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Hello David, I'll provide a variation of your grandfather's quote: If I only knew at 24 what I know now.... Oh well. Anyway you seem to be making some excellent choices so far; in particular the desire to pursue supplied-air safety equipment for use with modern automotive paints. It will open up a lot of better-quality, more durable paint choices for you. You'll only be limited by cost and local availability. You should choose a manufacturer based on local availability. I'm fond of PPG but also like DuPont. Martin Senour is another one that many NAPA stores carry. My recommendation would be to start with a single stage urethane in any of the major manufacturer's "economy" lines. If it happens to be PPG, then it would be in their OMNI line as MTK. If it's DuPont, then it would be in their NASON line as Ful-Thane. Martin Senour also has such a line of paints called CrossFire, but I don't know any more details about them. You can also move up to the two stage basecoat/clearcoat systems if you wish and if cost is no particular object, to the premium automotive lines in any of the above manufacturers. You can find out if there is a PPG jobber handy to you by doing a postal zip code search at their site here. DuPont has a similar search service at their site here. Just click on "jobber locator" on the left. Whatever paint you decide to move up to next, make sure you get all the technical data sheets (also called P-sheets) from the manufacturer's website. They should also be available where you purchase the paint but I wouldn't bet on it. Plus, the salesperson might not be aware of them. You need those sheets to properly use the product. As far as supplied-air equipment goes, it's matter of personal preference, special needs and cost. I happen to prefer a compressor-supplied system rather than a turbine supplied system system because it uses a small diameter, standard 3/8 air hose that can be of any reasonable length. A turbine supplied system will have a larger diameter hose with limited lengths. For that reason I would find it harder to maneuver around a vehicle using it. I also prefer a full face piece over a hood. However, if you wear glasses, a hood would be the correct choice instead of a full facepiece. The Hobby-Air is popular because of it's reasonable cost for the DIY. CNKS uses one so he can provide specific info to you from a user standpoint. There is also another turbine system similar to the Hobby-Air marketed on Ebay but the name escapes me at this time. As I recall, it's price is a little better than the Hobby-Air. I'm not arguing against the Hobby-Air. I am sure it would satisfy your needs at a reasonable price.  Rod
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