Hard time finding paint!

[jasmine64]

My machine is on it's way to the painter. I'll post pics as soon as I get it back.

Should I myself put the decals on or take the chance they may get lost at the painter?

[BryanH]

Jasmine - are you using a chain (ala Maaco) to paint your machine or a local autobody shop?  Can you share what you did in terms of prep and what they're going to do and for how much?

Kito' - did you ever send your machine out?  If so, same questions as above?

Josh - you also send machines out regularly.  Same questions.

I'm going to paint my first machine, but my guess is that once will be enough.

Bryan,
I never got around to it. Still just sitting there sanded down in my garage. It's not lonely though, it's right next to my V-83 and V-110.

[loman4ec]

I don't have anything to send out as of now. I left my 7up selectivend and Jacobs 26 in Cincinnati. I have already spoke to my old painter and he said he is ready to paint machines when I am. Why do you ask?

[BrianB]

I'm actually getting ready for final paint myself on my Cavalier 55D. I spent probably about 40 hours or so doing body work and working out any old kinks of bent metal that needed a bit of straightening.

I didn't have access to a outside job size sandblaster so I ended up using Aircraft Stripper to remove all of the old paint. Let me tell you, that stuff is the best! Dust is minimized and as long as you have a good tarp sitting underneath, clean-up is a cinch. After removing all of the old paint, I went back over the body and other various parts with a combination of a fine wire wheel (use to remove any rust/hard paint spots) and used my bench top media blaster to prep the smaller parts. I then went over the entire body with 400 grit sandpaper.

Then it was body filler time! That took about half of the 40 hours. Not the actual application, but the sanding, shaping and, re-application for final sanding. After all of that, I knew that I wouldn't be able to get my stuff over to my painter so I opted to spray on my own primer.

I realize that I will end up having my painter shoot another coat of lacquer primer over what I shot but I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't get any flash rust and waste mine and his time.

I'm going to go buy the paint tomorrow from a local Car Quest auto supply store. I'll be (er, my painter!) using Dupont Centari Single Stage Acrylic Enamel. Paint code is #60807-A (Red) the same code listed in the Funtronics catalog and also in the paint code matrix found on ColaMachines.com. The price wasn't to bad either.

I'll end up paying about $70 for 2 quarts of paint or $119 for a gallon. Not bad in my book seeing as how the primer will be free and so will the paint job! '>

[jasmine64]

Quote

Jasmine - are you using a chain (ala Maaco) to paint your machine or a local autobody shop?  Can you share what you did in terms of prep and what they're going to do and for how much? Kito' - did you ever send your machine out?  If so, same questions as above? Josh - you also send machines out regularly.  Same questions. I'm going to paint my first machine, but my guess is that once will be enough.

I mostly used paint stripper. Especially on the door that was covered in Vinyl.

A local body shop is painting it. Estimated to run anywhere from 250 or less if I do most of the work-450 if he has to do most of the work himself.

I stripped, sanded and removed rust until it was smooth.
This machine is in very good shape on the outside so it was miniimal work.

I had a hard time removing one of the screws on the id plate on the side of the machine it was completely rusted.

[BryanH]

Quote (loman4ec @ June 01 2005,9:05)

I don't have anything to send out as of now. I left my 7up selectivend and Jacobs 26 in Cincinnati. I have already spoke to my old painter and he said he is ready to paint machines when I am. Why do you ask?

Thanks folks.  I've been asking for your experiences with professional painters to help me decide what to do with the next couple of projects. I need to decide whether or not painting the exterior myself is worth the effort / frustration / satisfaction.