I taught some adult ed classes in the evening a few years ago. Sheetmetal, painting, welding, tried to touch on a little of everything. The best quote from the class during painting was" I can't afford to learn this on my own". Well said and well worth the $$ for him to have taken the class. the class cost $300 at the time, which won't even buy the primer I use.
At the time a place called fleet farm in Minnesota was selling valspar alkyd enamel tractor paint I painted lots of chassis stuff with it thinned it with enamel reducer and used acrylic hardner it seemed to work good on a car body but lots of orange peel , difficult to get it to lay down , but the paint on this car was 100$ better than primer in my opinion, and better protected
worst is spending 1500$ on Paint and having a Painter friend spray the car only to have it all Peel up and runs everywhere a month later. Lesson learned on that one. Cars going to the shredder with fresh paint.
my price on a gallon of shop line red base(no pearl) and a gallon of clear with hardener and reducers was around $350 thats with the jobber discount and knowing the manager well if I'm going to complain about prices, tires are #1 on my list
Doing The Daughter's Wrangler with Summit Paint. First test shoots on roll bar and windshield frame and some misc pieces tomorrow. We will see how it handles.
Painted my 55 Dodge /Fargo rear fender tonight, the paint was Canadas Rust Coat urethane enhanced enamel, much like tractor paint. It was very thick, cut it at 50 %, added generic wetlook hardener. I shot this with a conventional gravity cup gun at 45 psi and let her flow good, very big spray pattern so you gotta move. The paint came off well with a small run, the shop was cool too at 62f. i shot on a mist coat first, then a good medium wet coat, for good coverage, she laid out like glass, some dust, shop was messy. This fender was really beat up bad, and was warped, so crappy bodywork, should have replaced this, as it was way beyond my skill level. The pics.....
Think I remember someone talking about mixing Rustoleum paints, 2:1 red to flat black. Came out with a pretty cool dark, semi-flat, paintjob that looked like a lot of the cars I see in old pictures... course, his was beat up pretty bad and not close to straight panels, but the color was neat.
If you want to learn how to spray. Go to a local Body shop and ask for some Left Overs. We have a lot. I use very high end paint and unusually have about 8-10 gallons on hand of mix and match base coat. All vey nice colors and I use them On my friends cars. Just a thought.
Valspar Tractor paint. $35.00 per gallon....harder is also available. Won't work if you are building a high buck show hot rod, but way good enough for the tons of lower end cars at most traditional type car shows I have attended. It's also waterproof,and will protect all that vintage tin out there. It's available in many colors, and a handful of the colors are traditional, including BLACK! If with a lot of effort, including first class prep work, color sanding and polishing, you can't get a very respectable, and quite professional paint job, you are not ready to use the high end paint. Just practice with it on some small parts first, to gain some experience and confidence. I agree, professional automotive paint prices are a Joke, with Capitol J!
Amen Brother, I just gotta learn to do better bodywork, I can shoot paint no problem,it's prepping I have no patience for.....
Who said this was a cheap hobby? Yeah, paint is expensive. But I put way too much work into the few cars I put together to cover the body in tractor paint. Same goes for the cost of chrome. Want to drive a big timer car, gotta spend like a big timer. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
If you are happy with the results it is $417 well spent. $350 around here will get a good single stage around here. Local Habitat for humanity has a 100 gallons of Imron single stage they are pedalling for $10 a gallon(no hardener) if you like TTC green.
we some times forget the service we get from the paint store I recently bought my wife a late model damaged car, painted the hood, fender, door and bumper + the left front apron the paint store used its latest and greatest technology to match the colors for both the outside and under hood colors every thing came out perfect and was money well spent
Nothing is cheap any more. What makes the paint deal bad is that it is nearly impossible to find an old beater with passable paint any more. Once was a time that you could find an old car tat had a ding or two or a scratch or two but you could live with it. Not anymore anything we build needs a paint job.
The Jalopy Journal
