remember who:

Give your first one to your enemy,
Give your second one to your friend,
Keep the third one for yourself.

David L

Sterated or "fre" cut papers will not load near as much. For those who wet sand a drop of soap in the water will help a lot. Also when wet sanding I keep a sponge in my water tray to blot the paper on every so often as it helps knock the seeds off the paper.

Thanks for the input. The addition of a few drops of soap when wet sanding makes sense. I will order the Fre-Cut sandpaper when I order my next kit. Hopefully, next week! Kit #1 is resting for a few weeks. I'm changing jobs at the end of the month and taking week between the two jobs. Perfect timing to complete this build without interruption and get build number two started.