I am starting restoring a 1915 roadster. I am sand blasting some parts and was wondering if there is any universally accepted paint type and manufacturer that Model T restorers are using. Is base./clear system with O.K. or a urethane product. What to use for Frame, engine and body. Want to look somewhat correct but I am not a fanatic. Thanks
The bodies were wood in the early days and they rubbed lamp black into the wood and used regular varnish, they also had a drying agent called Japan. They mixed it with banana oil and it was called Japlac. They liked it because it dried faster than varnish. It took several weeks to paint a body properly with varnish. There were a lot of different pigments and even in the early days cars had brilliant colors. They had enamels for the metal and also painted wooden bodies with enamel by brush. They also used shellac actually made from the lac bug dissolved in alcohol. The lac bug ate the sap from trees and became a base for a coating because of its diet. So they harvested the tiny bugs and ground them up and then dissolved them in alcohol to make an orange colored almost clear paint.
probably one of the best paints around is good ol rustoleum black.
its one of the only paints that hasnt been messed with by the air Nazis
im not a fan of multi stage paints.its really just a way of useing less paint and saving money, with a single stage job you put down one thick layer, it can be repaired easily,and if it looks dingy you polish it to fresh paint.
Today the best choice and in some states the only one is a urethane, solid rather than a base coat would be my prefered paint.
Donald -- Welcome to the Forum. This thread should be about as interesting as one about which motor oil to use. There is no "universally accepted" product for any part of a Model T. Everyone does whatever he/she thinks works best for him/her, so opinions are what your answers will boil down to.
My opinion on paint is that acrylic enamel is a good paint for Model T's. It's shiny enough to look good, without overdoing it. The base/clear systems look great, maybe too great for a T, but again, that's my opinion. I'm sure you'll get several others.
Bruce's Model T Encyl. has lots of info on the color varnish used from '15-'22.
http://www.mtfca.com/encyclo/P-R.htm#paint4
The factory method in 1915 was 4 coats of air dry black color varnish.
Since no modern paint can match, most restorers use a good quality gloss black paint. Any modern types are acceptable, clear/base coat, urethane, or acrylic enamel. Since air dried, any good method today will work. For me, acrylic enamel with catalyst hardener added, gives a strong, glossy deep black finish.
I see Peter Kable was posting while I was typing. Donald, FYI, Peter spent much of his life painting vehicles, so he knows WAY more about paints than most of us. So in my opinion, his opinion should carry more weight than the others.
urethane paints? enlighten me on these.
ive used acrylic enamel and that works excellent
Matthew, Acrylic Enamel's full name is Acrylic Urethane Enamel. used with a hardener it produces a finish similar to the factory baked finish without the need to heat the paint.
The clear on the base color is AUE, the base color is a type of lacquer used as it dries fast and helps spraying the fancy finishes like metallics. The manufacturers now use a base/clear system for all their colors so whites blacks also go through the same system in the factory. If used on a car after you just add an extra step. So using black AUE instead of clear saves time and money.
Mike thanks for the complement, but as you can see lots of us have the same opinion. Paint takes a lot of labour not much use wasting it by finishing with poor product.
what brand of AUE do you use? and what kind of hardener.
can you use hardener with rustoleum?
that is the only draw back to rustoleum is that it takes a long time to fully set up and works better if you can heat it up a little after painting.
Wow! You guys are all over it. I have used all of the suggestions before but I think I will go with the one stage urethane for this. Base/clear is nice but tends to leave a plastic look to the finish which would not look good on a T. Thanks to everyone and be sure I will ask more questions. This is my first T restoration in over 50 years. I used to help my Dad in the 60's
Don
Boy are you moving fast...
Peter
You do have more painting exp, just have to suggest that all acrylic enamels aren't urethane.
DuPont Centari brand black, 99A acrylic enamel is my favorite.
http://pc.dupont.com/dpc/en/US/html/visitor/common/pdfs/b/product/dcf/OEM_Fleet/centari.pdf
DuPont also makes Centari 5000 urethane acrylic enamel that contains polyesters.
Sprays on easy, one stage.
And gives are real nice glossy shine too.
I followed Dan's recommendation of 99A and very happy I did. I buy it via eBay.
What I suspect I did not do was follow his suggested 8-2-1 ratio as closely as I should, resulting in a paint that is a bit too hard.
Dan, I'm sure there are some brands of acrylic enamel that are not urethane based. If it is mixed with a hardener/catalyst its from the urethane family whether its marked on the tin or not.
People tend to use short or abbreviated names for things I was just pointing out to Matthew that we are probably talking about the same stuff.
Acrylic Enamel/Acrylic Urethane Enamel we probably mean 2 part paint which has catalyst in it and dries to a hard gloss finish.
Brian, Its important to follow the ratios as close as possible. Too much or too little degrades the finish. If it has the right amount of catalyst it will be as hard as its can and should be. If you use too much catalyst you not only waste it but there is not enough paint to mix with it so the finish is softer, same for the other way around not enough catalyst and the paint particles have nothing to mate with so the finish is poorer.
When these paint first came out painters thought that adding more of the clear catalyst would increase the gloss and it did. But the paint stayed soft and failed later on.