Thread: You want paint it with a WHAT?

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A Brush. yep thats right a brush. You can stop laughing now.
I am having a few dificulties finding info on this topic but have allready been given a few warnings on what to use and what not to use.
I will start by saying "painting isn't my bag", sure I have painted cars before but never to the quality of a pro. The current project of mine involves the final coat to be applied with a brush and a matt coat at that. (all for effect) The idea of course is not new and this is where I hope someone on this site can come in with a few info jems to answer some questions from me like,
Should I heat the paint?
Acrylic or enamel?
What size brush?
Using a matt finish will I need some "special" primer to stop moisture?
How many coats?

I am really keen to hear from other rodders who have or are doing this kind of job.
Thanks heaps
Andy.

gherkin, first may I ask Why a paint brush? are you looking for a different look ? and Unsmooth finish?
The only time I have seen this done is a farmer painting his tractors this way and looked rather nasty.
If you added alot of Flatening agent into the paint it should knock the shine off , but not for sure using a brush. It might also look shiny in some spots and flat in others because of the thickness of putting it on with a brush. And you would have to catylize it and then it may not even Kick ( dry) because it hasent been atomized by air.

And I might point out that it might take 3 times more paint to do it this way as it wont go as far brushing it on , as to spraying it on.

type of brush? depends on how rough you want the surface to look i guess , as any brush you use will leave brush hair marks and plus you will have alot of bristles left in the finish too.

Good luck , SprayTech

I've painted steel doors with rustoleum and a 3" foam roller brush. I rolled each coat as thin as I could. Actually came out purdy' smooth FOR A DOOR. (You asked about heating the paint????) cooler is better, gives it time to flow out (some). There a big differencce between a door and something the size of a vehicle I suppose you could panel paint it so you wouldn't have to do a big area at a time. If you applied many coats you could wet sand it flat I spoz'. I don't see too many upsides to the brush.

I understand it's a strange idea and of course I haven't done the job yet so things may change but I have seen cars done this way before. The "farmers tractor" comment earlier, I suppose, is pretty close to the mark. A vehicle that springs to mind is a Deuce roadster I saw. it was light blue (hand painted) with a red stripe, not a pin stripe, along the beauty line or body mold. Looked like it was dragged straight from the barn. The only things that were reworked were the bits required to drive the thing everything else as found. AWESOME IMHO.

Andy

Streets , you know those guys that have those Massy's dont care what they look like in a field............They end up being Field Art anyway

This is nostalgic for me since my first car was a '31 Fordor which I painted "Baby Blue" with red wheels ("19) using a 2" brush to apply the best high gloss enamel I could find. It was definitely glossy, but the brush stroke ripples were quite deep. In retrospect I think it could have been wet block sanded and smoothed out quite a bit. To my 16 year old tastes the light blue ripples were still refreshing compared to the dreary mottled black underneath!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

you could put the paint on with your brush and lightly wad up some aluminum foil & reopen it & drag it thru it lightly....this is called "woodgraining" it may give you the effect you want.

Exactly what part of the car do you want to brush paint?

I know that a paint co called por 15 says that you can brush paint their product onto a prepared metal surface and it's supposed to be self smoothing, but its only used on the chassis underside of a vehicle.

Great stuff guys, so far I have read lots of ideas for me to try. As to answer some of the questions, I will be painting the whole car, lets not forget it is a hi-boy and it will have a rag insert in the top, which as you will note takes up a considerable portion of he roof. I am not sure on the exact finish I want, I think I will do a bit of practise work on some old panels I have laying around. I guess the whole idea is a bit strange, the more I think about it. The panel work at the moment is how it arrived in AUS from a steel graveyard in IDAHO! I have removed all the large dents but have left some character dents present to give it the "authentic" look. Of course I will be failing the Nostalgia theme on the interior, seat belts, collapsable column and stronger seating. Safety is a pretty big deal for me (two kids and a wife) and to appease the "minister of finance" (read wife) it will need Airconditioning which is indeed difficult to hide in an open engine compartment.
I am going the elweirdo paint job on the outside and keeping the dents beacuse I consider this to be a one way deal. The body has been completely stripped to bare metal and all reapairs made professionally and when I saw the old girl sitting there like that I then thought why not? I could never make a straight car look like this. In the same way I can never look 16 again. "Character dents" thats what they are. Something Plastic just hasn't got. I hope everyone doesnt now think I'm a nutter.

"Nutter" as is from the "Nut House", "Crazzy", "Loco"

Heres a crazy idea..............You say there isnt any body filler on the outside of body? Its raw metal?
Why not just DA the outside with 150 grit , and clear it to protect the steel from rusting ?
It would be a neat look instead of painting it with a brush.

or another idea, you could try spraying the body with red oxide spray bomb (several coats), then get a color of your choice and spray it with a few light coats and use a red scotch bright pad and rub lightly untill you start going through the color to the sealer, it would look like old time paint fade , then clear it with a slightly flatened clear to protect the look. The simi flatened clear would give it that old wear look. Because a fadded paint job has no shine left.

SprayTech

Hey NOW WE ARE THINKING! that sounds good. Enamel would be best for this? or perhaps acrylic. When you say red oxide is that like the old "red lead"? Perhaps you could give me a procedure to use for this??? coats, type of paint, thining etc....or do you think it would be a particular trial and error type approach, mostly personal oppinion? I have also heard that by keeping to acrylics and matt finishes I may not seal the metal from the air properly any ideas...?

As long as you have to mess with the top insert anyway, let me express my idea again to use a sheet of green plastic in the hole for a non-opening "Sky roof". I cited an actual model of 1954 Ford with a coral color body with a see-through green plastic hardtop. There would have to be some sort of a flange or lip around the inner edge and a long peice of tubing could be used as a gasket along with some chrome fittings from a motorboat plastic windshield to clamp it in place at probably 8 or 10 places around the edge. Just an idea I wanted to try but I did not have the time or money then. This will change your inside headliner a lot but probably you need a new one anyway?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Well my thinking was to keep it cheap and simple.
Its why I mentioned Spraycans.
Red oxide is just the color of the primer sealer, comes in grey also.
But way back when they used red oxide more.
Do you have the product Rust Oleum?
Use this or something close to it in the red oxide color.
If it is a lacquer product you can put any type product over it . just dont use an Enamel base red oxide product and put lacquer paint over the top of it or it will lift and cause all sorts of problems!!!

I would spray down 3-4 coats of the red oxide down , let dry good for a week to get hard , Then spray down 2-4 coats of color (your choice) . let it dry good. then use a grey or red Scotch bright pad wet with water and lightly scuff areas like top areas will fade faster the sides so rub more color off the tops till it starts to wear through.
You might get an old door and trial and error it , to achieve the look your after.
If you practice the technique enough , you will I think GET THE LOOK you are after.
while your out and about look around for old fadded out cars and really look at the look of how the tops and sides all look . Study it , I mean really look how nature does it.

Just make sure the paint products you use are all the same for compatiability.

SprayTEch

Hmmmmm, quite a pickle!!

I would guess this is something like what is desired for the final look. Thanks Foorden.