a thin ribbon of paint film is guided and applied directly to hot thermoplastics extrudate just as it exits the extrusion die by a film curving and guide plate and then by a film application wheel that is adjusted so that the film mates with and is laminated to the extrudate with an adhesive bond between the paint film substrate and the extrudate . this eliminates the need for high gloss , high metallic content thermoplastics for use as extrudate such as currently used for finished automotive side molding and allows reground thermoplastics to be used as the extrudate and finished with a paint film covering . the thermoplastic extrusion molding is then compression formed in a preform operation to establish end corners with selected radii for corner sharpness as well as reshape the part cross section . this is accomplished with a die and end cap construction which can be relatively adjusted to provide effective gas venting around the end of the die cavity on die closure .