Practically Classics Forum

It's not too clear from my post, I realise, but those larger dents will be slide hammered out. I haven't got a stud welder and I didn't want to drill holes in the roof until I know I can weld them up again. Otherwise I would have got the slide hammer on it today and finished the pre-filler work. I've been promised the welding gas for the end of next week, but then I've been promised that quite a few times so I don't believe it until I see it at this point.

I've just removed a large dent from the rear wing of my focus which is double skinned by drilling through the inner skin, getting a friend to heat the panel on the outside and pushing it out with a plastic rod. the reason for not using a slide hammer is so I didn't have to do paintwork. a glass puller wasn't man enough for the job bit all barring one small crease its sorted.
As you have rust repair and paint to do anyway it may matter less but it's always an option.

I can't even get in at the back with a rod, the strengthening bar is totally in the way which is really annoying, slide hammer is the only way to resolve this one really. It's reshaping quite nicely though, springs back to the original shape without too much grief now I've been able to get to both sides properly.

New paint arrived today. After work I decided to get myself over to the unit to try it out. It seemed thin enough in the tin and having used these sorts of paints before you can sometimes go straight from the tin to the car. I prepped the bonnet by getting rid of dirt, loose paint, rust, etc. Then got to work.



Hmm... that's not great. I've brush/roller painted stuff before with great results, normally apply with the brush and dress out quickly with the gloss roller then let the paint smooth from lightly orange peeled to almost flat. Work fast and it's a fairly low effort job. A cut and polish afterwards sees it very smart indeed. This paint doesn't do that yet so I need to flat the panel back and try again when I've found the right thickness and technique. Given that the old pale flat green was brush/rollered on going by some of the less well finished areas it feels right to be doing the same, I don't want to get the car professionally spray painted, that's not what this is about.



The colour is great, I'm really happy with that, I just need to spend more time on the application.

When I did my landie I found doing it on a cold day vastly improved the finish, it just dried too quickly when it was warm.

The paint looks too thick and you would achieve better results by thinning the paint and applying 2 thinner coats than one thick coat - this is vey easy to achieve you just need a bucket and hot water - place your opened paint tin in the bucket with lid refitted loosely and then carefully pour the hot water ( just from the boil) from a kettle into the bucket - fill to about halfway up the tin leave 10 mins and stir carefully - leave a further 10 mins stir again and your paint will be suitably thinned (most commercial paints were applied this way up until spray applied 2 pack paints came along)

You can leave the tin in the bucket and it will remained thinned whilst ever the water is warm enough - take care to avoid water splashes contaminating your paint if you move the bucket with paint in it - also be careful that has you use the paint the tin does not become buoyant in the water - weight it down if you have to (speaking from experience )

Application wise you will get better results by applying the paint with a gloss roller first and then carefully drawing a good quality 4" - 6" paintbrush over the rollered paint - draw the brush through from back to front or vice versa in long slow strokes - you may have to add a little paint to the brush now again to prevent any drag - again this is how coach paint was applied up until sprayed on 2 pack paints were introduced.

Top tips!

Experimented with paint thickness and found 10% thinner was best after decanting some into a separate container to use. I then applied with a brush in one direction, dressing out across the brush strokes applied and getting the paint to start settling out smooth. Previously I've found a gloss roller lightly applied helps achieve a really good result but this time I got orange peel. A nice even orange peel, but orange peel all the same and that's not something I want.



I'll try the bain-marie idea for the next coat and not use the gloss roller. I wonder if the roller is reacting with the paint, there's nothing on the label to tell me what the roller is made of nor on the tin of paint. It's like a milder version of the roller problem I had with cellulose paint which resulted in a shrinking roller, massive orange peel and purple 'candyfloss' all over everything.

Paint is a science at times more than anything you just need to have a steady hand, a methodical approach and don't rush - just deal with it has you are doing - one panel at a time

It's like a milder version of the roller problem I had with cellulose paint which resulted in a shrinking roller, massive orange peel and purple 'candyfloss' all over everything.

Other than minor stone chips forget applying cellulose by hand - it needs to be sprayed.

I did manage to get cellulose applied by hand with a brush using coach painting techniques learned from the internet and did a pretty good job of it. Courtesy of a drunk neighbour reversing into the Princess on the drive of my parents' house I had to redo the rear quarter and decided to change the colour to Aconite, everything in my life went tits up so I never did the whole car and this got repainted beige with rattle cans just to tidy the car up a bit.





Reckon I did alright at that.

*Looks for brush marks.... Fails to spot any.* Nice work. I did use cellulose - supplied by Alnwick Cranes back in the mid '80s with the instruction that I planned to brush it on seeing as they offered me the option - on XJR40, my grey A40 Farina. My only "D'oh!" moment with that one was that I stuck with Cumulus Grey when I had the full spectrum at my disposal.
But it worked out just grand and I never managed to achieve the same result again. I also rollered a kitten estate, that one using tractor enamel. The car was Triumph Maple Brown from the factory, I took a risk of being thought too wild and used Russet brown for the repaint. Oh balls!