okay, i might take a little heat for this but has anyone painted their hot rod with a brush?im talking primer to top coat.and if you did, what type of paint did you use? the 25 year old lacquer on my 36 chevy truck got fubar from sittin out under a tarp all sumer and i really dont feel like going thru all the work to sand and reshoot it . also i really dont have a place to paint it.i was thinkin about painting it with a satin color either blue or green.(its red now) . im not really looking for fake patina , just a job like the farmer woulda done.plus by brushin i would be doin my little part for the environment. any input either sarcastic or serious will be appreciated. thanks y'all.
I painted an old GMC pick-up a long time ago with a brush. As I recall all I did was wash it and then spent the better part of the day painting. It was white and I painted it a light yellow. Seems it was a semi gloss exterior house paint that was not what some body wanted and I got it cheep. It still looked good the next year when I sold it. Maybe not the advise you were looking for but my two cents.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122003&highlight=house+paint http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102893&highlight=Brush+paint http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42593&highlight=Brush+paint These may contain some tips and/or discouragement.
Search on the HAMB and do an internet search. I read somewhere that painting a car with a brush is called ''coach painting''.They spend a lot of work and it is said to look ok.
That doesn't mean they looked good. They were also painted with a shellac or laquer that would 'flow' out. Some early car bodies were even dipped and allowed to dry while hanging. Any drips at the bottom of the body were cut or sanded off. I think for the time invested in brush painting a car, you'd be better off borrowing some equipment or buying a gun and compressor. I'm assuming this won't be the last car you ever build, so you'll want to paint again in the future. Get the right tools and learn to do it.
I painted my comet with exterior oil based metal paint from home depot. It was on clearance for $10 at the time so I bought two gallons. Only took about 1/2 of one. I used a regular paint pan and roller for the most part. Worked like a charm for what I wanted.
back in the 60's my neighbour had a 36 ford tudor that he had paintd with a brush and said he had painted cars in the factory with a brush, too. I couldn't see any brush marks and he said he had done the Ford several times, too. He had also put in 3 flatheads and over 350000 miles on that baby. did some serious driving holidays.
I think my comet turned out about as good as one of those "paint your car for $400 places" Just didnt have as much shine. You couldnt see any roller marks or anything. It flowed out nice. Aint gunna win no shows but hey, a $5000 paint job on a $50 car is friggin stupid. Now a $10,000 motor in a $50 car that's a whole different story.
I had this in my bookmarks. http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2331682&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1 Scroll down the post on this forum and you will see a guy who painted rustoleum paint with foam rollers...it looks nice in his pictures.
most cars from the teens where painted with a brush then sanded and polished to a mirror finish. so any thing can be done with unlimited time. all the work would have to be the same as a sprayed paint job but it would take six times as long with a brush to get the same job as a spray gun.
For $200 you can buy a cheap air compressor, spray gun and a DA sander at Harbor Freight or similar. You have the compressor to run the DA, then you can spray the paint. Once finished you have the compressor to blow up your tires, and the sander and spray gun for the next time you want.
Send a pm to El Bombero here on the HAMB, he built a brush painted Model A roadster that now belongs to Jim Jard in Texas. -Ryan -
My 50 Dodge pickup is painted with a brush. I used the Farm & Fleet oil based enamel and cheap brushes. I have a good spray gun and a large air compresser, but the truck does not fit in the garage, and didn't think my wife would like the driveway side of out white house blue from the over spray. My advice is to stay out of the sun. Pour the paint from the gallon into a small container and clean up the brush each time you empty the small container. I used one of those large plastic dishes you get butter in from the store, about 1/4 full of paint with each filling. Otherwise the paint starts to dry and pulles the hair out of the brush. Have a few brushes. It took almost 8 hours to put on two coats and another 4 hours to put on the 3rd the next morning. The Farm & Fleet paint has to dry for 48 hours before you can sand it, but it will sand much better if you wait a full week. I haven't sanded mine out yet (it was done this May) but it doesn't look real bad (not real good either) but its all one color and actually has some shine to it. The weekend I painted my truck was too hot and the paint would probably would have flowed out better if it would have been cooler. I painted over dings and small dents and have added a few more since, it is what it is. I'd do it again. The F&F paint fades out and chips during ther second summer and after the third summer it needs repainted, but it keeps the truck from rusting. Past experance talking here. Gene
I spent a week in Holland this summer and watched some of their highly skilled house painters. My exact words were "these guys could paint cars with a brush and no one would know". I dont know how they do it or what is different about their paint but there was high shine and no brush marks at all. I did notice they spent a lot of time on prep work. I am not about to try it so dont worry but i still cannot believe the finish they produced with a common paint brush. It was in Alkmaar where i was watching them. I was impressed. I make violins for a hobby when it is too cold to work in the garage and I discoverd that rubbing the finish on and keeping a cover over it so dust wouldnt settle makes for a perfect finish. Dont know how that would work out on a car . Still the modern clear coat phase isnt much different. Do a half arsched prep work, spray on two tonnes of ornage peeled urethane and sand and buff till smooth. That could cetainly be done just as well with a brush. If i sound a bit prejudiced i am. I like one step acylic laquer sprayed on. Only lasts 30 or 40 years I know but that is eight to ten times of any of that clear coat crap. Don
i have all the stuff necassary to spray a car ,ive sprayed all my other cars . im just looking for something different.like i said, i want a satin finish ,easier to maintain and hides brush strokes.the truck had a brushed finish on it in 79 when i got it and i went and screwed it up by spraying it with nice red lacquer.it was a decent farm truck at the time and thats what i want to return it to. i got 4 other cars with shiney paint, i want to have one i dont have to worry about.im not worried about being "traditional" , just want to be different and make the gold chainers scratch their heads in disbelief. i thank all of you for your input , i think i got some real good info ,and as soon as my son gets all the old bubbled paint off , its off to the races!!!
I have only used brushes on chassis but I did paint a car with a $29.00 Burgess airless that I bought from JC Whitney. it took a while to figure out how thin the paint need to be (pretty thin) but it flowed out pretty nice (it was Dupont Dulux)
I have used those little foam rollers from Homedepot and the finish wasn't to bad! I read (here on the Hamb) about a guy who brush/roller painted his cars with rustoleum , wet sanded/buffed and looked just as good and shiny as a new car.
We call it Coach painting over here in the UK. There are several paints made for this. The main one is Tekaloid. It has very good flow qualities which remove the brish marks. It can take a long time to dry but there are additives available that can speed this up. I'm going to brush paint my 21/26 T Modified. I've been to many, many European car shows and had the chance to compare brush painted original cars with the best modern paint jobs on the same model of car. Brush painting looks soooo much better. Try this website for everything you need to know; http://www.stephen.hull.btinternet.co.uk/paint.html
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