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offshores
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Joined: February 08, 2012
Posts: 662
Location: San Diego
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 Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for sharing. The pic with the red truck looks like you tried to blend the grass and trees in a little.  |
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ImAddicted
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Joined: April 24, 2012
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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Green plants are sooooooo overplayed...
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ImAddicted
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Joined: April 24, 2012
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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JinxSidney: I can't reply for 7 days since I'm a new member but the answer is:
For Rust Stop I mixed it 2 to 1 when the weather was about 75F and low humidity. That's two parts paint to one part thinner. You might have to play with it a little depending on your weather conditions but that would give you a good start. A few other tips, if no one minds (and if you do, shit, cuz I've already posted but sorry for the hijack anyway):
Painting likes DRY air. Your gun will have instructions on what PSI to have the regulator set at. Make sure you pick up a bunch of paint strainers (paper funnels with screen in them) and a bundle of stirrers. Another thing to remember is your paint job is only as good as your prep. The more you massage the bodywork, the better the end result will be. If you have a garage, keep the door open so you don't get baked. I don't and shoot mine outside on a warm, dry day after bug season is over. Trust me, insects LOVE fresh paint.
- Don't get your paint until the day you are painting and have them shake it really good before you leave the store (or if you get it at say Walmart, stir it really good, I use an old kitchen hand mixer).
- Wipe the entire thing down with a good degreaser\prep like PrepSol. I use shop rags because they don't give off lint.
- mix your paint one spray cup at a time, no exception. Paint starts to cure as soon as it hits the air so mixing a big batch is a big no-no. I use bunch of old margarine containers and some kitchen measuring cups from the dollar store. Use the strainers when pouring into the spray cup. Use a new strainer each time.
- Take your hand and put the pinky on the car and the thumb on the spray nozzle of the gun. That is the distance you want to be from the car at ALL TIMES. Spray from left to right, keeping that distance the entire time and the gun parallel to the surface. Start moving the gun a little before the panel you want to paint and then hit the trigger, reverse this at the end of the panel (let off the trigger at the edge of the panel but move your arm a little further). This keeps the paint even. Make the next pass in the other direction, overlapping the first one by about a third. The first coat you want to just be fogged on, not actually doing any real coverage. If it's a big section like the side of a bus, WALK as you paint, don't stand in one place and swing your arm, you will get crappy quality. Think of it as kinda like the Karate kid and Paint the Fence. Remember that part? He was doing it up and down but it's the same idea. Painting rewards consistency. It's natural to want to swing your arm left and right like you're spraying a tommy gun but what you really want is to keep the gun the same distance from the panel you are painting at all times and keep the gun STRAIGHT. If you swing your arm, the gun is further away from the panel at the ends and usually too close in the middle as well as at an angle. Another natural tendency is to bend your wrist at the start and end of the swing. Don't. It's really HARD not to, so don't get down on yourself if you do it at the start, that's why practice is important. I'll be honest, I COULD NOT GET IT when first started. Here's a tip - pick up a cheap wrist brace from the first aid section of Walmart (mine right now has them in a bin with toothpaste and crap for .8 . It will help keep your wrist locked. Another tip - before you practice with paint, practice with a cheap thinner (or one of those wholesale club jugs of alcohol) on a big piece of cardboard (don't use water unless you are going to use one of the new water-based paints). I like to get mine from the local appliance shop, refrigerator boxes are great for this. Work on getting it so the cardboard is evenly dark, it helps with technique. Plus, in about 20 minutes the cardboard has dried out and you can try again.Once you have finished the panel you are on, move on to the next and work your way around the truck. By the time you get back to where you started, it's ready for the next coat (should be a little tacky). You can do the next coat(s) a little heavier until you are happy with the coverage. Remember, less is more. It's much easier to spray more paint on than to have to sand off runs later.
-clean the gun when done very well with thinner or spirits. A dirty gun is an unhappy gun.
This sounds harder than it really is. I recommend practicing on an old scrap of metal like a junk door or an old washing machine so you can get the hang of the process and play with the adjustments on the gun - one knob controls paint, one controls air and the nozzle can be rotated to fan either horizontally or vertically depending on the size and location of what you are painting. Too much air\not enough paint and it will go on 'dry' and be dull-looking. Too much paint, not enough air and it will spit and splatter and run.
You will know if it's too thick as it won't spray. Too thin and it will run like crazy. Pick up a can of black to practice with, a quart will do nicely. Flats are easier to paint with because they are more forgiving because they don't 'shine.' but a dry spray will still show up as well as runs so just keep the coats light and smooth.
