Restoring a Hot Rod: A Po' Man's Primer to Paintin' an' Such

I recently restored a red Aurora Thunderjet Hot Rod body. The interior was originally tan, but was not to my standards as the driver's torso had been removed and took a swatch of paint along with it to expose the red body surface underneath. My experiences with Plasti-Coat's flat Trim Black always had excellent results when painting wiper arms on my truck, and I knew that its formulation dried absolutely flat without any irregularities. Aerosol paint has come a long way baby.  Since the airbrush of my modelling youth was boxed in storage, this at least was worth a try. After all, black was a factory color on a red Hot Rod anyway. The first step was to clean the body with soap and water, removing any oily residue from the cockpit as a primary objective. I use hand dish washing detergent and an old  toothbrush for this. The paint will not "fish eye" or dry with round depressions because it did not stick to the surface of a micro oil slick. Dry off the clean body using a hair blow dryer so not to leave any lint on the surface to be painted. Then mask off the body and the interior. I ALWAYS use 3M masking tape on my MGB restoration projects, as it does not lift from the surface and removes without adhesive residue on the part. It is the automotive standard, PERIOD so do not settle for less. The tape easily can be contoured to match the rounded corners of the cockpit, and special attention must be paid to the rear seat back so that the masking is straight and against the rounded hump representing the bench seat found in most real hot rods. I painted it outside in 80F weather with no wind, and these conditions generally offer the best results. Another plus is that you are painting something small enough that a bug will not land in it generally, as this happens quite often here in Dixie. I conveniently painted it on the bonnet of my MGBGT parts car, but any surface that can support the car at a height to eyeball the spraying process works just fine. Shake the paint can for AT LEAST TWO MINUTES. There is a metal ball inside that mixes the paint, so just keep your pants on Lad. Two minutes is necessary for the paint to mix and not spray as a thinned-out mess. Spray the paint initially on a flat surface that you do not care about-again my parts car worked like a champ and I was able to see if the paint was mixed properly and uniformally coated a surface without fouling up the Hot Rod body. If you have ever watched a body man paint a car or have body painting experience, you should know that you paint with an aerosol spray can about 18 inches from the surface you are painting, moving the nozzel in deliberate side-to side motions. The idea is for uniform coverage and coat overlap. Pay particular attention to NOT OVERSPRAY!!! A puddle of paint will dry looking like a puddle of paint. Again PATIENCE Lad! I like to let my first thin coat dry before applying another, and this gives me a chance to evaluate just how well the paint is going on in the corners and along the depression which again represents a bench seat in the real hot rod world. It took two coats to cover the cockpit, and I allowed it to dry for an hour before I removed the masking. To remove any irregularities once the paint has dried along the boundary of the body and cockpit I use the tip of a round toothpick and just apply pressure to what I want to remove, gently scraping the excess paint and any overspray away. You can also put a small dab of MOTHER'S POLISH or NOVUS on the toothpick as well for the same results. Allow it to dry for several hours so you do not collapse the paint surface when you glue another driver torso in place. Not too bad fo'a po' bo' like me. God Bless!

Tony mgbbrown