brush painting a hot rod

Pleasure to finally be here.My name is Steve.I looking to brush paint my 32 Ford pickup with Enamel.Instead of the primer look thought Id try something different.Farmers use to do it.Any thoughts or ideas ?????

THANX Steve

 

Have you given any thought to wallpaper?
Maybe stucco?
How about false brick laminate? That'd be different!!
Can't wait to see photos...sorta......kinda.

 

My uncle used to own a 59 Ford truck that someone actually brush painted two-tone light blue and white. I thought it looked horrible but it left a lasting impression!

 

that'd be different. welcome! you'll prolly get some shit for it here though.

 

Welcome to the Hamb Steve.
Don't do it.

 

Now that's funny

 

As I would personally like to see some dry stack stone on the grill and around the fireplace I have to say I saw it done once and it looked very different. All the brushstrokes went the same way each time giving it a strange looking texture. There are too may "high tech" rattle cans on the market to waste that much time with brushing it on.

Either way Welcome from GA.

 

Hi, welcome to the Hamb..seems we have a new generation of street rodder here that's afraid to stray from the norm..don't listen to 'em.. you can paint your car with a brush..or a roller and it willl come out good if you take the time to do the work right. there's numerous post on here that discuss the topic. use the search function I'm sure you'll come up with some great tios.

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117500&highlight=brush+paint

 

Welcome from Kentucky and happy stroking!!!

 

Just use the right kind of paint and a brushed job can look pretty good. One of the best out there is Rustoleum. Lots of guys have used 'tractor paint' for their inexpensive paint job. Do use primer if it's bare metal, for better adhesion. I'd hope you would do the preparation right, but that may not be your goal. If you do paint over an 'as is' surface, don't bother with primer cause it's going to be a waste of money, unless you are going for the 'fake patina' look.
As has been mentioned, do a search. 'Rustoleum' is a good word 'brushed paint job' would be another ...

Go for it!
Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Being this is the introduction forum pages,Tell us about yourself,then move the questions to the main board.

 

If your going low budget,,you would most likely get a better finish with spray cans..

Also do a search,,this has been covered quite a bit..

as for "trying something different"

its not so different,,many have done it so as not to fit " the mold"

the main thing to question ,,is are you gonna be comfortable with how it looks?

You will not be a rebel,,or the something different guy by doing it..

If it works for you,,then ...

 

Yeah, It seems like there is quite a few more threads on late model frame swaps, Mustang II clips/air ride, and OT engine swaps. Maybe I wasn't paying attention to it before.

I say brush it!

 

back in the 60's a guy on the block painted an mga red with rustoleum using a rubber
roller.the first year it sat outside looking not terrible, but not great, I was around 14
then, he wet sanded it and buffed it out and I will tell you it looked pretty good but like I said by then I was 15, but have heard of others getting decent results

 

my thoughts are. play with your technique on a old fender or hood whatever. if you like it go forward. i have seen cars done with brushs-rollers -and even a old herbicide sprayer. how much wet sanding do you want to do?
R&C did a 61 falcon swith foam rollers and Rustoleum. thinned it and worked on 6 coats with foam rollers and wet sand between coats. sloow and labor intensive. came out great though.
I am so sorry that you need to duck after you speak up on this board. i see a certain esoteric element that forgot what it was like to build on a budget. You know, the original flavor of real hot rodding. do it yourself with what you have available! you find these guys with their laptop and check book sitting in the frontseat of thier over built show class hot rod. typing away trying to demean whoever they can because they lack the drive to try to do it themselves.
we used to build these cars when you could buy a nice new house for 6-12K now you spend that on a paint job.

 

Back in the late 70's I painted my first vehicle for a guy I knew, it was Grabber blue from NAPA, with a brush. Don't do it.

 

But don't forget the Jim Jacobs speed secret, horizontal brush strokes front to rear for less wind resistance.

Lee

 

I bought a 1935 Ford pick up back in the 70's that was brush painted black. It had been painted by the owner, who was totally blind (really). It looked like poop, but I don't think that was just from his impairment, the enamel was in thick ridges and grooves. I kept it that way just to tick off the neighbors.

 

I speak from experience when I suggest you don't brush paint using the Rustoleum method. It can come out nice, really it can, it just takes a stupid amount of work to do it. You'll start off thinking you'll save money, but by the 7th coat you'll wish to hell you'd invested in a spray gun...any spray gun. I wasnt trying to come off like a dick (the brick laminante really made me spit coffee). The Hambs a great place to find answers to these types of questions. Again, welcome

 

Now that is funny. Anyway, Welcome......
I had an old Pinto Wagon that was roller painted and it actually looked good from a distance. Up close it looked like.........well, it looked like it was painted with a roller.

 

Do it! Lot of layers of thinned Rustolem, let dry then wet sand and polish (optional). Do a Google search, it works.

Take my car for instance. Last painted in about 1962 with a brush:

 

If brush painting yer hotrod ain't traditional...then I don't know what is....
I've seen plenty of brush painted old car and trucks, and 90% look better than any car sprayed with a rattlecan.....plus it's easier on yer fingers...haha!

 

I'm brushing and sanding one now. The first couple of coats you can 80 grit it,,even wetsand 80 grit it before it fully hardens. I use it straight outta tha can. Always go with a finer grit as it gets straighter to remove the previous sand scratches. It will turn out as nice as you are willing to sweat it done.

 

This was poured on and just helped along with a brush. Never sanded or rubbed out.

 

There's a 27 T roadster around here brush painted blue, looks like shit!

 

I guess the runs didn't bother you. I've seen some very nice paint jobs on boats done with a roller and "Tipped" with a brush. The paint needs to be thinned with a brushing thinner and applied with care.

 

I say do it and damn the torpedos!!!! If you dont like it you will have an excuse to sand it off and start over. I agree with the starting with a fender or something though to see how you like it and work your way up to more surface area.

 

Lol, by the time it finally dried I was starting to like them. True what you say about nice brush jobs. I used to work on a customers '32 Rolls that the chauffeur had kept after with a brush for many years. I believe he had done the whole car over time and it was amazing how there was no sign of brush marks.

 

It's amazing to realize that most of the HAMB'rs posting here don't understand that early on that's all there was to paint with, a brush! The painters of the time were very competent to use the chemicals of the day to produce a smooth shiney finish without leaving brush marks. That was all you could get after the car left the factory, a brushed paint job.

That was before compressors were commonplace, at every filling station. Once that happened, spray equipment was soon to follow.
It's kind of like welding equipment when MIG guns became common, everybody became a weldor!
With spray guns and compressors readily available everybody became a painter. Before spray guns and compressors it took great skill to lay down a brush-stroke free paint job. You had to know your paint mixture intimately, and adjust for temperature and humidity accordingly as the day wore on. Now it's fairly easy with hi-tech spray equipment and the advances in paint/sprayable plastics.

Just sayin', just because some inexperienced mechanic couldn't lay down a brush-stroke free paint job his first time painting a car with a brush, doesn't mean NOBODY can do a very respectable job using this method. It just means it takes skill and experience to do this kind of work and come out with a nice paint job.

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith