The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop painting in stages?

I've heard of guys paint their trucks in stages. I'm thinking that might be the way to go for me too. What's your input, good idea or not.

Lots of ifs involved here. If you buy all the paint in one batch at the same time. If you prep the base exactly the same each time. If your application is the same each time you spray. If it's a straight color instead of a metallic. If you blend all of the cans as you mix.
If after you paint every panel and reassemble them you scuff the whole truck and lay down a couple of good coats on the entire truck, then you might have it all one shade.
All that said, I have seen professional painters that have painted cars/trucks in stages and had them come out OK.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I agree with Denny, you probably could manage it with a solid color but I wouldn't think of it with a metallic. Too many variables which would cause the paint to lay out different.
With a solid color the only thing is how different the paint lays out. If you was to color sand and buff then some differences could eliminated.
I was thinking of doing the roof and the back of the cab down to the pinstripe, then the rest of the cab.
That way I wouldn't have to climb up and do the roof and the over-spray off the roof would not be an issue when I paint the rest of the cab.
Dan

It's going to depend on the vehicle, too. If its an AD truck with lots of curves and lines to break up your line of sight you can get away with it. Not so much with vehicle with lots of flat surface.

My truck is being painted in stages - part by part. You can read details on my web page. It is a solid color and it is really turning out great. If it were assembled after it was striped down, I am not sure how you would get to all of the areas that need paint.

I took everything down to bare metal so painting it this way was pretty much necessary to get protection on everything. I guess I won't know if there are color differences until i reassemble and see it in the sun.

This is an interesting post, can I jump in and ask another question?, I guess I am without you guys saying ok, Instead of stages what if all the parts went in at once and got painted then you put them together afterwards. Some say put it together and paint but I dont recall doing it in pieces being talked about.
Sorry for the hyjack but thanks for letting me ask.

Ed

I CHEATED on mine, Since I was going white the painter used the BASE from his Dupont system, and since the base must be true as all the colors mixed are based on that I had no issues doin mine like I did, doors then cab,front end,bed,tailgate and misc. parts last, out in the sun or in the shop you cannott tell any difference in shade.
I never knew there there was like a zillion shades of white to choose from so the straight base worked for my project.
Im sure that with darker colors there would be the off shade on parts that were done weeks or months apart.
From start to finish there was almost 8 months in some of the paint on mine.
Tim

My '64 is light green and I painted it a piece at a time over 2 1/2 years. Now that its out in the sun I can see some imperfections in the sheet metal, some orange peel, scuffs and such that I couldn't see in the shop but the color matches fine. For an amature like me it seems to be better to break it down into lots of small projects. That way I can see progress all along the way. It will depend on how particular you are about the results. Like I said, I'm an amature and I was buildinig a driver so I'm satisfied with my results.

You guys must have been reading my mind. (scarry!) I just met with the owner of the shop doing my bodywork yesterday and had this conversation. I wanted him to paint my cab, doors, hood and fenders at one time so I could start re-assembly. Then i would have him paint bed and rear fenders in 5-6 months. I'm afraid that if I get everything painted at once i'm going to have painted peices all over the house and garage just asking to get banged or scrathed. It will also give me more time to save some more money. I want to use the original woodland or Hemlock green from 59 color chart and I don't think there is any metalic to worry about. I had heard that you need to buy all of your paint at once and mix it into one then pour back into seperate cans. He may decide to do it if I insist but he'll probably make me sign some type of release. Thanks for letting me jump in.
Brian M

I had planned on doing my 55 that way..but
I've become picky about how panels fit together.
especialy the front fender to door fit..I see
trucks on mag covers all the time with bad fits/match ups..

My plan is to re assmple the fenders doors etc and do the bodyworkon the truck as a whole..putting filler on the door and fender and sanding it as 1 piece..Then I'll pull the panels and paint only those areas that you can't get paint to when it's assembled. Then re-assemble and paint the truck as a whole-with bed off the truck..I'll only paint when the panels are aligned and locked down. It's seems to me possible that you could have good panel alaignments.....take them off....an not be able to get them back in the same exact position again..

That's my story and I'm stick'n to it

Keith

Slickriffs

Probably a pretty good plan. Time will tell for me as I reassemble. I did test fit everything and did some metal bumping to be sure that the various NOS parts and new fenders looked like they would fit. Everything looked pretty good so I pulled it all back apart. There are a ton of variables so I think it will come down to taking my time to be sure it fits again. The big variable will be the new layers of paint. Hopefully it won;t be that big of a difference......stay tuned. I should have my cab back in May then it time to cross my fingers and Hope I don't mess it up!

Wow, thanks guys. You all had some good input. I think I'm going to continue with my plan. If the colors turn out funny I'll just have to redo it later. Thanks Bobareeno