Hot Rods Brush painting model A

This was the first car that my boss had brush painted about 20 years ago that made me want to brush paint mine and he also did the work. Same setup, spray it on Rust-Oleum black and then brush painted with one shot pinstriping paint

 

I still like the idea of brush painting my car. It seems more my speed... and traditional. Most old hot rods I've personally been up close with (which are local cars - we didn't have a big hot rod scene and the people doing it didn't have lots of money) show brush strokes.

I am not interested in building a perfect car or a sterile re-imagining of an old hot rod. I want the flaws and imperfections that come with a young guy's inexperience... the little things that make a car an individual.

 

Been reading the thread, and don't mean this as a knock on brush painting, but just an alternative thought about some of the points that have been made. One is cost of materials and tools. Buying some reasonably inexpensive paint and a decent paint brush that won't shed bristles along with some type of thinner and other odds and ends. Let's say you can get by for $100. Pretty Cheap........I agree.

The thing I have found is that it always takes me a lot longer to apply paint over an area with a brush than with a spray set up.....especially large areas. Just painted a couple of garage doors with a brush, so memory of how long it takes is pretty fresh.

The other downside is getting paint into concealed areas or difficult to reach places like up under a dashboard or underneath a car. I've got a fresh new car body that needs paint everywhere. Son is going to also get his 56 Truck body completely blasted inside and out. Trying to paint all these areas with a brush would be very time consuming and difficult. At my age, contorting my body is not as easy as it once was.

Now I'm not saying there is anything wrong with an inexpensive paint job, but I think it would be easier with an inexpensive Harbor Freight gun and some paint from tractor supply. Yes someone would need an air compressor, but most of us have one if we work on old cars. Materials wise, the cost for paint and application would be similar.

Now I know this is going to vary with each project and where and how someone needs to apply paint, but costwise I can see little difference in cost and it seems to be less labor intensive especially if someone applies several coats of paint. Sanding and buffing might be less as well unless someone wants visible brush strokes.

Anyway, just a few things to think about before jumping in

 

Dunn Edwards makes an exterior water based alkyd paint (Aristosheild) in high gloss for wrought iron work that lasts. I think Benjamin Moore has a similar product. D-E is a regional western states manufacturer.

 

I did a BMW frame with a brush and enamel, wet sanding between coats, and buffing at the end. Nobody would believe me that it wasn’t a spray finish. 25yrs later it looks the same. We don’t let vehicles sit outside 24/7 anymore so fading is inevitable but will likely take a lot longer than tradition states. Sure, trying to “do it right”, as many say, will require more work to fix later as it must be taken down to earlier automotive paint layers or even bare metal but these are projects that would require that anyway - either now or later.
Some questions answered. Sure, you can use bomb cans but that is thinned paint from the can and there is much less product out down than from a proper gun. Multiple layers brush painted with some wet sanding between will give a thicker coat.
This is just what I have observed and not an opinion enforced by any tribe. IMO, you cannot hurt anything. Just experiment. It’s more about technique. For example, don’t overwork the paint or streaks will be prominent. Let it go and most streaks will flow in. Better to have good coats and wet sand it later than hope for perfection at application. You’ll develop your own techniques. Now if cost is your main issue you can make things worse with inadequate prep, using cheap, shedding brushes, etc.

 

I say good on you and share the fun...there are a number of Threads on this subject...and apple pie has something to do with it...lets see...Traditional as Apple Pie...that's it...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/i-wanna-see-pics-of-brush-painted-cars.518921/

 

May take a little longer to brush the paint ,but no longer than hanging plastic and taking it back down or cleaning overspray off of everything ,he'll even mixing and refilling and cleaning the spray gun.

 

POR 15 brushes well.

 

hosing the paint and also using a brush.

 

I figured someone doing something like this would probably do it outside where there is plenty of room.........like in HRP's picture above ^^^ Looking at your Avataur it would appear that it would take a fair amount of effort just to brush paint in your shop. Not meaning to knock your shop, its a fact of life that many of our shops are cluttered while we are working on projects. As for cleaning the paint gun, its a HF $20 gun....throw it away when done just like the $20 worth of paint brushes.

Its all up to each person where they want to put their effort and time. Seldom is anything as simple and easy as it first seems to be. Always takes more effort than expected.....at least in my world it does.

 

I brush painted mine with tractor paint. If you look close you can see brush marks, but im also not afraid to scratch it or get it covered in mud or New Jersey sand

 

Brush it ... brush it ... brush it. Just do it and it will turn out just fine.

 

Ok, 1st thing you need is a cpl good brushes. That big ol 3" won't get everywhere. 2nd, the material. Rustoleum? Yuk. Save it for the fence. I guess I like the Tractor Supply paint idea better. You need to play around to reduce it enough to brush but not run like water from a rain gutter. Also reduced will tack up better and faster, but follow the recoat directions. You don't wanna 2nd coat that acts like paint remover. Wait too long it will, or maybe you'll have a Model A that has that microscope wrinkle finish. A hardener goes a long way to helping that too but I have no input for ya there. And avoid the instinct of doing the easy parts 1st. Get the bitchy spots done and move out to the easy, that way boredom won't set in a d give you a a shit job after all the time and $$$. Best I got. I don't brush paint much.

 

Brush painting is fine. You can use a quality laquer or enamel. You don't have to use the cheapest enamel out there - rustoleum.

Penetrol is great stuff.

