Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[CWhaley1]

Hello. It's a little way down the line for my current project (a 1965 Hillman Super Minx) but I wanted to get some advice before I eventually started to re-paint the car. I've little experience of painting cars and I've quite a few other jobs to sort first, so was just wondering if others have done this...

Hand painting with a brush/roller... I've been recommended to Craftmaster Paints as a source of paint for the car and I know where to get very high-quality brushes and rollers from that are made in the UK. I want to hand paint because costs of a quality respray are very high and doing it myself is just not an option. I'd like to spend my time slowly, per panel, hand painting.

What do I need to do to prep for a job like this? The car's current paintwork is to be honest mostly intact, there's 1 or 2 very small areas of rust which could be removed and just a couple of cracks on the bonnet. Would I need to take the entire car to bare metal, prime then paint or is Craftmaster stuff good enough not to need primer? Would I even need to strip to bare metal?

Sorry for the questions - I'm coming from little experience in painting cars but I'm very willing to take this job slowly and carefully.

Cheers

[Rootes75]

I am looking to use Craftmaster enamel on my lorry, I will put it over Epoxy Primer. I'm still unsure as to spray it or brush paint it. I chatted to a chap with an Atkinson lorry at the weekend, I noted to him that the paint finish on the cab was very good, its then that he told me he had brush painted it!
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[roverdriver]

While I have no experience with Craftmaster, I can vouch for brush painting to get a reasonable result. One weekend I brush-painted my 1930 Model A Ford Tudor Sedan, giving it black guards (wings) and a blue body. I use 'Valspar' paint, and IIRC is was called 2 to 4 hour lacquer. I did rubbing down and preparation ahead of time, and painted outside on a still, warm, sunny day. I used a very fine hair brush. The results were very pleasing, and on Monday morning, I was complimented on my 'new' car.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.

[norustplease]

Hi
I can also vouch for the roller/paintbrush route. See my recent reply below to another thread on a similar topic. Prep needs to be to a similar level as you would if respraying. Hand application has the advantage of putting all of the paint on the car with relatively limited need for masking, and doesn't coat your lungs, the garage interior and the family dog, with overspray!!

PostPosted: Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:29 am

I have previously painted a couple of cars with Rustoleum using disposable foam gloss rollers, with good results. It self levels very well and you can do odd corners with disposable foam brushes.
The finish was good straight from the roller, slight orange peel, but if you leave it for a few weeks to, harden and then wet sand and polish with a cutting compound, then you can get a good mirror finish. If unsure, get yourself an old steel shelf or similar, prep it as if it were on your car and have a go.
Rustoleum Combi Color comes in a wide range of colours, is easily available in this country (look online) and has an additional advantage of having rust proofing properties. It is also low odour, and is thinned using white spirit. There are various videos on YouTube which should give some encouragement. Its an excellent alternative to a 'cheap' respray and gives a finish that is well up to the standard that you might want for a car that gets used regularly, with the added benefit that its easy to redo a panel if you get a scrape or other problem.


This is a Volvo painted with Rustoleum, straight from the roller.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[Rootes75]

So did you use a brush to get in round the windows and door pillars etc? How many coats did you give it?
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[norustplease]

I used disposable foam brushes to do detail areas such as corners, etc. because they leave no brush marks. How many coats probably depends on your colour, but I used four from memory, over a layer of aerosol primer. Obviously you can vary the colour of the primer to a degree, to suit your eventual topcoat. The Rustoleum is an oil based paint and so does not react with an acrylic or solvent based paint.
I suggest that you have a look at this website.

http://www.club80-90.co.uk/pages/downloads/tech/paintfor%A350.pdf

It is a fairly detailed account of how to go about things, VW campers being the beneficiaries of this particular treatment, but you can see that a decent level of finish can be achieved with a little care.



This Renault was also painted a few years ago, using the same technique. This was unpolished at the stage at which the photograph was taken. Definitely a process that I would use again for a regular driver.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[CWhaley1]

Thanks for the replies, very impressed with the work that sounds very possible. I'm of the same view with regards to the type of environment painting using a spray creates. Inside my garage it is often warm, dry and closed away from outdoor interference so brush painting must be better. I had initially considered spray but I like the advantage of being able to do each panel slowly and without the need to mask everything not needing paint (including the floor, ceiling, your arms, etc!)

The more I think about the car shows I've been to (Cromford, Elvaston, Derby, etc.) the more I remember listening to people with older models (pre-1960) who had hand-painted their gleaming cars...

Your Volvo is beautiful, would love to hear her running! Where did you get the rubber window seals from? I've put this off for a while now but they really, really need changing!

[norustplease]

The red Volvo is a 444, and was an older project that I sold on to someone from London about three years ago. I have a 544 now, which goes very nicely and has a few more BHP under the bonnet for modern motoring conditions.



Rubber window seals, and indeed all Volvo spares, including panels, are readily available from specialists in Europe and in the UK. Have a look online at Woollies for your Hillman.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV

[Rootes75]

My decision has been made now, I will hand paint the cab of my lorry and then polish it back. So many people that I have spoken to now have good experiences of this. Also, many have commented that a commercial from the 40's and 50's should be coach painted not sprayed as so many were originally done.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[norustplease]

A few more pictures of my finished Renault, to spur you on.









Oddly enough, it ended up being taken back to France as transport at a holiday home.
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1953 Citroen Traction
1964 Volvo PV544
1957 Austin A55 Mk 1
Boring Tucson SUV