Hot Rods Brush painting model A

I’ve got a great outfitted shop at school. A shop at home and several friends with paint booths.

The idea of brushing sounds intriguing.
The old saying “what’s old is new again”. Brushing or rolling primers is a process some shops use.
Who knows, maybe in some post apocalyptic world brushing will be the norm or possibly utilized due to future restrictions.

I’m in. Why not.

 

id also loce

should I just sell my ford and buy a pt cruiser?

 

Should I just sell the ford and buy a PT cruiser?

 

Hey now, nobody said Rustoleum.
The plan is such that when done, folks would be hard pressed to believe that it is applied by hand.
Time and muscle. Save the cash.

 

Rust oleum tribulations…..
I’ve found the regular enameled rust oleum does in fact fade very quickly.
I decided to use their “Front Door” enamel. I seen this stuff last 10 yrs now with no fade.

 

I was talking old cars with a Canadian WW2 army vet many years ago who said he helped an old fellow paint cars in his down time before they went to France. He said that the painter sat the paint cans in hot water for a good while to get the paint warm then brush painted the car. He said the warm paint flowed out to look as as good as a sprayed finish. Materials were scarce and rationed so it may have been the least wasteful way to paint a car. I am not sure what the paint was. The concept of brush painting to a fine finish was interesting. In 69, I had a 60 VW bug in college that I roller painted green with a Rustoleum like paint and took a can of white spray paint to highlight around the bottom of the cars and fender arches. I had to put running boards on for the safety so I covered it with white linoleum with gold streaks like a stone. It was not elegant but fun and in keeping with the times.

 

There is also a product called Japan dryer that will accelerate the drying of enamel paint but it should be used sparingly, it's best used during the winter when colder weather is known for causing slower drying.

I had a friend that was in the antique furniture refinishing business and he ask me about Japan dryer, i explained the principles and how to use it, I was refinishing a piece of furniture that was to be painted Charleston Green, I suggested using about 2 percent of the dryer to a quart of paint, he ended up putting at least a pint to a quart, I put the mixture in the shaker, I talked to him a few days later and he told me the piece of furniture was dry enough to deliver in about a hour. he joked about the paint was smoking as he was spraying it, Van had a penchant for stretching the truth. HRP

 

brush painted my 55 pickup for $11.00 total, , $8.00 quart of paint, $3.00 3 inch brush and 2 days of work.

Cheap Walmart flat house paint, brushed over 4 different colored body panels, sprayed some red oxide on the high-wear areas, scuffed it up a bit after the grey/green paint, looks just fine to me, and no masking at all.
...that paint lays out real smooth too.

 

Ha looks good to me!!

 

One definite plus with roller/brush paint jobs is the zero overspray! Especially beneficial during the middle of winter, when you have a tidy shop.

 

Having done a "few" brush paint jobs on cars before, I might suggest it works out much better if its done in cooler weather, and its better for the paint to dry pretty slowly.

In my experience, warm paint, or paint on a warm surface dries very fast, and the faster it dries, the bigger and more pronounces the brush strokes become. The slower the paint dries, the better chance it has to flow out more smooth. 60 to 70 degrees (the lower edge of the suggested paint temps recommended by the paint company you are using) will work out better then 80 and above, and letting it set and "cure" for 3 to 4 days at that cooler 60 degrees (stay above that lowest temp) is good. An oil based paint will need at least a couple weeks of dry time before it can be even wet sanded.

The next pieces of advice are: Don't use a cheap paint brush! I might also suggest that you use a separate container to put about 2" of paint into instead of dipping the brush directly into the paint filled can. You can better control how much paint is exposed to the outside air (which starts the drying process) as the paint process unfolds, its going to take you 6-8 hours to brush paint a medium sized car. If you paint like I do, tape off what you don't want painted, you can thank me later.

Used to be, the Rusty-metal Farm Implement Rust-oleum paint was much better paint then any other Rust-oleum choices for painting a vehicle, it didn't fade as fast as the other Rust-oleum choices, it seemed to flow out better, and held up longer outside in the weather. I stated "used to be" because with the changes in the paint over the last couple of years, that may no longer be true.

I can tell you the spray can standard issue Rust-oleum I put on my back bumper last June didn't make it 6 months before rust started showing through (yes, the steel was new and clean, degreased, primed, then painted with 2 coats of paint). Gene

 

Wheeltramp Brian, i'm loving the stance on your roadster.

 

Looks great! And that’s a paint job I think I could afford!

 

Eastwood has roll on paint and primer.

 

Um, there are "...regulations..." because solvents and pigments in paints are toxic. The old joke, "There are no old paint and body men" is because they died early due to renal and hepatic cancer. You're limited to what you can use because too many people slopping paint on a car in their backyards got sick and died as a result. Treat the stuff with respect and caution.