If you want to brush paint watch some videos on boat painting, those guys can lay it down. Roll and tip is a very good method, using a roller to apply the paint then a brush with half thinned paint to glide over and smooth it out.

You need to slow down the drying with a slow reducer to allow the paint to level before it flashes off.

You can add an enamel hardener with brush finish.

 

Rustoleum and tractor paint is usually alkyd enamel. Automotive enamels are usually acrylic enamels. Swapping to an acrylic enamel and brushing it on is an option.

marine paint, good UV protection and regularly brushed on. Polyurethane ( polyester urethane)
https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/product/paints/topside-paint

Majic brand industrial paint is actually acrylic enamel, I've seen this brand in some farm stores.
https://www.majicpaints.com/farm/acrylic-diamondhard-industrial-enamel/
Anchor paint
https://www.majicpaints.com/farm/acrylic-diamondhard-industrial-enamel/

 

I have considered learning about and going the way @anthony myrick mentions on my coupe.

There are 2 local cars that I have seen done, brushed with lacquer. One was originally done years ago and the present owner showed the two spots where brush strokes were visible. I likely wouldn't have noticed one area. Still, whomever did it put a lot of time in, it was a nice paint job.

The other is on a 32 that the owner didn't want to fully blow apart to repaint because that would have lead to a restoration of a nice original hot rod. He said he spent a lot more money, time, and patience than he expected. He repeated that several times.

A few pals have called me crazy at wanting to brush my car (I'd use quality paint) because I'm stuck on the idea that good paint should go on a decent body and the perfectionist in me can't get around some of the imperfections that would be highlighted.

That said, I will likely spray it.

I would like to learn what materials to use and best practices to brush though...

 

If I'd spraypaint a whole car in my garage or outside my house, my neighbours would tar and feather me. I hardly dare to spray small parts with a rattle can outside. I can even understand them because there are little children everywhere.

So brushpainting looks like a good alternative, I have never thought about. I have a cheap project car where I might give it a try.

 

I agree 100%

 

I painted my first car with mom's Electrolux vacuum cleaner.

 

I haven't read most of this thread but have some information. Maybe someone will like/use it and maybe not.

I have a friend who has built a car just about every year for the past 20 years or so, probably longer. I'm talking about high dollar cars. Mostly 32 Fords but a few 33/34's thrown in. At one time he had four 32 Fords in his garage.

A few years ago he built a car in the vein of what a high schooler would have built "back in the day". He took a roached out Model A sedan, built a frame, and installed a good running (but not rebuilt) flathead V-8 & associated running gear. Note that the frame was/is nicer than what would have been done in the old days but it's done to today's safety standards. He scratch builds all of his car frames.

So to the point: paint. He wanted to brush paint the car and wanted the brush strokes to show. He did brush paint it, but the paint flowed so well that no brush stroke marks remained. He talked with the fella who paints his high-dollar cars to find out what he did wrong. The answer was "paint it out in the sun. The paint then will dry (or take a set) before it has a chance to flow out." That's what he did and it turned out just the way he wanted it to.

This story may or may not be useful to someone, but here it is anyway. I don't know what kind of paint he brushed that flowed so well that brush marks didn't show. If I get that information I'll post it here.

 

Thanks for all the input on this, trying to choose my color now and will be going this route for sure!

 

Spotting in patina paint…Clean area using CLR (calcium/lime/rust) cleaner. The finish will look way better! Then spot in areas w/o any original paint using oil base satin finish exterior house paint. Home Depot sells 8 oz. color samples. You might want to get a few different shades, as the areas of patina vary depending on where the sun hit it the most. Pic of car is before CLR wash. The other pic is from the Home Depot website.
It will be amazing how much rust color the CLR will remove!

 

Once upon a time you used Brushing Enamel Reducer. It worked great. Now I am showing my age.

 

The 32 is single stage urethane , no clear , only on the flames . The Power Wagon is fresh as still tacky roller red , roller clear coat .

 

I remember back in 1965, the old guy that lived across the street asked my older brother if we had any leftover paint from when we recently painted the house trim. We did, and it was a dark green. He wanted to paint his 55 Ford station wagon with it. My brother gave it to him, and he painted the whole car with it. It would have looked good except that he painted over all the trim. The first car that I painted was around that time. We had a detached garage, and I shot it in there. I did not have a compressor, so I rented one from a tool rental place. It was a little smaller than optimum, so it ran almost continually, but it worked good and the paint job came out nice. The compressor came with a sharp gun and was decent. With paint, you can spend a small fortune, it depends on what you are looking for. You want to brush the paint on your car, go for it.

 

I'm 76 years old, been working on my '29AA for more than 51 years and know that time is running out. I still have a ways to go before I'm on the road - everything from finishing the emergency brake to glass, upholstery, top, bed, to solving ignition and wiring issues. I had hoped to do a better job of painting while the body was disassembled but the calendar kept rolling forward and I realized that my fixed income and future longevity were closing the window on my project. So I rattle-canned the body Rustoleum hunter green, the fenders, radiator shell, headlight buckets and splash aprons gloss black, brush painted when touching up or fixing mistakes and called it good. I might wet-sand the body and respray - or not, depending on how I feel. Is it a flawless paint job? Of course not. Will it deter rust, shed water and look okay from 10 feet away? Yup. Will I be satisfied, once on the road, that I completed something started during the Ford administration? Good enough!