...F' Photosucket... 50 year old hand brushed Wow...there's some mighty impressive outcomes here indeed... Credit to Photographer, Owner
I brush painted my engine with One-Shot, but that doesn't really count since all the sheet metal parts like the oil pan and timing cover are chrome pieces. This post has got me to consider brush painting the car due to the fears of isocyanates, overspray , and such concerns. Of course, I hate the thought of color sanding too, but that is something that I should be able to do at home. Since this has shown a lot of paint jobs done in the distant past with questionable results,does anyone have information as far as brush painting with modern paints, hardeners and such? I would like to paint the car myself and have gone so far as to purchase a used turbine spray setup but there is still the job of making a temporary spray booth, fresh air respirator, and stuff I haven't even considered yet. My next door neighbor is an excellent retired house painter and he could probably give me tips on the actual brush painting. 66gmc's pictures of his roadster pickup are awe inspiring. Don't want no stinkin' rat rod.
Talk to your neighbor get some tips. The new paints / high performance paints have the scary chemicals, particularly when atomized by a paint gun. No reason you cant use enamel to brush paint, lot less nasty than urethane of base clear. You can definately use a higher quality enamel than rustoleum or equivalent. Real auto enamel with the slowest reducer you can get. The hardener has isocyanates, your choice to use it or not, but consider its less atomized. Brush or spray, Id still wear a respirator, consider with brushing youre still sitting in a garage full of thinner fumes for hours.
Hate to discourage anyone, but it’s way easier and probably cheaper to buy a Harbor Freight $9.99 (on sale) purple spray gun instead of buying brushes and lots of foam rollers. If it’s easier for you, do a panel at a time, mask off where needed. You will save hours and hours (blocking) sanding out (between coats) some minor orange peel from spraying verses sanding out the roller or brush lumps and use less sandpaper to boot. The only advantage a brush/roller job has is zero overspray, if you do it inside! I started out rolling my 3W in my shop, and ended up spraying the rest outside. Blocking and cutting and polishing......the results end up exactly the same! Paint pros probably puke when looking at my paint job....average Joe hot rod guys are amazed, or at least say so! Doing it outside involves waiting for good painting days....proper temperature range, low wind and humidity and minimum bugs. It’s fun to point out on the trunk lid the spot where a yellow jacket was swimming in the wet paint....I plucked him out with a pair of tweezers I had in my watch pocket, and quickly dabbed some extra paint there with a artist brush. The extra dabbed paint there helped when I blocked out the lid.....still shows, but not too bad! The bottom line is “$200.00 PAINT JOBS RULE”!
Brush painted sometime in the past. After a good cleaning and a 10 hour stint of buffing, it really shines up. All my friends thought I repainted it when seeing me cruising around. I brushed the roof to match. Funny thing is I love the look, and I'm a body man. I could paint it anytime I want, but it's too cool as is. Sent from my SM-G950U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Your suggestion and results are commendable...but in Hotrod we do shit not neccesarily to save money but just to do as it was done as Henry's team did in 1920 something and many Hoodlum years later...Brush...I agree foam rollers aren't brushes but many of these Hambers achieved credible results and are rightfully proud. I could have bought a replica cardboard glovebox for the Ole Jalopy but I made it out of Aluminum by hand but saving grief, money and visual quality weren't the reasons I did it.
Pretty sure a lot of hot rods were spray painted back in the day. My contention was that it is way easier and faster to spray than to brush or roll. The rougher surface you get from brushing or rolling can be smoothed out, but it takes a bunch of time and effort to do it. The end results of a do it yourself paint job, no matter what method is used are very satisfying. Like I said, the only upside to a brush or roll job is there is no overspray. The downside to a brush or roll job would be the extra sanding effort, the extra paint needed (sanded off) and the extra sandpaper needed. Another good thing about a do it yourself paint job beside the $ savings, is your Hot Rod does not have to spend any time in “PAINT JOB JAIL”! I drove my coupe all summer while I worked on a panel at a time! Before I assembled the coupe, I painted the bottom of the body, the firewall and the grill shell.....the rest was painted as I drove it.
I'm sure they were sprayed much like so many items requiring paint back in the day and I'm quite certain many paid for it with their lives due to lack of proper protection...and as alluded fumes are dangerous anyway you slice it with spraying upping that danger...still brush painting is an Art if well executed, hence this thread...which never ceases to amaze and adds a traditional option for the adventurous.
I personally spray everything I can, even interior latex when possible. BUT The thread is about how to achieve the best brush job and recommendations on how to get there. Theres a lot of info and tutorial on boat painting "roll and tip". Worth watching some youtube on techniques.
About brush painting outside, 1) Never paint while the car is in the sunshine. 2) Never paint when the outside temp is going to get into the 80s before the paint surface dries (3-4 hours after your done painting). In both cases, the outer skin dries too fast and the paint won't flow out. That shows more brush strokes and gives you a lot more to sand out. Gene
I wonder if this old french technique would be applied to a car... Sent from my Mi A1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Brush painted with enamel farm implement paint and hardener added. I might have $100 in the paint job! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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