Painting Frames

[Padraig]

My old Dawes Galaxy is currently in bare metal, awaiting painting. I should say that, on my mother's side of the family, there were several generations of painters and decorators. The business died with my grandfather, but I was brought up with the lore of the trade. Despite my life taking a completely different course, I pride myself on my ability with a paint brush. I bought a tin of Rustin's primer, and another of their topcoat in a rather natty yellow. This is proper metal paint, intended for machinery and the like, but I have high hopes for it as a bike finish. The secret is acquiring a brush with very soft bristles for the final coat, with which you can lay off the paint to eliminate brush marks. Any previous coats can be flatted down, but the final coat can't. Get that right, and you have a good finish. Aerosol cans are not worth bothering with.

 

[derrick]

This is one i did last week, 2 pac Suzuki blue, In my opinion much better than powder coating.

 

[screenman]

I bet I can get a better and smoother finish with a rattle can than you can with a brush, plus I have a far better choice of colours. I have never seen a brush painted finish that did not have brush marks in it.

What you could do though using brushes is solvent laquer the top coat and wet flat and polish that.