: Hi Rehd;

: I'm familiar with lacquer too, having done a frame-up restoration of a '61
: Vette some years ago - 12 coats of lacquer that was as beautiful a finish
: as I've ever dreamt of - About 1/4" thick Roman Red, and easy as can
: be to work with, and deep as all get out. You should have seen the gnat
: under 1/4" of lacquer on the trunk lid - - It forever identifies that
: paint job as mine!

The laquer problem Rehd described is called solvent popping. (Pretty technical term, eh?) It is caused by the surface of the laquer (or any finish) skinning over before the solvents underneath have had a chance to escape. The solvent vents regardless and causes small craters in the surface. Too, much material too fast is the problem.

I don't think this is your epoxy problem though because epoxy has little solvent to evaporate off. It is hard to tell from your description if you have an actual fisheye or not. Fisheyes are caused be contaminants on the surface, usually oil or silicone. If you washed and prepped the surface properly this should not happen. HOWEVER, if you touched the surface with a finger at the point of the fisheye the oils from your skin could cause this.

I do think you made a lot of extra work for yourself by sanding off the whole fill coat. It would have been much easier to simply repair the affected area.

I wouldn't worry about this problem recurring because you say that you have applied 6 fill coats and only had this one minor problem.

Ian