Paint Spraying

[Chris KC]

Charles, interesting idea, but garage loft space is full too (sigh). I'll work something out. 

Andrew, sounds like there's a "sweet spot" much as there is with brushing enamel, err either way and you're rubbing it all down again. But where would be the satisfaction if it was easy...

The thing I'll say for brush painting is it gives a lovely deep gloss. But I don't think this is the right project for it.

[Charles P]

Charles, interesting idea, but garage loft space is full too (sigh). I'll work something out. 

It sits in the narrow eves part that is pretty useless for normal storage.

And Andrew’s tip about the quick second coat is exactly the way I like to do it with cellulose. When you get a decent gloss straight from the gun it does make you feel good. And with cellulose you can always recover a decent gloss if there’s enough paint to flat and polish up again. 

C

[Peter Naulls]

I agree with all of the above Chris. Just a couple of additional thoughts: 

Cellulose dries very quickly but takes a long time to fully harden. For that reason leave it as long as possible before flatting down and re-coating. So for instance spray your primer coats then leave it for a week with plenty of ventilation before flatting down and re-coating. You will get less shrinkage of the paint this way. Before the final flat and polish leave it for as long as you possibly can.

Use a guide coat before flatting down: spray a very very light coat of (say) black before flatting down, flat down with a block and any low areas will show up as black marks. Fill these with cellulose putty if necessary.

Cellulose is not made by the major producers any more so the quality can vary. Watch out for any reluctance to fully harden (especially black gloss) and if so try another brand. I've no experience with Craftmaster but they seem to have a good reputation. 

Treat yourself to a good quality respirator and use cellulose or "organic compounds" filters (not just dust filters). 3M do a good one.

With a bit of patience you'll get a great finish.

[Austin in the Shed]

One thing no one has mentioned is light.l have always preferred to spray outdoors if you can get the right conditions to do it.So easy to get runs in the shadows.
Working inside if you're a diy er is difficult because the build up of fumes,professionals of course have good extraction systems.Outside in the summer it's insects a problem.
As mentioned rather than try and do a whole car if possible break it down to panels if at all possible.
Cellulose is is easier to find than I thought a few years ago but I think easier to apply than synthetic.
2 pack is carsonogenic so worse for your lungs than cellulose.
Paint spraying is a bit like plastering,there's a knack to it but learn by experience.
Years ago I sprayed whole cars on. 3/4 hp compressor ,a pre war Castrol based hybrid and you do learn by experience!
Modern 2 pack shiny finishes look out of place on a prewar car to me and prefer a slightly flatter finish.

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Sprayed this around mid 80's

[Dave Wortley]

Chris, be wary of next door's cat. After I sprayed the box saloon doors, resting against the garage wall, went in the house for a celebratory cup of tea and came back later to find he had peed on one door, leaving a surface like a moonscape.
If you do not want to spend lots of cash, I used a 24l small compressor to spray my pretend Ulster and my box saloon.Both using cellulose. It was adequate as the largest single area is the body itself, mudguards and bonnet sprayed separately. I have recently used it to spray a Series 2 Land Rover with enamel. Again all body parts removed and sprayed individually.

[Charles P]

Chris, be wary of next door's cat. After I sprayed the box saloon doors, resting against the garage wall, went in the house for a celebratory cup of tea and came back later to find he had peed on one door, leaving a surface like a moonscape.

I’ve had exactly the same from a neighbour’s cat ruining a Mini that I’d just sprayed

C

[Reckless Rat]

I repainted the wings and headlights on my RP in June 2018, using my single cylinder 50 litre compressor (seen in the backgraound). I used two pack paint. The compressor did the job but would run out of puff from time to time. A better tool if you can afford it is a twin cylinder unit with 100 litre tank. The smaller one is OK for little jobs like a single panel but probably not for a full car. I built a make-shift spray booth out of visqueen to do the painting and to prevent overspray contamination elsewhere in the garage.

[Chris KC]

Peter, that's something I'm painfully aware of. I once laid a car rug over a newly painted car (to 'protect' it) and a day or two later found a neat weave embedded into the paint, which was still there years later!! Luckily leaving things a long time before polishing comes naturally to me.

Reckless, shiny! Sadly I can only dream of having that sort of space available to spray in.

All, thanks for your input. I'm only really looking to get some paint on the car and won't be striving for perfection (as some have hinted, I don't think perfection looks good on an A7 anyway).

The hardest thing I think is going to be how to work with a car which is not in nice uncluttered pieces e.g. how do you wet sand without pouring water into the interior & woodwork? But where there's a will there's a way...

[Stuart Giles]

I used to spray cellulose a lot, but now I mostly use 2 pack. Once it's been compounded, the shine loses that "glassiness" which looks wrong on an old car. The fumes are very harmful. Painting with 2 pack requires an air fed mask for safety, there have been numerous fatalities of people spraying without in an enclosed space. Even spraying in the open without a respirator with the correct filter wouldn't be a good idea.

"Standard" cellulose thinner is also known as "GunWash" which is really the only thing it's suitable for. "Best" Cellulose thinner is the stuff for spraying. If I needed something slower, I'd either add Toluene to the the paint mix or use "Anti Bloom" Cellulose thinner, which is "slower" and contains Toluene straight from the tin.



In the photo above, my belt has a filter regulator for the face mask air feed, it's fed by the second air hose which in turn is fed by a second compressor. My main compressor is a big three phase thing, but the air feed for the mask uses a lot of air in order to have that gentle cool breeze across your face which prevents you breathing the nasty fumes of 2 pack paint.

[David Stepney]

Oh, how I would love a garage as big as Bruce’s! Mine measures 25’ x 12’,but tends to get full of clutter and other stuff. At the moment, Leon has commandeered the back half to raise half a dozen chicks that he has recently hatched. I was going to tidy it up (yet again!) this week, but I stand no chance whilst half of it is full of livestock.