hand painting a marlin roadster

[mlincsmit]

anyone recently hand painted their car - we used to way back in the 1950's and made quite a good job. Some very good enamel paints are available from the boat indusry of which I have used - on boats !! - but not cars, any thoughts

[keith_h]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

Wait until the summer (or make sure you can heat up where you paint)

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

Hi Mike.

You can certainly get good results with aerosols - but, as mentioned above, you need warm premises or weather.

I've just bought around 40 cans each of black and red for use on my 2CV. The red paint is 'Hycote' stuff, and trials on a metal panel has given excellent results - with a quite wipe over with 'T-cut to get rid of the odd dust speck, and a waxing afterwards, it looks, well, nigh on perfect; deep gloss, and very smooth.

Marlins are every bit as ideal as 2CVs for this type of pianting - no roof, and panels can be tackled separately. Problems occur when trying to tackle large panels such as the bonnets of 'conventional' cars, but the Marlin's bonnet can be done in sections, using the hinging points as your change-over point.

As always, preparation is key. I'd use 1200 grit paper with water to completely flatten the surface and get rid of any old wax, etc.

Once bone dry, go over with a tack-rag (a sticky cloth that'll collect all the dust particles) and then get into a rhythm with the aerosol; long, slowish, steady straight sprays, each one overlapping the last by around half. Press and release the button at the beginnings and ends of each 'run'. Press the button squarely and firmly all the way down; good chance this will give you a cold, numb finger after a while - consider getting a holder/trigger thingy for aerosols.

The 'secret' is to apply enough spray for it to 'flow' flat with no orangepeel - but no so much that it 'runs'! It's a matter of keeping a beady eye on the job as you go, and modifying the spray speed to suit.

Try and have the panels as flat as possible, although this doesn't make them as easy to paint - so a slight slope facing towards you is best.

Wear a mask!

(If you aren't fussy about the exact colour, you can often pick up 'job lots' of paint on ebay or similar. In theory I should be able to respray my car for well under £100, and that will be with a pretty thick coat with at least 3-4 cans on each wing...)

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

Oh, to clarify... (bear in mind this is the way I tend to do this - others may differ!)

With the panel to be sprayed sitting at around 30o slope facing towards you, and the aerosol can being held pointing down to hit the spray at ALMOST 90o, the 'overspray' will travel further on so will be covered by the next line of spray you apply beyond the first. Ie. you start spraying at the edge nearest you, and add your overlapping spray 'lines' as you go further away.

Overlap each by around half - but you judge it. Look at the spray as it lands - it should be heavy enough to flow completely flat but don't let it 'puddle' obviously!

With each sideways movement of spraying, the only immediately 'poor' visible finish should be from the overspray 'above' the line you've just done, and this will then be completely covered by the next line of spray. They should all blend in perfectly.

Keep a constant eye, and adjust speed and line spacing to suit!

[mlincsmit]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

many thanks Donnie for your advice, just one coat or do you spay a couple of coats? What is the paint "Hycote" - is this an enamel? I have seen very good results from brush painting on boats - I have done it myself but wondered on the best paints to use where cars are concered, any thoughts ? - regards Mike

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

Hi Mike.

With aerosols, you'll need at least three coats for decent coverage. The good news is that you can apply subsequent coats as soon as the previous one has gone touch dry - usually after 20 minutes or so.

'Hycote' is just one of the many types of car aerosol paint out there - I think it might be by Tetrosyl. They reckon it's twice as 'thick' as normal aerosol paints so only half the amount needs to be applied... It generally comes in 150ml cans. I was certainly impressed by the test results I carried out, although I've yet to do a whole car panel.

If you aren't too fussed about the exact colour you are after, you might be able to pick up a pile of cans for a good price - I got around 30-40 cans for about a £1 each (it's a Peugeot solid red colour.) If you are after a specific colour, then expect to pay at least £3 a can.

For 'true' hand-applied finish, I think you'd need to use a roller rather than a brush, although I have heard of paints that are 'designed' to be applied this way and give a good finish - the paint 'flows' smooth, or something. 'Rustoleum' comes to mind as a name...

Some people suggest the principle of applying multiple coats of paint by roller and not worrying too much about the finish. Then, when it's all set hard, the surface is flattened down using 600 and 1200 grit 'wet or dry' to get it perfectly smooth and then the whole thing polished using paint cutting compound to get the gloss back, but that's FAR too much work in my book!

