[Fred Taylor]

I'd like to know how, after you sprayed your final lacquer coats, you got the front and top on this so silky smooth looking:

Did you do the final rub out by hand or with a polisher?  Or did you even do a final rub out?

Also, what gloss lacquer did you use... satin, semi-gloss, or gloss?  Or were the first few coats gloss followed by a couple of semi-gloss?

 I did not rub it out , if you can spray without getting any trash in the clear you did good. The gloss level  is  semi gloss  . The smoothness comes from , 1. how you mixed your clear and that depends the temp when clearing, the more thinner added will make waterier ,you have better flow out, all the thinner is for is to make the clear thin enough to be sprayable, you have to use slow dry thinner in summer and fast dry in winter, you don't want the clear to dry to fast , you need a good spray gun with a # 4 tip.  I have 3 coats sanding sealer under the 4-5 coats of semi clear. I only buff when I use high gloss piano finish , high gloss has a gloss level of 90% you have to buff to get that 100% gloss level, wet sanding and buffing gets rid of any orange peel. There is a lot to it , I been painting high end cars for long time,  I still don't everything, Lots of practice I quess