Oh, and it's yard sale season, keep an eye out for used guns, you can pick them up for $15 or less usually. I have 3 ($5 each at yard sale\flea market). One for primer and it only gets used for primer. Then two for color in case I'm doing something with two different colors. The old siphon feed guns are still good so don't pass one up if you find on. The thing I like the most about my HVLP gun is the top paint cup as it uses all the paint instead of leaving a half inch in the bottom of the cup but that doesn't stop me from using the old style one regularly.
I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, self-taught. HP Books has a good book on painting and body work but a lot of those books really assume you have access to a spray booth, large compressor and bottomless checkbook. Dunno about you but that is definitely NOT my situation. I'm proof that a small compressor and a cheap gun can get decent results. I won't win World of Wheels any time soon but at 10 feet, who cares?
I forgot an important thing to mention. USE A MASK. At the bare minimum some of those paper ones will at least keep paint mist from out of your lungs but if you can swing a canister mask, that is better. Also, even if it's hot, where long sleeves but keep them tight against you with some rubber bands or masking tape. It SUCKS cleaning paint off your arms... |
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bossride
Samba Member
Joined: September 10, 2008
Posts: 201
Location: Top of Mississippi.
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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Probably 1994-ish.... LOL. Did the whole car. Rustoleum tan on the body, some model spray paint on the flames...
_________________
'59 Beetle.
'66 Beetle.
Yellow rail buggy. |
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ImAddicted
Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2012
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 8:03 pm Post subject: |
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| I like the flames, nice! |
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twandre
Samba Member
Joined: September 13, 2008
Posts: 23
Location: Beloit, WI
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:04 pm Post subject: Painting advice |
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| To ImAddicted , I finally found some painting tips I will have to use. I am trying to come up with solutions for rebuilding my 79 Westy. No traditional paint colors for me, John Deere green and yellow, just like our tractors. I will have to search out more fine spray tips here. Thanks for the start. |
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ImAddicted
Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2012
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Are you getting actual JD paint? If so, it is VERY durable and paints nice from what I've heard. For best results get their primer too. |
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Gnarlyleech
Samba Member
Joined: April 23, 2012
Posts: 155
Location: Southwest Louisiana
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Lidpainter wrote: | 
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I used to paint rocks this color gold when I was a kid and pretend it was real gold. I was such a baller back then. 
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_________________
"Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment"
"I live by nobody's rules, not even my own."
My 1966 Beetle Project Thread http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=520182 |
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Gnarlyleech
Samba Member
Joined: April 23, 2012
Posts: 155
Location: Southwest Louisiana
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| ImAddicted wrote: | JinxSidney: I can't reply for 7 days since I'm a new member but the answer is:
For Rust Stop I mixed it 2 to 1 when the weather was about 75F and low humidity. That's two parts paint to one part thinner. You might have to play with it a little depending on your weather conditions but that would give you a good start. A few other tips, if no one minds (and if you do, shit, cuz I've already posted but sorry for the hijack anyway):
Painting likes DRY air. Your gun will have instructions on what PSI to have the regulator set at. Make sure you pick up a bunch of paint strainers (paper funnels with screen in them) and a bundle of stirrers. Another thing to remember is your paint job is only as good as your prep. The more you massage the bodywork, the better the end result will be. If you have a garage, keep the door open so you don't get baked. I don't and shoot mine outside on a warm, dry day after bug season is over. Trust me, insects LOVE fresh paint.
- Don't get your paint until the day you are painting and have them shake it really good before you leave the store (or if you get it at say Walmart, stir it really good, I use an old kitchen hand mixer).
- Wipe the entire thing down with a good degreaser\prep like PrepSol. I use shop rags because they don't give off lint.
- mix your paint one spray cup at a time, no exception. Paint starts to cure as soon as it hits the air so mixing a big batch is a big no-no. I use bunch of old margarine containers and some kitchen measuring cups from the dollar store. Use the strainers when pouring into the spray cup. Use a new strainer each time.
