Painting!

Ok. Im about to strip down my sx1030b and repaint it. Is this the correct method?

Sand down, prime, sand, prime, sand, color, sand, color, sand, clear coat, sand, clearcoat, rubbing compound/gloss, finish touch?

Or is that overkill....

Id like to get it right the first time.

and how much do you sand after each first coat? just lightly scratch at it with fine grain, or wear it down quite a bit?

Between the color coats and the clear coats, sand with 1000 or 1200 grit sandpaper.

Giving it a graze with 1000-1200 grit will take off very little. All you have to do is scratch the smooth surface to key it for the next stage, and even out the edges of any paint excrescence (sp?). Assuming you're using a cellulose based spray, the coats should fall evenly, until you hit the end of the can... That's where you'll get some sputtering of the final, less diluted paint at the bottom of the can. If you use all but, say the last 5% of the can, or less for really big ones... you should be okay.

Actually, don't worry so much about the rubbing between paint coats. The strongest, toughest paint finish comes from a light dusting of many coats - eight to ten. The only thing you must be wary of with that many coats is dust - the more coats drying, the more exposure of sticky paint to the sh*t in the air. Good luck.

Feel free to go to the thread below for my case painting tutorial.

<a href="http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum3/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=19&t=000081" target="_blank">http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum3/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=19&t=000081</a>