Wet sanding question

Not a stupid question at all.

If you are using "sandpaper" which is designed to be used wet, the answer is yes, it can be reused as often as you like until the grit wears off entirely. When we talk about "wet" sandpapers, typically these are the grey/dark grey type with very fine grit. These will often be labelled "waterproof" on the reverse side.

On the other hand, "dry" papers are typically the yellow/buff coloured type and these usually disintegrate when you try to use them "wet". 

 

thx for the answer. One more question that I forgot to ask. Can I wet sand acrylics or just enamels?

There's no appreciable differece between wet (or dry) sanding acrylics or enamels.

One thing to be absolutely sure of before you start is that the paint is fully cured and hardened particularly when using gloss colours. On occasion, I've laid down coats of gloss Tamiya and Gunze acrylics which, although they were "touch dry" very quickly, were still soft over a week later. (Admittedly it was a reasonably heavy coat)

I seem to recall reading comments on other forums suggesting that you leave Tamiya gloss acrylics to cure for a month before you even consider sanding/polishing, though I don't know if they were serious or joking. My own experience suggests there may be some truth in it...

My personal preference is not to sand but rather use a polishing stick. You can wet or dry "sand" with them, they are not as aggressive as sandpaper or sanding sticks.

Acrylics are typically less durable than enamels, for two reasons, they apply thinner and don't have as good a grip on the surface they are applied on to.

But if you are removing paint then you'll need to get a bit more aggressive,, then you use real sanding materials.

 

Gerald,

I disagree that acrylics are less durable, with a good primer undercoat acrylic base paint dries rock hard and bites down hard to a primer painted surface better than an un-primered surface.

Rand - What do you use as a primer?

I usually use Tamiya L fine white spray primer but since the LHS was out I got a ratttle can of Games Workshop Skull White primer and the suprising thing about it is that it sprays on finer than Tamiya's, dries FAST and no sanding needed. I have been able to paint primer then go to base colors in about 30 minutes after spraying. Games Workshop primers I like much better and you get more out of it than Tamiya's