- Take your hand and put the pinky on the car and the thumb on the spray nozzle of the gun. That is the distance you want to be from the car at ALL TIMES. Spray from left to right, keeping that distance the entire time and the gun parallel to the surface. Start moving the gun a little before the panel you want to paint and then hit the trigger, reverse this at the end of the panel (let off the trigger at the edge of the panel but move your arm a little further). This keeps the paint even. Make the next pass in the other direction, overlapping the first one by about a third. The first coat you want to just be fogged on, not actually doing any real coverage. If it's a big section like the side of a bus, WALK as you paint, don't stand in one place and swing your arm, you will get crappy quality. Think of it as kinda like the Karate kid and Paint the Fence. Remember that part? He was doing it up and down but it's the same idea. Painting rewards consistency. It's natural to want to swing your arm left and right like you're spraying a tommy gun but what you really want is to keep the gun the same distance from the panel you are painting at all times and keep the gun STRAIGHT. If you swing your arm, the gun is further away from the panel at the ends and usually too close in the middle as well as at an angle. Another natural tendency is to bend your wrist at the start and end of the swing. Don't. It's really HARD not to, so don't get down on yourself if you do it at the start, that's why practice is important. I'll be honest, I COULD NOT GET IT when first started. Here's a tip - pick up a cheap wrist brace from the first aid section of Walmart (mine right now has them in a bin with toothpaste and crap for .8. It will help keep your wrist locked. Another tip - before you practice with paint, practice with a cheap thinner (or one of those wholesale club jugs of alcohol) on a big piece of cardboard (don't use water unless you are going to use one of the new water-based paints). I like to get mine from the local appliance shop, refrigerator boxes are great for this. Work on getting it so the cardboard is evenly dark, it helps with technique. Plus, in about 20 minutes the cardboard has dried out and you can try again.Once you have finished the panel you are on, move on to the next and work your way around the truck. By the time you get back to where you started, it's ready for the next coat (should be a little tacky). You can do the next coat(s) a little heavier until you are happy with the coverage. Remember, less is more. It's much easier to spray more paint on than to have to sand off runs later.
-clean the gun when done very well with thinner or spirits. A dirty gun is an unhappy gun.
This sounds harder than it really is. I recommend practicing on an old scrap of metal like a junk door or an old washing machine so you can get the hang of the process and play with the adjustments on the gun - one knob controls paint, one controls air and the nozzle can be rotated to fan either horizontally or vertically depending on the size and location of what you are painting. Too much air\not enough paint and it will go on 'dry' and be dull-looking. Too much paint, not enough air and it will spit and splatter and run.
You will know if it's too thick as it won't spray. Too thin and it will run like crazy. Pick up a can of black to practice with, a quart will do nicely. Flats are easier to paint with because they are more forgiving because they don't 'shine.' but a dry spray will still show up as well as runs so just keep the coats light and smooth.
Oh, and it's yard sale season, keep an eye out for used guns, you can pick them up for $15 or less usually. I have 3 ($5 each at yard sale\flea market). One for primer and it only gets used for primer. Then two for color in case I'm doing something with two different colors. The old siphon feed guns are still good so don't pass one up if you find on. The thing I like the most about my HVLP gun is the top paint cup as it uses all the paint instead of leaving a half inch in the bottom of the cup but that doesn't stop me from using the old style one regularly.
I am not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, self-taught. HP Books has a good book on painting and body work but a lot of those books really assume you have access to a spray booth, large compressor and bottomless checkbook. Dunno about you but that is definitely NOT my situation. I'm proof that a small compressor and a cheap gun can get decent results. I won't win World of Wheels any time soon but at 10 feet, who cares?
I forgot an important thing to mention. USE A MASK. At the bare minimum some of those paper ones will at least keep paint mist from out of your lungs but if you can swing a canister mask, that is better. Also, even if it's hot, where long sleeves but keep them tight against you with some rubber bands or masking tape. It SUCKS cleaning paint off your arms... |
This is some awesome advise and I appreciate you sharing it. I thought this whole time I was gonna have to save up for a $600 air compressor to get decent results. I have a Harbor Freight HVLP paint gun I have had for a few years that I have never used.
.
_________________
"Good judgment comes from experience and a lot of that comes from bad judgment"
"I live by nobody's rules, not even my own."
My 1966 Beetle Project Thread http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=520182 |
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ImAddicted
Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2012
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Gnarlyleech wrote: | | Lidpainter wrote: | |
I used to paint rocks this color gold when I was a kid and pretend it was real gold. I was such a baller back then.
. |
Those were the days. I remember the little town I lived in had a summer festival where they hid all sizes of 'gold' around town and you could turn them in for prizes at the end of the festival. That was back when my 'ride' was a chopped Huffy 3-speed... |
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Dr OnHolliday
Samba Member
Joined: May 11, 2012
Posts: 50
Location: Escondido
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| Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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Some motorcycle guys paint their stuff with cheap paint and their custom designs....and then clear coat it with good stuff - and it looks like a million $ and is apparently just as durable as if all of the paint was expensive...
