ok, step by step... basically.....
First: prime and paint your box. i used rattle cans. found out oil based primers aren't the way to go, they take forever to dry and won't sand down smooth without clogging your sand paper. be sure to sand in between coats, i used 220 grit and an random orbital sander. basically for best results, just follow the directions on the can. i used about 3 coats primer and 5 coats of black. light coats, sanding in between.
next is the finish, i used polyurethane. i've heard of people dumping fiberglass resin on it to achieve a glossy affect, but i'm more familiar with poly so i went with that. basically i applied one coat a day, lightly sanding in between coats. you need to make sure that **** is dry before sanding, otherwise its not gonna be good.
use a high quality brush, it makes a lot of difference, i used a 100% natural black china bristle brush. when applying don't go too thick, runs are your enemy. apply as many coats as possible, i used about half of the little can i bought. i could've used more becuase there was a spot where i sanded through.
let that **** CURE, not just dry, but cure. it will be rock hard. if you aren't sure its cured, get up close and take a whiff, if it stinks like poly its not dry, its still putting off fumes. now comes sanding.
start out with 220, get your runs taken care of. then go to 400. from this point on its removing scratches from the previous grits of sand paper. after 400 i wet sanded with 600. i didn't have any 800 grit so i went straight to 1000. i think if i used the 800 it would've taken care of the scratches you see in the head on pic. after the 1000 i went to 1500, then 2000, then 2500. after that i used a polishing compound, and then waxed it. very labor intensive, it took forever.
cliffs: prime, sand, prime, sand, prime, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand, polyurethane, sand, polyurethane, sand, polyurethane, sand, polyurethane, sand, polyurethane, sand, polyurethane, sand with 220, then 400, wet sand with 600, then 800, then 1000, then 1500, then 2000, then 2500, hit it with the polishing compound, and finish with car wax.
