Forum

[simon]

This is the one

[Scalyback]

That explains why it looked so perfect, the toolboxes, front mudguard, headlamp shell, etc.



So you got two the same colour! Neat!

I go pop head back in the sand now!

[simon]

Parsimony was the reason that I had two exactly the same colour. That paint is seriously expensive!

[Scalyback]

Parsimony?



Oh, you mean 'Pass the money (I ain't using mine)'!



Well, you have a very nice pair there, and the colour suits them both.

[Norm]

Simon,
I painted a 54 Bitsa a few months ago in Toyota Windsor Grey and the paint was about $70 a liter from memory about the average price out here, I think the brown for the 56 Meteor was about $95 a liter though. Got the brown for the 45 WDCO project I'm doing at the moment and that was $65 a liter

[Alan (Lancashire)]

norm , try the local corporation bus garage , paint in unmarked cans $5,

[Norm]

Alan,
I don't think we have such a thing as a "local corporation bus garage". Problem is to get the finish I want the preparation is so time consuming, last thing I want to do is do all the work and get an average finish. I have worked on this WDCO for probably 7 weeks so far, sometimes all day, sometimes might only be an hour and I have just started to assemble the frame in my family room because the weather has started to turn and I haven't got the girder forks painter in clear coat so it will probably be stuck in here for 4/5 months so the last thing I would do is put cheap paint on it because with the paint I use I can get the result I want

[simon]

The paint I used Norm was a two pack clear coat over a base coat colour. I think its polyurethane but it was a $180 for four litres of clear (already at spaying consistency and $80 or $90 a 1/2 litre for base coat. That plus specialized catalyst thinners make it a fairly serious commitment money wise. It is excellent stuff however and can be cut and polished to a high shine and is also quite easy to get a good off the gun finish.

[Norm]

Hi Simon, sounds about what we are paying and off the gun finish is great, I don't bother with polish with the 2 pak over base finish. Problem with this WDCO the owner wants it to end up a matt finish which means spraying it with clear gloss with a flattening agent in it. I might tell him it is too hard and if he wants it matt finish he can do it himself

[simon]

Funny business restoration. My mate is doing a wartime side vale Norton and he's found an old tin of Dulon khaki green paint. Of course the reason they weren't shiny was that they just blew a coat over everything stencilled a number on and that was it. To do the definitive job you'd need to take much less care than usual. On a more helpful note you can dull back the paint quite effectively with 0000 steel wool. I used it between coats of clear to ensure proper adhesion. I put the transfers and the fine lines on top of the first coat which was matted back and then blew a finish coat once they were properly dry.