painting a car with a brush...yes or no

Come on guys. In a traditional coach style. brushed, Lacquer paint job, there are no brush marks. It is put on thick and rubbed like hell. With a lot of effort they are very deep and glossy.

 

Thanks for the input guys....I hand painted the front axle the other nite and it was probably a fluke but it came out like a mirror....the car i mentioned earlier was in Street rodder a few years back and was burgundy coloured, the photo below shows it in its current colour....not sure if it was hand painted again....Limey32 could probably verify that..but if it is you can see how skillful the guy really is....definitely an artform
Tim

 

That yellow roadster with the road map was at Day of The Drags.
Dan

 

until about 1940 most cars were brush painted with shellac or original type laquer then rubbed out by hand with a balled up cloth and rubbing compound or power buffer. i once met a man who told me the spray gun method took a while to catch on because the brush painters were afraid of the new method and of course that they would lose their occupation if it ever caught on. the fellow said there was many a heated discussion which led to knock down drag out fighting right there on the job. so be careful not to let those spray guys see u do it. RoadKat

 

A few years back I helped paint a Shorts Skyvan with a roller it came out looking pretty good at 50 ft even tho the paint was kind of thick. We would have shot it with a gun but the owner of the hanger we was working in specifically stated there would be no spray painting in the building. I am planning on trying a brush finish on my T when I get to the point of paint. That will be quite some time down the road tho.
Dawg

 

If you've never done it before, I'd proceed with caution. Black is the hardest colour to get right, it shows up every ripple and line, under the paint and in the paint.
The other thing I'd be wary of is the type of paint that you're brushing on. If it's an enamel be warned, if you get fed up of the colour and wish to change it by spraying on a cellulose, you'll probably have to strip the car back to bare metal/glass. Spraying a lacquer onto enamel will result in the new paint pickling up.

 

I say go for it....

Kinda off topic, but a few years ago, I had a sailboat that I had picked up for next to nothing. Did all of the fiberglass hull repairs and the decided on a blue with white flame paint job, all done with a sponge brush. Laid out really well and not a bit of brush strokes. It can be done.

 

My dad painted his 48 Chevy Aerosedan with a brush about 40 years ago and it turned out real well. He used black enamel and did one area at a time; then when it pretty well tacked off he ran cold water over it with a hose; which supposedly smoothed it out. You could hardly find a brushmark in it. This was a tip from an old time painter. It still looked good years later.

 

I'm a coach maker by trade and used to work for London transport and served my apprenticeship there.All London buses were hand painted and looking at them you would never know,the reason for this is the paint.If you hand paint a vehicle you do need to use coach paint and it's completely different from the stuff you shoot on.My advice is this ,use the best brush you can possibly get ,try to cover the area once without going over and the paint will flow.As with spray paint the prep needs to be as good and the reason for the best brush should be so that the hair dont come out and the hair takes in as much paint as possible.If you use a top coach paint you can also flat it and polish it and i have seen some much better paint jobs with brush than spray although it takes a lot of work to get it that way.The payoff is you have a much thicker layer of paint with a very durable finish that can be flatted and polished countless amounts of times .I have seen coach paint jobs that have lasted 60 years and look as good today as they did when they were done but the trouble is in the prep and not many people want to put the work into it these days.Coach painting is almost a dead art these days as it is totally different from any other type of paint but i think it's worth doing as if you go to a show and get comments on nice paint you say 'yeah it took me 8 hours to paint that with a 3 inch brush' then watch thier jaw drop......Marq

 

Marq, I would really love to learn more. A tech piece maybe?

 

I have painted boats ( Big Boats) with enemal and an additive( PENATROL )not sure of spelling, that keeps a wet edge on the paint and gives the paint time to lay out. you need to do a good job priming and sanding because you get the same surface you have to start. also use cleen tack rags before you paint. comes out smooth as glass. if you screw up ypu can allways color sand with 600 wet and dry sand paper and then use rubbing compound and then polishing compound. Pogo

 

Man that's just too cool. I agree also TECH, TECH, TECH! Please. When I was younger I flamed my daily driver with purple one-shot and a sponge. I wasn't smart enough to use a roller. I started at 11pm taping the design and pulled the last piece of tape at 1pm the next day(young, dumb, no kids, and very sore back!) One question Marq what paint, if any, in the states is the same as coach paint? One Shot?

