I am really liking that look of your car....gettin' some good vibes from it for sure!!!... it's a fine lookin' project indeed
Looks really good! My dream to build a pre war roadster. Right now I'm building a banger powered coupe. Keep it up, i Will follow Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
This summer has been busy. Seemed like I was working non-stop. Now that things are winding down, I have been able to get back into making progress on my roadster. Not quite ready for paint yet, but I got bored and gave it a quick spray of fresh primer. She is looking pretty good if I do say so... I plan on spraying it a midnight blue I have. I am going to scuff up around the edges to give it a minor patina look, and then spray it with matte clear. Hoping to do this in the next few weeks before it gets too cold. Here she is currently...
Oh, good. More fake patina. There's nothing like it! (Except other fake patina, of course.) Why not give the car a nice finish, like a builder would have done in the time period you're trying to emulate? Midnight Blue is a beautiful color.
your car is coming along great ! Heres a picture of my roadster with a tube header i fabbed it has a stock motor now with a single 97 on it
The pic with the "quick spray of fresh primer".....is that the stock height or has there been any suspension lowering other than the 16" wheels?
Nice paint finishes aren't my thing... plus I only have so much money and a harbor freight spray gun and painting in my driveway.
Thanks for all the feedback! I started putting some blue on her earlier this week. Nowhere near done yet. Still needs wet sanding, clear coat, and racing numbers, but I'm happy with the results so far.
Don't do clear coat! Let the paint dry real good, then color sand/rub out and polish, and it will look great. You will be surprised how good it will look. Clear coat is a modern thing that wasn't available back in the day. On a banger hot rod, you don't want a show rod paint job. A paint job with a modest shine will look much more appropriate. Your hot rod is looking GREAT! Keep the progress pics coming.
You've got me second guessing what i want to do now. To clarify, I was planning to spray it with matte clearcoat. I definitely don't want a show rod paint job. I want it to be very low gloss. Less glossy than it is now. What do you guys recommend?
I'm with a boner and Tony, no clear coat. I've had good results just sanding with 400 or 600 grit, then using rubbing compound. You can adjust the shine by how much you sand/rub. Don't get carried away sanding the paint off, I think it looks better without the sanded thru to the primer look. I did this with the black on my HD, and the yellow Vette. A little hard to tell, but I basically sanded it until it was all fairly uniform, rubbed it out, and then waxed it. Kind of looks like a real old paint job.
I paint in my driveway too. What you're showing in your pics is what I meant when I said, "Why not give the car a nice finish, like a builder would have done in the time period you're trying to emulate?" I didn't mean that you should spend thousands of dollars on a professional paint job. I meant a paint job like you're doing. There's no need to sand through the nice paint to let primer show. There's also no need for clear coat, as others have noted. A home-grown shiny lacquer or enamel paint job is what most folks would have done back in the day. We have better paints available now, but an acrylic enamel paint with a hardener works really well, looks about the same, and is "nice."
Thanks for the compliment! The paint on your car looks great! When you sand with 400-600 grit, do you sand dry or wet? I settled it, I'm not clearing it. I already returned the clear I had bought.
Ahhh! I misunderstood what you meant by nice! hahaha. I sprayed lacquer. Figured that was what would have been used back in the day. I appreciate your knowledge and input!
I put a flattening agent in my paint, 50 % paint, 50% flattener so that I got a matt finish, and no clear coat. I was going to go with the matt clear until my mate who is a paint sales rep told me to use the flattener. I would post more info on the flattening agent if I was at home. Here's my pickup.
I wet sand it. Also wet sand it every year or two just to give it a fresh look. Painted 15 years ago.
I wet sanded one of my quarter panels with 400 grit. The color is looking more uniform and the finish is about as dull as I want, but It left some stripes in the paint. Should I use more circular motion when wet sanding? Maybe use a finer grit?
what type pf paint did you use? How many coats of color? I would imagine if its normal base with no clear you will burn through very easy. I wouldn't start with anything heavier than 600 and make sure you take it EASY and keep it wet.