Materials and Equipment - Part A

Paint

You are going to have a variety of paints out there to choose from. I will try to help you narrow it to just a few. Remember, you are painting your Land Rover (and other cool vehicles) for fun. I cannot emphasize safety enough, no one wants to wake up with a tumor in their brain the size of a grape, nor do you want lung spots like loonies. There are "good paints" and paints that will treat you unkind for misuse.

These come under a number of company names: Imron, STERLING, Awlgrip, Sekins, to mention a few. These paints are tough, real tough. They are harder than gelcoat on a boat. They are used on aircraft, heavy machinery, cars and boats. You cannot beat them for durability. LP paints are a cousin to epoxy. This means that the paints do not dry, instead they cure. By curing, I mean chemically harden as opposed to harden by the evaporation of the solvent base. If you spray (atomize) this paint and it gets in to your lungs, it will harden there. I have sprayed this before, with supplied air - it is the only way. So do not rush out and get Imron thinking you are going to spray it in your garage with a filter mask.

There is however an attractive alternative. Sterling makes a brushable LP paint that comes out as good as spraying (not possible you say?). Sterling offers free clinics in Seattle, Vancouver B.C., Tacoma, Portland and many other places. They have perfected a roller and tip-off technique that works extremely well. The paint is expensive and can be made in any colour. The gloss on this paint needs to be seen to be truly appreciated. Yes, you can apply this with no experience. Yes, it will turn out great. The owners of a 7.2 million dollar yacht are as demanding in their quality as you. Ultimately, this becomes the safest option for the home person without a spray system.

Man, if you like to live dangerously, spray your frame in LP paint and follow up the body in a Cyanide based paint. Do this without a suit and supplied air. Do not even think of using this. Your wife and kids or neighbors or buddies standing outside will also get the benefits of this atomized death. There are places on this planet (many) that have banned the use of this unless you have the facilities to "scrub" the air.

Excellent gun shine when applied properly, in a controlled environment. A bit harsh on the aromatics and it is adsorbed through your skin into the blood without slowing down. All that nice wood furniture, the stuff with the "varnished" look, well, that is sprayed with Lacquer. Some person in a third world country sprayed that on while wearing a mask and died at 42.

Ah, my favorite. A time tested paint with good gloss qualities, wide application tolerances, easy to use and relatively safe. It comes in 7000 colours (the average adult human can distinguish 7000 shades of colour) and has a few additives that make it easier to use for the backyard painter.

If you are going to be painting any aluminum, you are going to need an etching primer. This primer can also be used on steel. I like it because it is two-parts (not like epoxy, though) and tends to "bite aggressively" into the metal. It really stinks to have your paint stick well to your primer, but the primer releases from the metal. One of the major benefits is that you can paint over the primer in 1/2 hour, about the time it takes you to clean your gun and mix the paint.

Additives: You can get anti fisheye additives, hardeners, flatteners, catalysts, metallics, metal flake, pearls, and reducers to mention a few.

Paint can not be used in the form that it comes. Two-Part paints require a catalyst. Acrylic Enamels use a reducer (think of it as "thinner", to "water" down the paint for spraying) and they benefit from the addition of a hardener. Reducers come in temperature ranges, select the one that is best for the temperature, the system you are using and the environment you are applying it in. I will cover a bit of this in equipment, (Part B).

For those into "fancy" paint jobs, you can add metallics (small metal particles in gold, silver and other colours), metal flake (rather large metal particles) and pearls (shimmering colours in the clear coat). If you really wish to get into this, contact me and I will help. I would love to see a Land Rover in original colours with the tropical roof containing large metal flake. Perhaps you could have the first Land Rover with Scallops (A Flame job would be a bit out of character - no good on those straight angles). Well, enough digression.

As a parting comment on paint, DO NOT use spray cans, Tremclad (or the equivalent), brushes or rollers (unless using Sterling) to paint your Land Rover. It is soooooo hard to correct this mess compared to doing it right the first time. The time involved is very similar in all forms of painting, do it right. The cost of shooting the paint yourself is approximately $120 ($180 CAN) in paint materials.

In painting the vehicle, I will bring up colours, civilian and military and try to cover a few more areas.

Tape

I strongly recommend 3M blue. I like the 7 day tape, it gives me a bit of work time if the weather goes bad and it leaves a fine line. Ace Hardware's blue tape is made by 3M, it feels slightly different, I like it better.

Masking

I break this up into two areas, masking the vehicle and masking everything else. I strongly recommend using proper masking paper. Paints are quite aggressive and will leak through other paper. Never use newspaper, unless you want the paint to bled through for effect - the print will come off also. For masking large areas, the tires, walls, engine compartment and the like, I use 2mil poly. The plastic is so incredibly cheap and it turns your garage into a paint booth.

Cleaners

You are going to need cleaners for a number of things. For cleaning/wiping down the body I recommend one of those nice washdown solutions at the automotive paint supplier. For cleaning your paint gun and other areas you get spray, use Lacquer Thinner. Lacquer Thinner eats right through latex gloves and is readily absorbed into the skin. You could use chemical resistant gloves or do what I do and go gloveless. Lacquer Thinner causes various CNS side effects as well as internal organ damage. I haven't used much and notice no side effects. I haven't used much and notice no side effects. I haven't used much and notice no side effects. All kidding aside, treat this stuff like the dangerous chemicals they are, show them no respect and they won't show you any either.

