Dave, You might want to play around with the primers a bit. I had 15 original Campus frames here and the shades of blue varied from one to the next. If you prefer a slightly lighter shade of blue I doubt that anyone is going to call you on it. I used a light gray SEM primer on my frames. However, if I hadn't had all of them already primed I would have experimented with a white or maybe a lightly blue tinted primer. When you say single stage do you mean like a urethane enamel and no clear? As you can probably tell painting is not my strong suit. I considered doing the painting myself but once I began reading about flash times, retarders, fisheyes, etc. I decided that that was more than I was willing to attempt. That's why I'm having mine done at a professional shop. It's a bit pricey but I'll make up for it by not having to redo the frames a couple of times because of runs, drips, and errors. Ogy
Well Ogy, it sounds like you know quite a bit about the painting process. I was thinking of using a 2K primer in white. It's catalyzed, and hard. It works great as a base coat if a lighter shade is desired.
Yes single stage refers to a base coat with the urethane already blended as part of the total volume of the product. So it goes on clear and since it's catalyzed, sets pretty fast. It can also be shot heavy and wont run or sag like acrylic enamels will. But not all paint codes are available in both single stage options.
The reason I am shying away from two stage programs on the minis is because they are merely frames, not large flat panels, and man, clear urethane starts to add up.
I can tell you that painting urethane single stage with a cheap gun and compressor is way easier than doing it with a hardware store paint can. No finger cramps, more choices, better quality finish both in appearance and wear. The downside is that overspray is a larger issue. I learned that the hard way. (Clay bar city in my garage)
Mini bike frames are easy. I would never do a large panel without having my neighbor handy. He's a retired body shop owner. I'm a novice.