 

yes and where in the world can we get "coach paint"? Black is fine..
I brush painted the floor of my last F-100 with black POR-15 and it came out flawless! Not a brush stroke to be seen anywhere.

 

I will try to find an equivilent Brand for you guys in the week,there has been too much of the shooting paint on these days and we seem to be losing the art of real automotive painting.Coach paint is still used here on vehicles so is quite easy to get but i do not know what the American term would be.If i get time to do a tech on a panel or two i will as it seems you guys would go for it.Anyone can paint a vehicle to a good standard but take your time and remember to go with the grain as i call it.In other words lay the paint on the way the body lines go just like a grain on a piece of wood..............Marq

 

I also would love to see a tech peice on painting cars via brush and "Coach paint".

Primo

 

Coach paint is what I've always heard as well...

Lays on thick and flows together... smooths out!

Gotta have perfect weather for it if I remember correctly!

 

This thread caught my eye, so I did some searchin'...

http://www.stephen.hull.btinternet.co.uk/index.html

G.

 

Now thats what i call a great web site very informative and the guy knows his stuff....Marq

 

You don't need coach paint. Dupont used to make an additive to put into Centari (perhaps Dulux as well) to make it "brush paintable". They probably still make it, ask your jobber!

 

believe me yes you can use other paints ,but i never would .Always use the correct stuff for the best results......Marq

 

I agree.. A foam roller does work pretty good... I tried a regular roller one time but the paint started to break down the fibers and fell apart as I was painting, 3/4 of the vehicle turned out fuzzy.. Needed a shave by the time I was finished.

 

Marq, thanks for the info and it would be great if you can find a paint that's in the US. Great post guys!!!! I always wondered how they painted the cars in the teens and 20's So when did they start spraying here in the us?

 

I,ve painted several cars getting reasonable results with re-paint available from Halfords.
Secret is to use a gloss roller for the larger areas and an expensive brush on the fiddly bits. Don't thin though as it takes ages to dry and will run like hell.
Know the carriage painting guy you are referring to get that level of finish involves lots of block sanding between coats (note block not by hand you will get lines)
Rich

 

I painted my fiberglass camping trailer with a brush and marine enamel, they make a thinner that causes the paint to level. Petit brand. Brushing liquid or brushing thinner... something like that.

It has to be mixed just so according to the temperature, The instructions said to brush the paint on a piece of glass, if the brush marks go away, you have it right.

Oh and another thing, start at the top or one side and go around, if the wet paint hits some tacky paint, it grabs the brush and looks like crap.

Most of it came out looking smooth and shiny though.

 

Tim,
I think it depends on the paint and the quality of the brush you use. Its going to be hard to do it without brush strokes, but I know that sign painters have pretty good luck with One Shot. I'm guessing that that is a 20.00 cure to a .10 problem.
Find out what the buggy guy uses.
I personaly have never had much luck at least not with gloss paint. Some primers or satins go on OK. Used to paint a lot of wheels with Rustolium (T) and it flows out pretty god (good, ooops), but I never tried a whole body.
I'm thinking tht perhaps the brush strokes are part of the effect.
Back in the '70s a friend painted his bug with a roller and Emron (T). The paint pulled the fibers out of the roller and he ended up with a fuzzy bug. Didn't matter about everyone was pretty twisted back then and we all thought he did it on purpose.

 

thanks for all the info guys......it certainly has me thinking now, I`m gonna try and find out a bit more about coach paint before I make my mind up.....Marq maybe you could do a Tech using my T seeing as I live within spitting distance from you........joking aside it would be cool to see

Tim

 

Wow, that Vic looks terrible. I wouldn't brush paint, If you wanna change the color, you'll have to sand a shitload.
-Crew