Gloss vs Faux Finish AKA Rolling Bones Finish

Just wondering if you took two identical cars with PERFECT ready to paint bodies, one to get a gloss finish the other a "Rolling Bones" faux finish, would the gloss finish get finished in half the time?

 

Slow day at the office? Probably the weathered finish, but buffing ain't easy either.

Heard this AM on Speed'S BJ (double LOL) auction coverage: One of the MCs described a painted on, weathered finish as "Faux-Tina" Love it! She could very well be my Betty Boop style nose art on the cowl. Gary

 

Believe it or not it would take about the same. A base clear job gets color sanded a few times with different grits then buffed a few times with different wheels..very time consuming. The rolling bones use a flattened lacquer which is then color sanded with 600 then hand rubbed with a course rubbing compound in small sections until the whole car is done. They don't hit it with a buffer because it would bring the shine up too much. More steps with a shiny job but the bones way with a rag and some compound eats up major time

 

No, it wouldn't. A good gloss paint with clearcoat and cutting and buffing is a fairly long time consuming deal. I know The crew at Rolling Bones does fantastic work, but for my time and money I'm gonna make it shine. Keeps alot of people from saying " oh you have a r%# r*@#. And when I spend alot of time and money I want to be proud of what I've got.

 

How much work dose it take to make a car not finished? That's the question. The fad is slowly dyeing and that is a GOOD thing!

 

Not to deviate from the all important topic being discussed -- But the rolling bones cars are cool ,But your dragster is cooler it would be nice to see it at the rumblers show in terryville in any condition - !

 

....................................................yep ^^^^

 

I'm not a paint and body man, so I don't know the time difference between the two. I will say this though.....

The Rolling Bones cars are ALL extremely cool, but I'm so tired of hearing RR from the uneducated people I could puke!

I can't wait to get rid of my flattened paint. I'm sick of it.

That's just me, alot of people still love it. That's ok too.

There's NOTHING RR about this.... but most people associate flat paint with that kind of car and I still get the comments. Over it.

 

Damn Bob, I know Saturday nights are slow but ya gotta kick that cat?

 

I love a well done paint job, but there is something that draws me to a car in primer or faded paint. I dont know why...

 

Well, all the LARS photos have been posted and nobody has found a "Barn Find" '32 Ford in eight days. Got some coffee, I'm going to work on the Lyndwood.

 

I don't mind primer or faded at all... but I don't like faux-ny.

 

Don't know how long the 2 different style paint jobs take to do, but I do know which one I like better. I spent more time looking at the Rolling Bones hot rods out in the LARS swap meet, than I did looking at the "Easter egg hunt" shiny cars. Ken was nice enough to let my son Ben and I sit in the red 34 with the track nose! What a slick HOT ROD! The Rolling Bones build hot rods. If a car has too shiny of paint, I think they start to look like a street rod....not a hot rod. It's not that street rods are bad, it's that hot rods are slicker looking......they have a more user friendly look to them.

 

mine is both. the paint on this stude is from the 60's. the lettering is new, scuffed to match the paint.

 

Amen.

 

I just cant see spending the time and money to make a car look bad. My cars are in primer and buffed through paint respectively, and have been for years. However, like most actual hotrodders of the 50s, I would love to be able to have them in finished paint. To spend as much time and hearly the same money to have the paint look worn out on a newly built car seems silly to me.
I think of it like putting valve cover gaskets on with an intentional split in them to make the engine look old because it pisses oil everywhere.

 

Good to see all the different opinions. I've done shiny paint on my cars and customers cars over the years. Done well, and I consider the Rolling Bones look "Art Work" it is a skill far and above spraying on paint and wet sanding, then buffing. Bob

 

Great point. Except these are the exact same people who, if it's not RatRod, would call your car a T-bucket. Based on that, I don't care what the unwashed say.

 

You are correct, sir.... 100%

 

if you think this looks bad you need to go buy KiA and call it quits....

 

You're so full of crap! If the guy who owns that red '34 showed up at your door with the keys and said "You can have it if you cut off your left nut", you would SPRINT to the kitchen and grab a knife!!!!

Face it....you just don't get it!

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Don't go jumping on DualQuad55!!!!! He has an opinion and has been a personal friend for for well oner 30 years. Bob

 

You're probably right about that. And an anesthesiologist! And after I recovered, I might alsao call my painter buddy for an estimate.

Looking like a beater and being a beater are two different things, eh?

When I get done with a project I expect it to look and perform as well and nice as I can make it. And I try to keep it well maintained and looking that way. The primary reason you paint most metals is to keep them from oxidizing, anyway. You wouldn't leave your period perfect build in bare metal and watch all your effort and $$$ just rust away, would you? Of course not.

