Ok guys, MAJOR revelation here!

As you all know, we’ve been trying to reverse engineer the old technique of “Coach Painting” as explained in this web site: http://www.stephen.hull.btinternet.co.uk/
For decades, guys in Britain have painted cars, double decker buses, Rolls Royces with a brush and alkyd enamels designed for vehicles. The only problem is, the paint they use (Tekaloid) is not available outside of Britain.

So we’ve been stuck trying to tweak a rust paint to behave like an auto paint. Another problem, is the fact that neither Rustoleum or Tremclad have offered us any documented advice or assistance on the feasibility of their paint for autos.

As much as I hated TheSamba.com, there was one post in there that peaked my interest. Someone mentioned using paint from a company called Fine Paints of Europe.

I wrote Fine Paints of Europe to see if their paint was similar to Tekaloid. Here’s the PRESIDENT’S reply:
“Yes indeed our Dutchlac enamel paint is suitable for use on automobiles.
Quite honestly a brushed applied enamel is not going to have the same appearance as a professional “baked” finish applied in a clean room. The paint will however be serviceable and is it suitable for re-painting automobiles from an appearance and durability perspective.
Cars should be painted in a relatively dust free environment – this is normally easily achieved by parking the car in an enclosed garage and soaking the floor 24 hours before the paint is applied in order that dust can settle out. The temperature of the sheet metal on the automobile should be less than 80 degrees F and the paint should be applied in thin, even coats. The ideal applicator would be the Omega Spalter or Lily Varnish as featured in the Specifier’s Manual.
For first class work we would recommend that the automobile be gently abraded with fine emery cloth and washed before painting. Any areas of rust must be primed and then sanded out – primed with Ferrous Metal primer.
Dutchlac brilliant enamel will work fine at either full strength or slightly diluted. Please understand that paints of this caliber will dry overnight but require a full 28 days to “cure” to maximum hardness.
If you are interested in achieving a sprayed on appearance with brush on paint, it is possible to allow the paint to cure for 28 days (the car can be used while you wait) and then polish the car out with pumice and then rottenstone to provide a beautiful buffed out appearance. If you wish to take this final polishing step please contact me by phone directly in order that we can discuss the method directly.

There are innumerable Volkswagens and Volvo driving around New England with paint jobs from Fine Paints Of Europe.

Thank you for your interest.

Cordially,
John Lahey
President
Fine Paints of Europe
Phone: 802-457-5899
Fax: 802-457-3984
Email: exec@finepaints.com
PS. Our paint is also widely used by craftsmen who restore coaches. It’s a small market but on in which we take great pride"

Here’s their website guys: http://www.finepaintsofeurope.com/index.html

Note they DO have local locations for most of us.

Those of you trying to refine Charger’s technique, please continue to do so ( I am, 'cause I've already gone too far with it.) It’s just that here’s an alternative for those who are just starting out.

Check out my (soon to be) pimping whip!


Put the first coat of paint on my ghetto wheels today. I started yesterday thinking that after one or two hours of work I'd be ready to paint. Boy was I wrong. Grinding and filling took much longer than I had hoped. I was using polyester finishing putty rather than the regular Bondo and it was hardening up too fast. In fact I finally said enough was enough and threw down my first coat of paint. I did the prep sanding with 320 and 400 grit and wiped the car down with wax and grease remover.

And it already looks fantastic!

Paint went down smoooooth. In fact I only used 3/4 of a cup of paint mixed with a measured 15% mineral spirits to do the first coat.

I can't believe how smooth and even the first coat went down. I am guessing the by the second or third coat I will have achieved a solid colour.

I will have to go back and finish the body work later. In fact one of the reasons I never fixed the problems earlier was I knew I could never properly match the metallic paint on the car - now not an issue with the Tremclad Dark Blue.

The one thing I will pass along is that the time and effort involved may at the end of the whole thing make a $200 MACCO job feel like a bargain.

First coat of paint.......

73bugg, that is good info! The most important thing I see there is that the metal surface should be under 80 degrees. I bet that has to do with how fast the paint hardens up. Too fast and it wont have time to settle down flat. I'll remember that on my next coats. I'll try to do them in the morning.

And 28 days sounds like a good amount of time to wait between the final coat and the wetsand/polish/wax..

marq, maybe try a dark blue mix for the dark red color your looking for.

what color is that Senna?

well my dark green came out how i wanted to be. just add black if you want to darken it...and mix it GOOOD! i will have pictures tomorrow and my bondoed car . as for the clear gloss i didnt find any

nice picture Senna!


tomorrow ill be sanding everything down to 400 and buying the sprayer

good idea! but today i was messing with it in a small container.i just added drips of black in my green till its noticably different or the color i wanted it. after that i panted a few parts and it came out good...but a few times the black would fight (i would call it) with green and black would show up like web pattern..im guessing that happened because i didnt mix it well enough...weird, but i did few more spots and it came out like i wouldnt want to color sand it

it went well. its only for darkening a color
i remeber back when i had art class, they gave me a color wheel and it would give you what to mix for the outcome but [Edited by Moparts - Keep it clean] i have no idea where it is. maybe google

look what i found http://www.paintquality.com/color/index.html# click on the digital color wheel

hope this helps.

[quote
I did a test with a can of Fire Red and a can of Black ( both high gloss versions )

I took a sheet of wood and placed 10 drops of red on the sheet.

Then I took the black paint and dropped 1 drop on the first red spot, 2 drops of black on the second red spot, 3 drops of black on the third red dot etc etc etc.

---

Something tells me thats way too much black to red ratio for the color you're aiming for. I had some paint tinted for home use and the amount they added to a gallon for a big shift in shade was something like 20 drops. Been a while since I had that done so I don't remember the details, I just remember being shocked that they added so little.

Marq,

From the link that Cal96 posted, Red + Black = Brown. Maybee some other color will make it darker. Good luck.


*edit: From what I read, you may want to try mixing brown to make a darker red.

Hi All,
Here's where I'm at--three thin coats of white Rustoleum professional, wetsand with 800, one thin coat more, going two more coats then let it "dry," "harden for a month," then wetsand with 1500 or 2000 and polish, then clearcoat. Only on the trunk so far, will try to post pictures tonight. I have to say, even after seeing others fine work, that I am pleasantly and completely surprised so far.
2 questions
1) How are others working around edges/how can I get under/around weatherseal/trim?
2) Is there a uv protection clear coat that I can spray on?

Will try to post the pics tonight.
In my mind the before/after pics really do this technique justice.