Guns

You have two main choices, true compressor operated guns and true HVLP (High Volume -Low Pressure) systems. They are quite different in how they deal with the paint, the surface and their effect on the environment.

To bring up some other options and get them out of the way right quick, you have the:

Airless Spray System. A common manufacturer is Wagner. These guns are great if you are painting your fence or house but they are not real good for gun gloss qualities. If you have an old vehicle that you want to paint (like a tractor I once did), use an airless and one of the rust paints from the hardware store. These guns do not like to spray the thin paint (automotive) very well although you can change the needle and jet to get them to work. You might consider using this to shoot a military paint scheme. Do not use it for a good+ vehicle, it will give unsatisfactory results and make it difficult to correct later.

Compressor Operated Guns These come in a variety of sizes. Get a good automotive gun with a 1-2 qt/l capacity. I like a 1 qt/l because it is not too heavy for prolonged painting, yet holds enough paint to keep you going for a bit. There is also the little touch up guns with a 4-12 oz. cup, you use these for the small areas or to touch up. The common link to all of these guns is that they need a compressor to run them. Make sure that you have a big enough compressor and tank unit to keep up with the job, I would consider 1Hp the minimum, others would say 1.5Hp. A little compressor will be over worked and may run out or have dramatic pressure variations at a critical moment (you will only need one of these...ever). Another thing is that the paint is atomized at high pressure, 60-80 psi.

To sum up, this system needs a compressor (which you could also use for tools), a gun or two, a filter and water catch. This system tends to use a lot of paint, only one qt/l in three gets to stay on the vehicle. Additionally, you tend to get a fair amount of overspray, the fine dust everywhere.

There is a HVLP gun available for compressor systems. I don't really recommend it since it is trying to do something that the compressor and the system was not set up to do - see the true HVLP system below. The gun will save you some paint, approximate 1 out of 2 qt/l will go on to the body.

The True HVLP (High Volume - Low Pressure) System In a true HVLP you will have gun pressure of 3-8psi with 12-15cfm of air. What this all means is that you will have 2-2 1/3 qt/l of paint going on the body out of three sprayed.

This is now the system that I use. It is the TIP sprayer that you see in Hemmings. It is also know as the vacuum cleaner sprayer - it sounds like a vacuum cleaner when running. The air is moved by a twin turbine arrangement that also heats the air. You can dial the gun down to a dime, shoot door edges and odd areas with minimal masking. You do drag around a rather large hose, it looks like a big garden hose.

So why this system , the TIP sprayer versus the conventional compressor gun, for the backyard guys? HVLP is great because: You can use it outside with minimal overspray. You go up on temperature with the reducer, or conversely, you can paint in a cooler environment with the heated air from the gun. The heated air dramatically reduces runs and sags because the paint tends to tack to the application surface a bit quicker. The lower pressure means that you can just jam paper around something, without taping and you will neither blast out the paper nor blow by the paper with overspray. The gun is easy to clean and maintain. The system is self contained and dramatically reduces the risk of outside contaminants and moisture. You can shoot in relatively high humidity because the system does not condense out the moisture, but rather evaporates it.

I painted my Land Rover with three quarts of Marine Blue (all the body outside, inside the doors and tops, the inside of the box, both sides of a tailgate, inside the rear door, a second set of door tops, the underside of the hood and part of the engine compartment), one quart of Limestone for the top - I actually used only 2/3 of a qt of paint. I also used two mixed quarts of etching primer. Additionally, overspray for me rarely went beyond the 3/4 tape.

If you read the previous pages, I can say with all honesty, you will not find a more "forgiving" spray system that gives you great gloss. If you do not own a painting system and you are thinking of doing more that one vehicle (it pays for itself on the first vehicle then you get to laugh on subsequent vehicles) then I cannot recommend this system enough. I wish I knew about it ages ago.

Masks

I prefer a good quality dual cartridge mask for all work. In my youth, I used the paper masks for bodywork and now have allergies to polyester resin/filler products. Don't skimp, get the charcoal cartridges, they stop most aromatic vapors.

Sanders

Once again, unlimited tool budgets would be nice but after all you spent on that new sprayer, all you can afford is a quarter sheet palm sander. Great, if you need to do bodywork (which I will cover in another tip), you can make your own hand powered longboards. I always liked the little palm sanders for paint sanding, they are light and comfortable to use with either hand. Also get a rubber sanding block and I like the hand drywall sander with the enclosed handle. I usually use just four grits 120, 180, 220, and 320. I like the wet dry (black) but have used Aluminum Oxide (gray) and the Garnet (red/brown).

Miscellaneous Materials

If, for some reason, you decide that you must strip you vehicle, try to get a stripper that is "self neutralizing". A self neutralizing stripper will save you the mess of a heavy, water washdown, can easily be wiped down and does not continue to react with the aluminum alloy in the cracks and crevices.

This is the end of Part A, if you wish to move on click here to go to Part B, Preparation Procedures.
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