BTW if you live in the Peeples Republik of Kalyphornya, you might want to investigate buying good (non-water-based) paint in AZ...
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newby with '65 Type 1 sunroof Baja with '68 SP 1500 (1600?) |
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crvc
Samba Member
Joined: April 28, 2004
Posts: 1017
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| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:23 am Post subject: |
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| ImAddicted wrote: | | crvc wrote: |
I had the $15 spray gun from Harbor and I have two 3-gallon compressors but I could never get the paint to dry smooth. There was always runs. I dealt with the fisheyes using an additive I got at Napa but could never get a decent spray. I sprayed then sanded one door a dozen times before giving up and going to a pro shop. He said the problem WAS the small compressors. They allowed a clean spray of the rear taillight mounts but anything larger and I got runs. Maybe I wasn't patient enough but I don't think so. Spraying a 12"X12" section, letting it dry then spraying the next took so long the paint started drying inside the gun. The pro used a compressor about 6' tall.
crvc |
He was trying to sell you on him. Runs aren't from the compressor, they are from improper paint mixture, wrong gun settings and/or poor technique. Too much thinner to paint and it will run. Lay it too heavy it will run. Have wrong air-to-paint ratio and it will run. I've painted 5 cars and 2 motorcycles with my yard sale siphon feed gun and $75 Home Depot compressor (with regulator and water trap...another $5 from HF). I use either Rustoleum or Rust Stop from Ace Hardware (endless colors btw). No runs. No drips. No errors. This is a rattle can thread so I won't post up pics or hand out advice unless requested but I can tell you that 5 years ago I'd never picked up a spray gun and now I wouldn't do it any other way. Cheaper and faster in the long run. By far. |
Well I still have the 3 gallon compressors and the cheapest Harbor spray gun. And sometime this winter I'll be respraying the engine lid after grafting vents onto the '67 lid.
crvc |
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scottvw
Samba Member
Joined: November 17, 2004
Posts: 2295
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO
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| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:33 am Post subject: |
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| crvc wrote: | | ImAddicted wrote: | | crvc wrote: |
I had the $15 spray gun from Harbor and I have two 3-gallon compressors but I could never get the paint to dry smooth. There was always runs. I dealt with the fisheyes using an additive I got at Napa but could never get a decent spray. I sprayed then sanded one door a dozen times before giving up and going to a pro shop. He said the problem WAS the small compressors. They allowed a clean spray of the rear taillight mounts but anything larger and I got runs. Maybe I wasn't patient enough but I don't think so. Spraying a 12"X12" section, letting it dry then spraying the next took so long the paint started drying inside the gun. The pro used a compressor about 6' tall.
crvc |
He was trying to sell you on him. Runs aren't from the compressor, they are from improper paint mixture, wrong gun settings and/or poor technique. Too much thinner to paint and it will run. Lay it too heavy it will run. Have wrong air-to-paint ratio and it will run. I've painted 5 cars and 2 motorcycles with my yard sale siphon feed gun and $75 Home Depot compressor (with regulator and water trap...another $5 from HF). I use either Rustoleum or Rust Stop from Ace Hardware (endless colors btw). No runs. No drips. No errors. This is a rattle can thread so I won't post up pics or hand out advice unless requested but I can tell you that 5 years ago I'd never picked up a spray gun and now I wouldn't do it any other way. Cheaper and faster in the long run. By far. |
Well I still have the 3 gallon compressors and the cheapest Harbor spray gun. And sometime this winter I'll be respraying the engine lid after grafting vents onto the '67 lid.
crvc |
If you're going to put vents in that decklid, why don't you make it like a vert decklid. The pics came from the galery. I think that would look better adn more appropriate than all fo the later model vents.
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VOLKSWAGNUT 
Fastest VW Belt Changer
Joined: October 14, 2007
Posts: 4907
Location: At the wheel in N.C. U.S.A.
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| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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| scottvw wrote: | If you're going to put vents in that decklid, why don't you make it like a vert decklid. The pics came from the galery. I think that would look better adn more appropriate than all fo the later model vents.
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Hijack stop it now before it spreads....
OH NOOOOOOO NOT AGAIN>>>
We've mentioned that too.. 
The last mention from crvc, was graft vents under the plate...
| crvc wrote: | . Most likely I'll cut out a section under the license plate and weld one of the vent squares in.
crvc |
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525817
_________________
aka Ken
Your car picture into a kustomizable piece of frameable art. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1471653
Search "VOLKSWAGNUT" on YouTube since you cant watch "IT" here.