An alternative to this - which I used successfully on my dashboard - is to apply the colour of your choice using a roller (in my case it was household varnish), flatten it down to get it smooth (this isn't too hard...) and instead of polishing it (the hard bit), apply a couple of coats of clear gloss lacquer from an aerosol - job done! However, you'd need to ensure that the lacquer is compatible with the base coat.

It might be worth practising with an aerosol. It's totally possible to get a really good finish straight out of the can. I went over mine lightly with a flat block covered in cloth with a little T-cut, but this was only to remove the odd bit of dust that was stuck there - I didn't have to actually 'cut' the paint layer at all. A good polish with Autoglym and... I'm happy.

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

What sort of colour are you looking for, Mike?

Bear in mind that boats will look perfectly good with a carefully applied brushed or rollered finish. Vans will get away with this too. A car...? Hmm, not so sure. It'll probably look ok from a couple of paces, but not close up, I doubt.

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

I got my paint from them: http://motors-parts.shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=paint&_sacat=131090&_trksid=p3286.m270 .l1313&_ssn=kingsofleon12&_odkw=&_osacat=131090

They seem to only have metallics in stock at the mo' - much more difficult to apply! And you need a top lacquer coat!

Worth searching ebay to see what comes up, tho'.

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

And I got my black from them: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLACK-GLOSS-QUALITY-AEROSOL-SPRAY-PAINT-CAN-SHOP-UK_W0QQitemZ310087338975QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Body _Shop_Supplies_Paint?hash=item4832a54bdf

I think this might be cellulose which would make it petrol resistant. But I'm not sure (that might be someone else I'm thinking of...)

I have an NG TF which I'm planning to paint black this way - perhaps this year.

[mlincsmit]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

will do some test work once the weather is warmer, May or June. Re building suspension bits at present and adding a type of Watts linkage to the roadster. 2 steps forward and one back but we are getting there - will post the results once finished if it works - if not I'll keep very quiet !! regards Mike

[andy4]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

Not sure I would do to the trouble of buying lots of cans or brush painting, when it is relatively easy to spray a panel at a time. It took me about 1 full weekend to strip my panels off the car - most of the time undoing rusted nuts. I then sprayed using cellulose from ebay ( nuagane is the seller ) - you can get 5L and 5L of thinners for £65 + 12.95 Postage. In terms of kit I used a £50 B&Q compressor and a £20 spray gun from machine mart - easy to sell on if you don't have a future use, or perhaps consider a low pressure spray gun ( although I tried these in the past and did not think them as good as a proper gun). The spray gun I bought was designed for low pressure and there really was not any more overspray than you would get from a can. By yourself a face mask as well £10. Even allowing for consumables, primer etc the whole job is do-able for under £250 including buying all the kit you need. I also used an electric orbital sander from machine mart to take the old paint off, again no more than £20. Took me a week pretty much full time to do the painting, another week cutting back with 1200 grade paper and then cutting compound, roughly a weekend to put it all back together again. Finished result, while not perfect, is pretty good, and better than anything I have managed with a brush or a spray can. Also have a good 2L of paint left over ...

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

"...another week cutting back with 1200 grade paper and then cutting compound..."

That's the soul-destroying method! I honestly think you can get a perfectly acceptable finish direct from a spray can, with only the odd bit of 'cutting' to get rid of dust marks, etc.

[mlincsmit]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

many thanks Andy, I do have a large compressor so only need to buy suitable gun - wonders if masking up after a good rub down instead of panel removal would work - nice to have your thoughts anyway.

[macdonald.dm]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

Hi Mike.

Yes, of course you can always mask off the 'unpainted' bits, but I personally think it will be a bit of a compromise.

It will work, and most of the car should turn out really well, but I suspect the areas that might cause problems are parts like where panels join (eg wings to body); if you have wing 'piping' sitting between the panels, do you paint over it? How do you get into every crevice to clean it up with 1200 grit before painting - if you don't, then fair chance the new paint won't adhere properly and could begin to flake around these joins.

The existing paint will have lots of grime, grease, oxidation, wax(?!) etc on it which will really need to be fully removed, probably with 1200 'grit wet or dry', before painting. If you can get to every part without dismantling the bodywork (possibly just the wings?), then masking should be fine. But if not, I think it'll be worth the hassle of partial panel removal at least.

[mlincsmit]

Re: hand painting a marlin roadster

I take your point Donnie, the rear wings are in need of work so may take these off to try, either way will wait to the warm weather before doing any paintwork. The pipework has already been painted over, not sure what most people do in this respect - thanks for your comments. Mike