I was reading Chris Liokos' build page before and noted a question about the difficulty of preparing and painting a fibreglass bodied car. Chris' reply was that the prep work has to be done right as the symptoms of an ill prepared car will only show up a year or two after the paint job. This is a scary thought, I know it scared me when I read it back in 2004 and it also helped me to decide NOT to do the paint and prep work myself.
I wonder how many forum members have got cars, 2+ years old that are showing signs of paintwork cracking?
Having spent a little time around Chris' car, I can assure you it looks just as good today as it did when he got it from the painters! There are a number of ways to "skin a cat" as the saying goes, and I am no paint expert, however it is a known fact that "aged" glass is much better to paint than fresh glass. Also fibreglass flexes and stresses with time and heat and this movement manifests itself most at high stress points, such as the joint seams. This is where most people have problems in later years, where their paintwork cracks and crazes along or near a seam joint.
Another comment I read in Chris' build post suggested painting the car in primer and leaving it for a year so that all the movement and surprises occur on the primed surface. This may not be a bad solution, as long as the prep work under the primer has been done properly, and if you can handle waiting a year........