Toby has a good point, find an auto paint store and ask
them. Odds are they have first hand experience restoring
a few cars, and can offer good tips.
I would recommend sticking with the same brand from primer
to finish.
Personally for my first couple of cars I stuck with good
ol' laquer. THings have changed over the years, but I
had painted those cars outdoors. I could easy sound out a
bug in the finish, and still had a nice looking paint job.
Yes, it had to be buffed out to keep the shine, but was
easy to touch up dings and dents (& replace a fender).
If you go the enamel with a hardner, pay good attention
to the folks selling the paint. The catalyst for the hardener
was nasty stuff, and to be treated with the utmost respect.
I would NOT spray that stuff in a neighborhood. Last time
I painted a car, thankfully a friend had a shop out in
an industrial area. I did use the charcoal air filter,
but if I painted cars all the time, would have gotten a
fresh air hood.
A surplus place, by the name of Wacky WIllies, had a bunch
of surplus 'clean room bunny suits'. Full hood and overalls.
Made clean up of myself much easier by keeping the paint off
me and out of my hair (Oh, you have never seen how I paint
a car).
Other trick that I learned the 'hard way' is to tape off
edges that are painted with masking tape applied, and lightly
folded back. I did the door jambs first, then the rest of the
body. I didn't want overspray on the door jambs. If you apply
masking tape sticky side down, you end up with a hard paint
edge. By applying it sticky side up, with a slow radius to the
amsking paper there was no "hard edge" to the paint, just
a nicely blended overlap. Hard to explain, but hopefully you
get the idea.
Cheers,
Tom Walter
Austin, TX
|