I believe this analogy relates.. I also build model trains and building them to look beat-up from use or "weathering" them with paint, powders, chalks, stains, sanding, etc. to make them look as they would have been in-use, in days gone by, is a very common technique that has been used in the hobby world for far, far longer than the recent trends in "distressed" furniture or the patina on hot rods. Even more anal than I, IMHO, are the folks who build their models to appear correct in a certain era, or season, or even day of the year. They collect info, do the research and then build replicas that are site specific down to even a town, an activity and even a particular time of day! We call the super serious of the lot "rivet counters" as their a constantly nit-licking other's work for errors. Does that remind you of anything? Like looking at a B&W photo of Bonneville taken in 1949 and building a contemporary version of how you think a street / race car would have been built or have appeared? Complete with period correct paint fade and neglect (most of them were cheap, junker cars after all), lettering, decals, colors, etc.. Even right down to the clothing on the "figures," tools, accessories, support vehicles. And so on. It's one thing to be a historian and have your "models" appear correct (the 10ft rule), and another to actually walk around dressed as a Pilgrim on Thanksgiving day shooting game for dinner like a real rivet counter would.

Telling folks they don't "get it" is like saying they aren't focused enough, or particuar enough, to play on your team, to be a "real" hot rod historian / guardian of the truth" or be able to take that singular path to the period correct build (clone / replica) like you can. If they aren't rivet counting for a specific era, year, month or day of the year, or "weathering it" to make it look like the historically correct vehicles in your research then they are just wasting their time. As if. Gary

 

Again? Really?

Is it kool? Sure, if ya like that kinda thing. Would I have it? Not sure, maybe if I found the real thing I'd leave it, but only for a while. But this is a good time to mention a few ways to get away from what it is that really seems fuck up the look of a fresh car built in the traditional manner.

We can save the history lessons about 30 coats of hand rubbed and slick enamel hot rods. But the thing today is the new materials and their resultant "plastic" look. Even top notch restorations tend to get that improper vibe when they're so slicked out with the average urethane finish, so what's a poor ol hot rodder to do if he wants to feel the same stir in his knickers the he remembers? There's a couple things you can try, but the real deal was always surfaced lacquer. Sadly, on all but the 6 figure builds, going to the time, expense and constant care of a lacquer finish doesn't appeal to many folks, then there's the durability factors as well as the repair issues. I always thought lacquer was easy to repair, but average "kid" that paints would find it a foreign substance that invokes fear and fuck ups.

There's an answer. Flattening agent or flat clear. Not that lacquer was ever lacking in gloss or reflective quality, but it has it's own surface and doesn't mirror the substrates like 'thanes do. It's not as wet but it does have the ability to become truly level and compliment awesome metal work and surfacing like no other. You can kill the plastic gloss just a bit, still surface all of your layers, and still show that old world craftsmanship without 200hr+ of cutting and polishing to absolute wetness. Ridler quality finishes are something to admire. I'll never fault those who play in that sandbox, yet a finish like that is like wearing a modern watch while dressed up in period clothes when you apply it to a traditional rod or kustom. I get it. I get the angst as one goes though all the trouble and still doesn't like the "vibe" when it's all said and done. So now we see worn out lettering, welded in rusty panels on new bodies, primer finishes, basecoats without clear, and even that is getting old on all but the very best builds or those we've accepted as such over the last 5+yrs.

Experiment. Practice on an old fender or hood. Do the work. You can be rewarded with what it is you're really after, an accurate representation of old world practices. It's not as complicated as it might 1st seem either. Try a tablespoon of flattening agent in your clear or single stage urethane. Try ready made semi-gloss clear. Maybe surface the final job to perfection, and instead of polishing it with compund and glaze just put 1-2 more coats on it and leave it be. Nib out any dirt, cure it, wax it. Now you have an OEM finish vs a perfectly polished surface. This would be a good practice on 50s and 60s era cars. Those last coats might like some extra solvent to reduce the actual size of the resultant orange peel, yet the perfect door gaps and surface quality don't get lost in a sea of modern urethane cellulite.

It doesn't have to be primer-rust-worn lettered to get the look some of us remember or that some might appreciate seeing. It just takes a bit of creativity and some 'net research of available materials and finishes. And lacquer is still out there if you're willing to do the real thing too. Be ready for some serious labor and the rewards that follow if you do. Nothing else looks like that but you can get close.

 

Thanks HIGHLANDER that is a good reply to te original question. Bob

 

No-I dont get it. I dont know why you would do this. They obviously drive the crap out of the cars. A cheap primer job would look like this in just a couple of seasons-and be more authentic. Why go through the trouble of making it look 'instantly' patina-ed? I am so full of crap? Not sure how you figure that. If you love the look of this car, good for you. It is a real popular style right now. I dont care for the look. No crap, no BS. If it were my car, my intentions would be to have the car done in one color-be it in flat or gloss paint.
Infact, the tractor grill would go too. But that is my opinion.

If it hurts your feelings that I dont LOVE the way R&B finishes their cars, I apologize.
Hey, maybe some people dont like my cars...not really a concern of mine.

Yeah, I guess if I dont care for one style of building I should give up. Somehow that makes sense???
Maybe you should get off your knees and come up for air once in a while.

 

What amazes me is how much time and energy we spend worrying about what someone else does to their car. I have a theory that you could post up a picture of any car on the HAMB, or anyplace else, and say "What do you think?" and you would get opinions from "It's perfect as is" to " I'd change the wheels." and everything in between.

Do any of us really build our cars to suit anyone else but us ? I don't.

Don

 

Maybe the original question should be read again, I just wondered what the time envolved was. The only thing I've put an aged finish on were two cast iron garden urns for a customer. I like to look on some cars if done well. Bob

 

It does look bad................BADASS!!!!!!!!!