Art & Inspiration Cheap Paint Job. You can do it.

I, too, have an expensive paint brush and I guard it with my like. A skilled painter could lay down an enamel finish that would be hard to tell it wasn't sprayed using a good brush like mine. The biggest skill you need to master doing this is the "tipping off" part of the application process. A high quality brush will have natural bristles like hog bristles but more importantly, the bristles must have "flagged" tips. No artificial bristles! To make the paint lay down smooth, first give a small area a full coat of paint, then go back and using just the tip of the bristles with a very light touch go across the brush marks until they lay flat. Proceed as before with the next section. About 2x3' or less is about the right size to work with. Your speed will make it vary. Tip off the lap from new to previous paint. Keep going until you're done. Do not add any paint to the brush while tipping. Work fast but carefully. This works with single stage enamels but I don't think it would work with 2 stage paints. You can add a clear coat by brush if you use a slow reducer and do it in cool temperatures to slow the stuff down. Only recommended over paint that used a hardener. About 65 degrees would be a good start. Good luck and have some fun.

 

It's not the cost of the paint, it's the 200+ hours of metalwork and body prep it takes before the paint gets sprayed on that keeps me from painting more. Once I have that part done, the difference between $200 and $2000 for materials isn't all that big of a deal to me.

 

It blows my mind how high the price of paint materials has gotten we spray a PPG 600.00 a gallon clear no shit 600 bones a gallon back in 85 I sprayed my 65 ford truck two tone red and silver all in for 200.00. Its not getting any cheaper so do what you can.

 

I appreciate the expensive stuff. But just the same I used the summit single stage black and wimbledon. All said and done under 500 bucks and it's been 10 years. Polishes right up and I treat it like shit.

 

it needs to be washed, but $65. Rustoleum. Walmart

 

The first car I painted is the '37 Chevy sedan in the picture, in our carport, using donated USAF
yellow paint toned down with white..14yrs old in 1962, drove it for many years...borrowed
paint gun...total cost including masking tape was $15...still having good times...

 

NO KIDDING!?!

I'm just wrapping up with stuff and heading onto that stage of bodywork for my car (it's rougher than yours, for sure) but I really liked the paint on your car the one time I saw it in person. I wouldn't have guessed you had $500 into it.

I"m going the inexpensive route, too. It would fit the car best. Just not sure what exactly I'm going to do yet.

 

That's good to know, I've done almost all of my own bodywork and all my paint......not because I'm good, I'm just broke/cheap. I'll still continue to do the same, but again I don't own show type cars just drivers...so I don't usually go the extra step to color sand anymore (with my newer gun I don't need too) and go for absolute glass.

 

The only thing I don’t like about VanSickle-Tractor Supply paint is if left out side the paint even with hardener in it will fade and get chalky with time. But never had any lift or peel nomatter what substrate I put it over.

 

I sort of understand the high price of a new paint product that has had a heap of R&D and is better than sliced bread. The thing that I don't understand is general paint prices. I have seen some great paint jobs that were done 20 years ago. I also remember seeing some paint jobs that were at least ten years old on cars 20 years ago. By that logic paint from 30 + years ago could produce a great job for a daily driver and all of the R&D costs should have been recovered.

 

Was that just the colour, or all paint and paint related materials?

 

Timely and inspiring thread. I bought my truck with no intention of ever painting it but, the more fixups I do (spotty primer everywhere) the more it's calling to me to make it look nicer. I have no idea what or where to get materials in Vancouver, Canada but, I'm about to start looking for a cheap gun and water seperator. Thanks everyone for the material list and inspiration!!

I prepped my first F100 in high school then handed it off to a drunk painter in the next town to paint. My logic was flawed but, I was 16 - I somewhat learned how to colour sand orange peel from that experience. If I save enough on paint and prep maybe I can redo my scallops with metal flake spray bombs without breaking the bank.

 

I would encourage anyone looking for less expensive paint options to also look into TAMCO paint. I know @Roothawg has also sprayed it. Great stuff, good pricing. They have a FB page where you can ask questions of end users AND the company themselves.

Here is their addy
Tamco Paint | Affordable & High Quality Automotive Paints

And here is a 32 done in their Single Stage
https://tamcopaint.com/cdn/shop/art...YURETHANE_SINGLE_STAGE_1000x.jpg?v=1643618716

 

...my 55 was several colors, did not look good;,...I brush painted it in a couple days , had $11.00 total in materials,
including a $3.00 brush,...looks good to me.

 

And that it looks good to you is all that matters!

 

For you tractor paint guys.
At my local PPG store, they can mix colors in alkyd and they have the hardener that the tractor store usually doesn’t.
A lot more color choices and very economical.
I’ve even cut and buffed it after a couple weeks. Looked very good.