Better to roll em' how you want and wear em' out.... then let em' rot out.
It's more about the going --- not the showing.
Rebuilt to drive not decorate.
Last edited by VOLKSWAGNUT on Thu Sep 06, 2012 5:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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crvc
Samba Member
Joined: April 28, 2004
Posts: 1017
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| Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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| VOLKSWAGNUT wrote: | | scottvw wrote: | If you're going to put vents in that decklid, why don't you make it like a vert decklid. The pics came from the galery. I think that would look better adn more appropriate than all fo the later model vents.
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Hijack stop it now before it spreads....
OH NOOOOOOO NOT AGAIN>>>
We've mentioned that too..
The last mention from cvvc, was graft vents under the plate...
| crvc wrote: | . Most likely I'll cut out a section under the license plate and weld one of the vent squares in.
crvc |
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=525817 |
I thought I could sell the late model engine lid but there doesn't seem to be a market for it. My plan was to cut a square out beneath the license and pip rivet a screen over the hole. But if I can't sell the lid I may as well weld the vents onto the '67 lid. |
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watercooledguy
Samba Member
Joined: September 03, 2012
Posts: 1
Location: United States
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| Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2012 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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| ImAddicted wrote: | | Gnarlyleech wrote: | | Lidpainter wrote: | |
I used to paint rocks this color gold when I was a kid and pretend it was real gold. I was such a baller back then.
. |
Those were the days. I remember the little town I lived in had a summer festival where they hid all sizes of 'gold' around town and you could turn them in for prizes at the end of the festival. That was back when my 'ride' was a chopped Huffy 3-speed... |
i have a drill and wire wheels if you need one |
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1-4-3-2
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Joined: May 01, 2006
Posts: 94
Location: Rhode Island
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magnus0328
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Joined: April 20, 2006
Posts: 1117
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ImAddicted
Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2012
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Just did one with implement paint from Tractor Supply. I like it better than the RustStop from Ace or Rustoleum. Goes on very nicely with either a HVLP or a old gravity feed. They sell a hardener to use with it as well. Total for a gallon plus a pint of reducer and 1/2 pint of hardener was $55. the colors are limited but they cover the basic range of them. You can see my little pancake compressor in the background of the first pic.
Very impressed with the gloss of it...not so much with my bodywork but it's a daily driver for a 19 year old so I'm sure it will see more dents and dings before she's ready to a better looking job. Disregard the masking job, I'm replacing all the bulbs so I didn't worry about masking them.
Took 1/2 gallon to do three coats.
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drscope
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 13423
Location: Baltimore, Maryland USA
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| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:25 am Post subject: |
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Some of you know I mess with gravity racing. Our cars are a lot smaller then your average VW.
I’m in the process now of getting several of our cars ready for our biggest event of the season. Part of that is making them look good again. While painting the new floor pan of my car I was thinking about this thread, so its kind of funny it pops up today.
But here are a few miscellaneous random thoughts I had while going through a LOT of cans of rattle paint. (my floor pan is 2 feet x 7 feet and took 4 cans of primer and 4 cans of color to do both sides – that’s 8 cans at almost $5 a can)
Most rattle cans have a very small spray pattern. About a 1” usable wide swath. Most paint guns have a 4 to 6 inch wide usable spray pattern.
As a result you can lay a lot more paint down with a spray gun then you can with rattle cans in the same amount of time.
Doing something as large as a fender will take a lot less time if you use a gun then it will if you use rattle cans.
I think most of the contents of a rattle can are propellant with a little paint mixed in.
HF has a couple spray guns that would do the job for less then $20.
You can rent a small compressor if you don’t have one for about $20 a day.
A gallon of Rustoleum costs about $33 at Home Depot.
Our loaner gravity cars sit outside all year and after being painted with rattle cans they look decent for about 6 to 8 weeks.
The old guy I know who painted his tractor with a spray gun and Rustoleum still has a very nice looking tractor after more then 6 years of it sitting outside all the time.
The next time I need to make these cars look good I’m buying Rustoleum in gallons and using my spray gun. Last weekend we literally filled the trash can with empty spray cans until we couldn’t fit anymore in there. And we were only working on 3 (small) cars!
If you buy Rustoleum in your color in gallons or quarts, you can always use rattle cans to do touch up latter.
Just a few things to think about.
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Mother Nature is a Mean Evil Bitch! |
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