 

Large boats that are unable to fit in spray booths are painted by foam roller and brush with urethane, check your local marina supply .Paint is designed for this purpose . Have done a few boats and can't tell they aren't sprayed .Not cheap but tough as bullets ,likely more uv protection and tougher than automotive paint.If I remember right ,it was straight out of the can onto the boat ,no additives or thinners required .

 

But won't the nostalgia buffs criticize you for using products that weren't available in 1965 ?

Just kiddin.............. Hope it all works out well for you.

 

I bought my first Model A, a pickup, for $49.90 (didn't have enuf Coke bottles to get to $50). It was blue and black and green. Bought a gallon of red oxide(?) primer for $4.95 at Standard Brands. Found a brush somewhere and painted it. I don't remember washing it first. It was featured in the highly-awarded high school's last issue for the year (I was the editor).

 

If you even lean on a painted surface with lead paint you will instantly die.
Brush painting has now become a treatise on the toxicity of aerosolized paints.
Just be relatively smart. Remember some people won’t own boiled linseed oil because of it’s danger.

 

Haha!

 

I brush painted my buddies coupe a couple years ago. He rolled it in ditch backwards and asked if I would repair it. As we talked about it, he said "I dont want one of your $20,000 paint jobs. Keep it simple and cheap." He had cancer and knew his days were numbered.
I mentioned brushing it with RUSTOLEUM, and he was sold.
$12 quart of paint.
$12 brush.
I rolled the primer on repaired areas and wetsanded and scotchbrited all panels, then got to brushing.
It turned out pretty good. Of course you can see the brush marks when up close, but its shiny and all one color. He loved it and the new owner does to.

 

Our 29 A sedan was brush painted long ago. My wife made it clear I was NOT to repaint the car! Since the roof was replaced with metal, I brushed it with Rustoleum to emulate the old brushed paint. I did buff the whole car out to bring the shine up. Not sure what they used as lacquer thinner doesn't touch it, so it must be hardened.

 

^^^ If those two cars aren't proof that a brush job can look good, you must be blind. I think the OP needs more details and advice from @Buggats and encouragement from the rest of us...

 

I have sprayed plenty of cars in my time. My latest build is a '64 Ranchero that is a low buck type beater build that I mostly completed in my brother's carport. To keep things clean and civil I decided to paint it with a brush using acrylic lacquer.

Here is a pic



Cheers Turns

 

some ideas posted on this topic for me to consider. about 40 years ago I and my kids brush painted my $50 1952 Buick with semi gloss latex house paint. it looks good for a while but certainly weathered eventually but looked ok from a distance. and it was super cheap. lately I’ve been kind of thinking of using a Rustolium type paint on my 41 Cadillac with its horrible condition and mismatched colors. I don’t think it would look any worse than what it is right now and hopefully better. minor prep and application with a brush might be interesting. and only minor masking. it AIN’T a show car.

 

A question to settle my curiosity, if a car is brush painted with say 3 light coats and then color sanded smooth, will it look different to a sprayed car? I can certainly see the benefits for some. Not just from a cost perspective but if space is an issue and neighbors are not happy about spray painting.

Steve

 

I love paint topics. In my choice to follow that in life I was spared the "mob guy" tool truck every week collecting his vig. Eventually I was developing surfaces and restoring the upper echelon of cars from our past. Today I could care less if I ever win a major award or create a perfectly surfaced masterpiece, so I say if you can get a tent pitched in your knickers with a brush, go for it.

 

How about the application pattern to avoid streaking on large panels like the Model A front fender a few posts back? Do you paint it from end to end in narrow "streaks" to minimize overlapping sections that were already painted since paint does flash dry a bit and could result in a obvious overlap?

On an ultralight airplane that I built I applied paint on the fabric covering with a roller and then "tipped off" the paint with a good, dry brush. With the size of the wings it was difficult to keep everything "wetted" and I could see where the overlaps were, but it was still quite presentable after the paint completely cured. I was using latex paint (which is actually pretty widely used by the ultralight crowd) and it does dry quite quickly, so maybe brushing slightly thinned Rustoleum or other enamel paint there's less issue with that since it dries more slowly? Seems the roller/tipping off process might be a good way to go to avoid "sticky" overlaps, since you could probably get paint on quickly with a roller and then smooth it with the brush much more quickly than dipping a brush over and over to do a large section.

Lynn

 

NEVER use latex, it is water based and can cause rust! I would recommend using the Rustoleum oil based and thin it by about 25%. And do it on a cool day to allow the paint to flow. I’m a professional house painter, but have also painted a few cars with rattle cans and brush and roller technique. The Whiz mini rollers work great.