Paint questions

[RHaughton]

Evening all,

Another question on a different topic:

Would anyone be able to give me their recommendations for body paint and the process please? Stripping/preparing, primer, top coat, colour, hardener? I have access to some spray guns and the experience and knowledge of a friend in spraying but would greatly appreciate anybody's advice. Bronze green is the colour.

Many thanks in advance 

[Ian F]

It would require a book to answer these questions! My best advice would be to search for something comprehensive on the internet.
The only point I would make, safety related, is to avoid 2 pack systems unless you have all the expensive safety gear. Isocyanates can be very nasty!

Ian F

[RHaughton]

Thanks Ian, will do.

[Craig T]

I painted my Land Rover myself outside on sunny days using a single part enamel paint thinned for spraying.

It was cheap and fun to do but not that easy. I was lucky that my one is a light colour, Limestone so that is easier to work with than a dark colour. The surface was prepped by sanding, painting with an etch primer if needed, lightly sanding, painting with a primer, sanding again, then two coats of the top coat.

Get the primer as close as you can to the top coat. Don't chose a dark grey primer for limestone otherwise you will need many coats. Painting outside is a very uncontrolled environment. You will get the odd fly in it and if the neighbours decide to start cutting their lawn, you may get a dusty finish.

I once painted a series 3 with bronze green enamel paint and it looked great for a year then quickly faded to a flat finish. You could add lots of polish to it but the surface was gone. Repainting it was the only choice really but you are then limited to enamel again as anything stronger like 2k paints will react badly with the enamel.

I haven't yet decided how to paint my series one. Paintman paints is an option as they sell a light grey etch primer, light grey undercoat then the Dove grey top coat. I would spray in the garage this time though with plastic dust sheets to make a temporary spray booth and try to limit the risk of flies and dust.

Another useful tip is to buy enough paint for the job in one go as I noticed batch differences in the enamel I used on my Limestone 109"

Craig.

[Sunny Jim]

I used a lot of paint stripper on mine, to get back to bare metal as I had flaking paint issues. I used 'old style' Nitromors, which works on the original Land Rover paint, if a little slowly. You can get Synstrip or stuff from Frost that is good quality. I used a large brass scrubbing brush I got from the local Army surplus place to work the stripper in, but you could use a decent stainless brush - you just don't want to flick the stripped paint everywhere! 

In order to prime aluminium, you can either use an etch primer if it is clean, or use Deoxidine624, followed by a metal primer. The likes of Deoxidine can also remove any white corrosion from the metal that abrasives alone cannot. The door skins on mine were etched with POR15 Metal Prep, rubbed in with wet and dry, followed by an ordinary metal primer - these are still good after nearly 18 years! There is now an alloy treatment from POR15 that I have yet to try (also from Frost). You can get Alochrom, which is similar to the original bare metal finish from Land rover, but it is quite messy to do by brush!

The alternative is to use a dual action sander, and abrasive disks to get the old paint off. I would recommend a sander with dust extraction and Mirka Autonet disks (cheaper versions of the disks are not as good!) You would still need to hand sand difficult areas like around the rope hooks.

If you are painting over good old paint, or just want to key a primer coat, then you can use Scotchbrite pads to just roughen the surface.

If you use a single pack 'coach enamel' to spray with, I would recommend using a suitable synthetic thinner, as white spirit can lead to a dull surface and blooming of the paint. Ask the paint supplier what they recommend, also what thinner ratio to use as this is dependent on the type of paint (brushing paint usually needs less thinner that paint formulated for spraying).

I didn't go over the top with preparation, not worrying about minor imperfections in the surface, just filling any significant dings.

Sunny Jim

[RHaughton]

Thanks Craig and Sunny Jim, I will do some more research. Sorry for the late reply.

[Serious Series]

Paintman paints has some videos of hand painting with a roller.

[diffwhine]

Paintman paints has some videos of hand painting with a roller.

I plan to coach paint mine when I eventually get round to it. The videos are useful - as are some online videos about painting canal boats. Yes - very boring but informative. Covid has put paid to my paint spraying days. I can't even use an aerosol without having breathing problems - even with a good mask.