 

Is true that the tractor store does not have the hardener, you can stop by Napa & pickup a can of universal Hardener .... I have gloss black tractor paint with gloss hardener .... wonder what it would look like if I add semi gloss hardener? ..... If it would give me the older paint look I would like.

 

Never used a semi gloss hardener with alkyd.
Only newer clears.
The sun does a great job with helping alkyd look older.

 

What paint did you use?

 

I don't have a picture of my coupe when it was 1st painted with the Farm & fleet Anti-rust enamel (alkyd), but I do have a couple pictures of it when the paint was about 4 years old. The white paint held up pretty good, but it may have been painted more recently then the blue was. The blue was brush painted on about spring of 2013. Both pictures were taken late in 2017. The car got some work, and was painted red and white in the spring of 2018 and was sprayed with Acrylic Enamel. I have pictures of it before the wheels or number was added. An then I have a picture of it taken a couple month ago.
The car does not live a pampered life. Pic 1 shows is winter storage location.

Pic 2 & 3 are the blue and white in 2017.

Pic 4 is just after the red & white, notice it still has the blue wheels.

Pic 5 was taken a couple months ago. The red has a couple spots that are starting to show their age a bit, but this paint is nearly 2x older then the blue and white was. The blue and white was around $50 total paint materials (included the cheap brush). The red and white total paint material cost was around $250.

 

...I just used standard Walmart flat house paint in my choice of color., one quart was more than enuf, it layed down very nice.

 

Thanks. I might have to ask more, someday.

I also like the front bumper on your truck.

 

Paulie, your car still looks great!

I was looking at Summit's paint recently, and while researching and looking for other similar options, I found that Summit's paint is just relabeled Kirker paint. I'll be going with Wimbledon White as well.

 

When I built my '39 Chev gasser I decided I was going to try to do 100% of the build myself. So I bought a HF $79 gun, and after welding in all the new metal, I prepped and primed the body. Then I bought TCP Global's Custom Shop paint kit for $250, and sprayed 5 coats of single stage urethane on it. It's not like what a professional would do, but I am happy with the results.
I also did all the lettering for my first attempt, and bought an old Singer commercial sewing machine and stitched my first interior too.



Not sure what I have total with filler, primer, paint, etc., but probably around $500. And I'm completely into my '39 build a little over $5k including the original purchase price. I sold enough extra parts that came with it to return the $1500 I paid for it originally. And lots of junkyard, and other cheap used parts.

 

Painted this Studebaker in 2004 with Rustoleum “Royal blue” at a boatyard where I worked over a weekend. In this pic the paint is around 3 years old. $10 a quart, used a quart and a half…

 

Rusty;
Any pics of how it look today? Looks good. Did you add any hardener(s) &/or UV-blockers to the paint.
Marcus...

 

I love to paint. I hate the prep work.
When I do paint, at home I use Summit Racing Paint. At work we have switched from PPG to the Sherwin Williams line. Still learning the SW brand. SW is an old company so its probably traditional...

 

Painted this wagon myself, too costly in a shop, and all the shops are booked solid

 

Nice to see all this excitement about paint work. Good for y'all, I fkn hate it now. Got into this life mainly as a finisher, did my 1st complete at 15 yrs old, and I'll be 66 this week. Enuff is enuff. That's a main driver in my choice to leave the 39 as original as possible. Well, that and it is a pretty exceptional OG finish so more or less I'm "off the hook" in the repaint chapter. I can do Ridler quality work but I'm just done, I'm over it. Plus I didn't get the memo that the whole car should be frosted in mud nowadays. Yeah, fuck that too. If that's what I wanted I'd have become a drywall hanger But seriously, props to the good guys and the DIYs. Materials cost? Production level stuff is great for beat em up duty, and even the color stages. The money should be spent on the clear as that is where the UV and durability is. I've used Shop-Line production use color on 6 figure show cars, but topped it with (at the time) $400/pkg clear. I like the DC 4000, dries fast n hard, blocks out level damn near like lacquer. Practically ZERO urethane cellulite. You top dogs know exactly what I mean Go for it, very rewarding effort until you do it too long. And, as always, don't fear reaching out if you're in a jamb (no pun intended) and are looking for a way out, I'll be happy to help if I can. Just a reminder, here's what being off the hook looks like:
Yes, that is the original finish, and little scars and pecker tracks don't even detract. Good luck y'all.

 

Finally a guy on this board that is actually "coming out" and flat ass stating what he did on the super cheap and easy and not caring what anyone else thinks! I think the word "hot rodder" could be applied to him, unlike some we read here.