welding project Juular's Scandi Noir. Volvo C70, 240 &122. Coach painting.

[juular]

I avoided thinking about sanding and painting things by going on holiday to Wales in the Trafic.

I played with a large guinea pig.

And pottered around on small trains.

On the half finished door I made the silly decision to dust on some pound shop rattle can black to use as a guide coat.

It certainly highlights the low spots, but aside from that all it did was clog up the sandpaper.

Nevertheless I eventually got here.

It almost seems a shame to paint this.

I reached the point where I ran my hand over it with my eyes shut to feel the flaws and was happy with it. It's not perfect but I'm not sure it ever will be.

On to the high build primer.

Then colour.

Despite being the worst door it's turned out one of the smoothest. 

On to sorting the rusty bits and some more paint.

Finally a bit of sound deadening to replace the knackered stuff.

Then back to the car to sort the door frame.

In other news a tin of Volvo pearl white coach enamel has arrived, so I guess I have no more excuses. Next stage will be to see how badly I can mess up the art of coach painting.

[juular]

Let's have a crack at something completely different then.

I've never been good with rattlecans.  No matter how much prep I do, and we're talking endless hours sanding away scratches using stopper and fine sandpaper with an angled light, as soon as the base coat goes on it looks like a cobbled street.

Not to mention the cost of decent aerosols, and the way it feels like 70% of the paint just fucks off into the atmosphere.

Slowly brush painting the old fashioned way feels like it's right up my street.

Before starting this I made an attempt to sort the rest of the door by taking some areas back to the metal where the paint was cracked or blown.

Then some acid and zinc primer.

High build primer.

Then here we go..

First impressions are that there's definitely a nack to it that took me half a panel to get into.

Not letting the brush go dry was the main thing. In the corner where I started I've missed a few bits due to an empty brush, so I will have to do a second coat.  I was planning this anyway so no big deal.

Secondly, the paint does seem to go a long way. I was worried that I didn't buy enough, but it's quite milky and the brush doesn't lift a lot when you dip it.  So I think I will have plenty.

It does seem to build up very well and I can't see any of the scratches and flaws that rattlecans seem to highlight.

Also, bloody hell it's shiny! 

After my first coat I could see brush marks galore. I did lay off the paint with vertical strokes, but as it was drying I could clearly see them.  It's supposed to self level as it dries, so we will see.

The shine on the finish is incredible, much better than I have ever achieved with rattle cans and clear.

Definitely a more enjoyable experience so far. I'm sure as I get some practice in the results will start to improve too.

The downside is the drying time - 24 hours between coats. It might be worth getting the wings off and perhaps another door, and get them all painted at the same time.

At least the paint supplier sent me something to read while I wait.

[juular]

The results this morning:

It's not awful.

The brush marks have largely disappeared although the finish is quite uneven.

Entirely user error in this case as I hadn't kept the brush properly loaded.

I'm hoping a wet sand and a second coat will improve things.

To think I had a look at one of my doors back in early March and thought, I'll vactan and fill that while it's on the car..

[warninglight]

That's a transformation!

I spent a weekend hastily brush and roller painting our van a couple of weeks back with military paint and it looks so much better - however up close there are plenty of flaws.

A good enamel coach finish on a car of this era just looks right.

[Zelandeth]

One thing I will say to you (and anyone) is that for the love of dog, do NOT paint a car matt black unless you never intend to ever attempt to use it between the months of May and October.  A friend painted their car matt black and my observation was that all it did (aside from looking like utter crap as it had been done with the cheapest aerosols they could find and they were too lazy for prep or proper masking) was make the interior the hottest place in the known universe on an even vaguely sunny day.

[Missy Charm]

Silly question: have you ever tried spray painting things with a proper HVLP gun and compressor?  It's a damn sight easier than using spray cans, as long as one masters the art of mixing the paint and cleans the gun properly at the end of the day.  

I've spray painted various things, various ways for both artistic and DIY projects.  Best, by far, was an air-driven spray gun.  Unlike the tins, one isn't dealing with the vagaries of propellant gas pressure fluctuating and a 1/2 pence bit of plastic creating the spray pattern.  

Once you've got your eye in, spraying is a wonderful process.  Painting by hand, in contrast, is time consuming and frustrating.  Having said that, however, you could probably speed things up with the enamel paint by using a foam roller rather than a brush.