Painting - novice

[wayne g]

Had a bit of a read on the HX section about 308 and Absinth's thoughts on paint.

Below is a novice's perspective on spraying 2pak.

I am a complete novice spray painter, but recently restored a set of GTS rims for the van. I had the rims professionally blasted and primed in 2pak.

Painting them was not too hard and I guess with rims, you get to practice on the back where no-one sees.

Putting the silver on the rims was not too bigger problem and then the black - also not a problem.

When I came to spraying a clear 2pak over the top, this is where the problems started - this paint was about as thin as water and thus had a tendency to run. Once I got my head around how thin this was then I was ok.

Rims turned out a treat and I would recommend anyone to give it a go. - Only thing - 2pak is not that good for your health - I had access to a spray booth and purchased a good quality mask.

wayne

[hj308]

Have toyed with the idea of buying a good quality compressor and spraying my van myself in acryilic or even getting all prepped and asking my neighbour to paint it, again in acryilic, my neighbours LC GTR XU1 has come up well and he hasnt finished the buffing etc yet. From what I understand with 2-paks is the temperature needs to be right etc?? and thats where the booth comes into play. My panelbeater has quoted roughly 6-7 for a 2-pak paint job and with rust repairs/sandblasting might as well say 10,000. So the appeal of doing it in acryilic has its appeal but I am more concerned on what is the best finish and the most durable in the long run, I am sure their are advantages with both. Any chance of some pics of your rims before and after??

[ozbox]

the biggest thing you need to remember with painting is that you can have the worlds best painter do it but if the preparation isnt perfect then the paintjob will be rubbish...
i taught myself how to paint back in the days of air dry enamels and acran which was a precursor to todays 2 packs...i always prefered using acrylic because it was so forgiving...if it was too dry rub it down..too wet block the runs down..
i found the best way when i was learning to see that my prep was perfect was too paint the car gloss black..2 coats fairly wet..this showed up all the imperfections and i would then just repair them again and blow over some more black..when i was happy with my prepwork i would rub it down again and the black was the base coat.
then i just painted it whatever colour it was getting done.
also by using the black prep checking method you become good with the gun as you know its not your finished product and you can experiment with thinning and thickening and settings on the gun as you can rub it out and blow it in until your happy.
all this obviously takes more time but it will save you lots of dollars in the end and you wont need to go to the gym because you are doing lots of rubbing....

[Blocker]

I am planning on having my HJ Sandman van blasted, by Adelaide Fast Blast - they specialize in vehicle blasting, and recently did an HQ panelvan.

My question for the pros... When the blasting is complete and I have a bare metal shell, how quickly should I get it coated up so that I can start cutting out the rust?

I visited a body shop a few weeks back, and the guy has an HX Sandman in resto and rubbed it back to bare metal he then painted it in black acrylic to do more body work. He said as long as it is kept dry the paint wont wash off. When he is ready he can wash off the black paint and start proper coating it.

As you can tell I'm a novice and am asking some very newbie questions. :errf:

Anyway what I really want to know is what should I be doing after the blasting?

Cheers.

[wbute]

The local panel beater told me to get mine sandblasted and then etch prime it and work on the rust. He said that soda blasting wont get any old body filler out and to be careful that the sandblaster new what they were doing so as to not warp the panels. However I have only spoken to one bloke and I know about zilch when it comes to paint.

[hj308]

I have also inquired in regards to getting my HJ sandblasted or soda blasted, was told the same that sandblasting can warp panels and as we know with vans there are big panels that can be warped. The guy that does the soda blasting in the southern highlands which is south of Sydney apparently does a lot of work for the Mustang Club based I imagine around Sydney ?? anyway he also suggested to get the car etch primed pretty much straight away or you are risking/promoting more or further rust problems. I also got onto another guy who is starting a mobile sandblasting business a mobile booth apparently. My panelbeater suggested if I wanted to safe money just to get all the joins, gutters, seams, sills tailgates etc done and strip the larger panels myself ?? So the plan for me is to get it blasted/stripped and identify and the areas which required rust replacement then take it to the p/beaters for that side of things and hopefully by then will have decided about the paint side of things. Blocker do you plan to do your van in 2-pak??

[wbute]

I dont think you would want to leave it in etch primer too long as it is porous and will go rusty after a while.

[ozbox]

most of my customers are going soda blasting for there cars these days..
if you do go sandblast mark out all the flat areas so he does not do them..example...centre of roof... side panels where windowless and bonnet and lower tailgate..lower gate may be ok coz its a smaller area but you dont wanna risk it...just paint strip the areas not blasted..

as for priming,most blasters will prime for you at extra cost..either etch or both..

if you do get them to leave it bare metal you really need to prime it straight away to 24 hours depending on the climatic conditions..longer if your in a desert.;)

etch isnt a sealer and neither is acrylic primer...if you were gunna leave it for years i would throw a thick coat of black or whiye acrylic over it...or any mismatch colour thats cheap..

also make sure you seal your repairs when you do them straight away.

DISCLAIMER...i am not a tradesman and i taught myself in conjunction with annoying people that were tradesman back in the 70s and 80s which was very much acrylic painting.so this is just advice on what i have learnt and done...

if you go into the hq sandman thread you will see a pic of my hq and its in high fill which is porous,that pic was taken in 2001 and it was handstripped and etched,primed and highfilled in 1997.. i was told and had been outside in a lean too facing the ocean which was about 2k sitting on top of a hill for about a year b4 i got it..
you can see surface rust bleeding thru in those pics.where the etch prime is but where it has been painted is still clean to this day..


blocker,go back to the guy with the sandman and ask him what he used to paint it with so he can wash it off...i am presuming he has just painted acrylic straight over the bare metal and he will use thinners to wash it off as it wont get a real good bite in the metal..

[ozbox]

this is my most recent paint job and repairs done 2 years ago in acrylic and outdoors for my son...$300 vg v6 5 speed ute..put a vs front on...he drove it around for a couple of years and just sold it for $4500..

[abncraig]

After speaking with local panel beaters soda blasting is the way to go many people have had their cars fucked by sandblasters that know what they are doing. t could cost you alot more if you have to replace panels