Just picked up a project 69 beetle that has had the rust cut out and is mostly undercoated. Roughly how much for decent paint and how many coats is enough? Is there any brand to stay away from? Not after show finish but reasonable finish.Considering Yukon yellow at the moment. Just after a ballpark figure. Will post some pics soon.

Cheers
Dave

A read of previous posts will give you more information. There are personal opinions, prices, time factor, skill, equipment level etc. So many factors it is a very difficult question to give accurate answers to, and opposite answers can both be correct.

I just painted a car in acrylic Dulux Dulon paint. I did our bus in two pack Spies Hecker brand paint. I did our old beetle in PPG two pack (painted in a booth). At work we use Standox, DeBeers, Glasurit and Mipa brand two pack and Standox or Concept acrylic. All depends on many of those factors, and ultimately the owners decision. As for coats. You can do 20 thin coats or there are heavy 'high solid' paints that can be done in 3, even sometimes two coats (We don't do these paintjobs at our work)

I have seen some good jobs done with cheaper brands (acrylic Motospray, Concept) if the skill and equipment and time put into the job are done right. I have seen some terrible jobs done using expensive paint by people using supercheap equipment in supercheap time.

If you have no paint products at all at the moment, and have to buy all of the stuff, including thinners, sandpaper, cutters, paper, tape, everything etc. you may well end up spending up to $1000 for good quality paint and have enough of everything not to run out. You could get that down to $500 with cheaper products. Anyway at the end of the day it is your decision.

Thanks Buddy. Will read as much as i can before undertaking. Some good info here, no doubt.

Dave

bigdave,

Have a look here, it's American but has heaps of useful info.

http://members.tripod.com/~bobstory/faq.html#Adjusting%20Paint%20Gun0

Regards,

Matt.

I have recently done a Notchback (inside and out), then a 79 kombi camper (inside and out), and most recently a mid 70s microbus (mostly just the outside).....I like to use Spies Hecker two pack (anywhere from $100-220/L depending on colour chosen), and their generic Duxone products for primer etc....on average my materials bills were around $1500, $2500, and $1200 respectively.

Obviously there are a lot of factors like how much welding was required (factor in $ for mig gas, wire, grinding discs etc), how much panel beating was required (obviously your labour won't cost you anything apart from sore, tired arms.....but things like filler, sanding discs, sandpaper etc rack up), how particular you want to get with the finish (therefore how much high build primer (and sanding/blocking) you want to do and thus its impact on materials cost), and what paint you use (as helbus refers to) which will dictate the quality of the finish (apart from the person applying it as referred to above) and how long it lasts.

So its really hard to estimate even material costs....never mind labour - as until one digs beneath the surface of any problem areas, it could mean 100 hours of work, or 300 hours!

Example, initially something minor like a little bubble may indicate a tiny patch is required:


Or in this case due to a previous dodgy repair, where someone had cut out some rust previously, hammered in the surrounding metal, then tacked on some sheet steel, then bogged it all up:


Therefore a heap of new fresh metal had to be welded in (this is before the welds were ground down):


And after a heap more hours, you can be certain it was done properly to your own level of detail: