The Painted Wagon!

Last Saturday at 9AM. Thin painter's plastic lined the garage walls, rustling in the subtle breeze. With each step a whisper of tiny bits of masking tape stuck to the sole could be heard. 50+ hours of sanding, priming, block sanding and body work was set to become a finished product. By noon the Datsun was occupying the booth, final masking preparations underway. A quick rub down of the body with Wax & Grease Remover (paint has trouble adhering to grime), and the process began.

Dad an I got on our masks and shot the first layer of paint, a nice coat of Urethane Sealer to cover the body work and any sheet metal that might be showing throguh the primer for all of the block sanding. An hour of drying time and then color would be applied.

Datsun Color #216 Polar White. DuPont Base Coat / Nason Clear Coat. 2 quarts (4 with activator added) became 3 complete layers of color (including door jams) on the tiny wagon. Each coat took my Dad about a half hour to spray, and between each coat we had about 10 minutes to prepare the next hopper full of paint. by 4 pm, the color was on. I tried my hand with the paint gun a bit in applying the second and third coats, it is not an easy thing to do well. Rhythm, flow and paint fanning, properly set controls, stiff wrists and consistent distance, step and sway the whole body moves with the paint.

After a bit of curing time, the clear coat went on. 2.5 quarts (about 3.5 with activator) covered the car (the door jams got two layers, otherwise we'd have needed 3 quarts of clear coat alone). by 7pm the car was painted.

In the middle of the second coat of clear, a moth made a fatal mistake and met his demise on the roof of the car and became the only blemish apart from the inevitable dust specks. Had I $2000 to spend on the paint job, I'd have taken it to a professional with a real paint booth. As it is I have a $2000 paint job that I got for a fraction of the cost, with a tiny bit of moth wing pigment and some dust that can probably be buffed out.

FOR MORE PICTURES, SEE THE POST BELOW!


(color differences in these images is due to poor lighting)

The whole process took me about a month or so, and included:
- Complete Removal of Old paint. (3M paint/rust remover grinding discs)
- Rust Neutralization and Prevention
- Feather Fill Grey Priming
- Bondo and metal work on some of the body panels.
- Sanded bondo with 40, 60, 150, then 200 grit sand paper until smooth, straight, and even
- Touch up Priming w/Feather Fill
- Block sanded the enitre car with 100, 220, and then 320 grit.
- Masking.
- Coat of Sealing Paint
- 3 Coats of DuPont Color Paint
- 3 Coats of Clear
- Buffing with a rotary buffer with cutting and finishing compounds.

FRESH PAINT PICTURES!

The Datsun back together and ready for the road after the paint job.










(This Montage shows all of the spots where I had to repair the body with bondo and metal work)