First attempt at painting (finished at last)

[JMH1950]

Starting off small, did some repairs to the drivers door where a previous owner dinged it.
Lots of sanding, lots of bondo, lots more sanding and I think I got it darn near perfect, unfortunately I didn't take any before pictures. I will take some after pix when I'm done though.
Taped it all off this morning and put some primer on it after figuring out the new spray gun. Old Mazda hood got a real poor primer coat on it while I was practicing.

If this works out, I'll be doing the rest of the truck in a few weeks.

I was going to be lazy and have a local guy do it, but I can think of some other uses for the $1100 he wanted.

*edit* found a "before" picture:

[JMH1950]

Once the primer was on I could see where I missed a few wrinkles in the door panel.

Oh well, it's as good as it's going to get and it's a LOT better than it was.





Just waiting for it to dry enough to sand it, then I'll spray the colour coat on.

[JMH1950]

Opened up the can of paint to find that it is totally the wrong colour. Someone screwed up real good and it wasn't me. So here I sit, truck all masked so that I can't use it and wife has the Bonneville 50 miles away.

[2000Silverbullet]

Just your luck eh John.

I think it'll look just fine when it's all done.


Get creative with some pinstripping and flames.

[JMH1950]

Colour coat is on. Went on amazingly easy. Just hope I measured the correct amounts of hardner and reducer.

Just wondering how long to wait before spraying on the clear coat?

[JMH1950]

Sprayed the clear coat on this morning and after it had set for a few hours I parked it out in the sun for 5 hours. I'm impressed with how good it turned out and can't wait to get started on the rest of the truck.

Implements of destruction:








Redneck paint booth:




Finished product:





Now the rest of the truck looks like crap, but I don't dare wash it till maybe after work tomorrow.

Many thanks to the author of :-- viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1582

[Baileyjack]

Truck looks great John.....

[JMH1950]

Wait until next week at this time Deb. As long as the weather holds out that is.

[2000Silverbullet]

Nice set up John. I re-read that "How to paint" post you tagged and it is a good one.
I think I'll buy a HVLP gun myself and give it a try.

Now get busy and finish the rest of the truck.

[JMH1950]

Friday I managed to sand the rest of the grey off the truck, masked it all and shot the first coat of primer on it (hood too).
Saturday bright and early I shot the second coat of primer and later I got all the "ultra silver metalic" painted. 3 coats of colour and 2 coats of clear.
This morning I got all the silver masked off and got one coat of "grey blue metalic" on the hood and top of the fenders. Second and third coats will go on shortly.
I'm hoping it will match up to the cab close enough that I won't have to paint that too.

Pictures of the finished truck will be taken tomorrow after all the tapes comes off. So far I'm pleased with the results. Not perfect, but *dang* good for the set up I've got to work with.

[JMH1950]

Before:



After:



Before:



After:

[myfirstbonnie]

Looking good John, but I don't see those flames?

[JMH1950]

Looking good John, but I don't see those flames?

No flames Matt.

[2000Silverbullet]

I'm not going to flame that!
Looks darn good on screen.
I get to see it in person on Friday.

I'll get down to inspecting his job but it's got to be better than the brush job I did on my old 74 Scout.

[myfirstbonnie]

It looks a lot better from the before and after pics. I remember seeing it during WCBF and it looks 100% better already.

Good work John.

[JMH1950]

Thanks Matt, it was supposed to be done BEFORE WCBF but wife found other things for me to do on my days off.

Truthfully, the pictures don't show (very well) that the blue is a few shades off, I guess the old stuff is faded. Oh well it's going to have to do until I get some time/decent weather/motivation to paint the rest of it.

During the sanding process I found why the old paint was sticking so well to the passenger side of the box. I came across evidence of damage that had been repaired. Repaired very well too I'm happy to say.

[myfirstbonnie]

That's good. Sometimes it is scary finding previous repairs, but it makes you feel better knowing they were done right and will not need to be redone.

[spoiledred94]

That looks really good. You might have gotten it to look better if you'd have paid the pro $1100, but maybe not too. It looks really good.

[Gumball]

looks great John

[swampthing]

looks pretty good, did you use a grey primer or just the black that was on it already? i ask because darker primer under the paint will make the top coat darker because paint is not opaque it actually is semi translucent it lets some light through. a painter friend told me that he uses white primer under dark colors to make them have more luminosity