There are several shows on TV like Overhauling that do primer, paint, tape-work graphics and clear coat seemingly overnight and the next day people are pushing the car out of the shop like the paint has cured for weeks. Anyone know how that is done?
My guess: 1) They work all night 2) They push the paint with heat 3) Most paint can be top coated in a few hours with a catalyst (I'm generalizing here - some may be 20 minutes - depends on the paint) 4) They are very good - Bill
One thing that drives me nuts about those shows is how unrealistic the timeline is. yeah I'm sure they do it in 7 days, but look at the manpower!! And you know they have the booth ready to go, the paint sitting there,and they know their stuff. On one show there was an arguement, the guy said to someone else "'you had six months to prepare for this show and you blew it". So that gives an idea of the prep involved. But at the same time, the closeups I can see flaws and the paint is fresh, I can only imagine how long the job will actually last. I'm curious with the Foose name on it how they deal with that, the 67 skylark they did was full of body filler. later Tim
Maybe it's like those cooking shows - they already have one almost done, just like it. They show you the work on the other, and then bring the finished one out of the garage. Or maybe they just edit it to look like they did it that fast.
No I think they actually do it in seven days, but again with the manpower and all the donated parts set up and ready to go months in advance it wouldn't be hard to do. Notice they never do anything really unusual?? hard to build a car in 7 days if it takes two YEARS to find a part for it... Somebody figured out with the manpower @ 50.00/hr and all the donated parts, some of the cars would have cost $150,000.00 to do. later Tim
Sorry, I don't buy it. Overhaulin, maybe, but Monster Garage, no way. On the seventh day the car is usually in need of 10-40 hours of plastic filler work alone. There is no way in hell, five guys working on it or not, to pull that off and get it in paint. If the car is READY FOR paint, over night, multi colors and clear, no problem, I've done it. But prepping a car that has had body work, where blocking is needed, not likely. Detail, it is out the window in order to get the whole thing out the door by morning. I have MANY times seen a big boy show car (I have been on the "inside") that MUST be done in time for the big show get painted the day before. These cars usually are FAR from perfect. They are pushed and it shows it (if you will pardon the pun). Brian
Brands and Insights? So anyone have brand names that could be used to actually accomplish a paintjob from smooth/prepped metal to primer to basecoat and then add graphics, then top coat, say in a weekend?
Most every single one of them could do that. Heck, one day wouldn't be a problem. Shoot a couple of coats of a base color, two hours or so. A couple hours flash. Tape off some graphics and shoot those colors four or five hours. Shoot a couple coats of clear, an hour. Now, to take your time and shoot all the colors one day, then come in and shoot just the clear in the morning after the base had a good time to flash would be recommended. Brian
Brian has a good point. Remember, it looks a lot better on TV than it does in person. The low resolution of TV hides a lot.
There is a guy around the corner from where I work (I think he is still in businss) called "Rocket Restorations" that did a lot of movie cars. Sitting around outside is the "Soul train" a locomotive looking thing, a chopped, bright yellow cartoonish looking thirty something Dodge used in the "Dick Tracy" movie, the "Elvis" car complete with giant sun glasses as the windshield, etc. These cars look just perfect on film, in person, HOLY CRAP, THEY ARE JUNK. I mean, J-U-N-K. The Dodge has only one opening door, the rest have been welded shut. But don't think "smoothed off" welded shut. I am talking, when the top was chopped, they simply welded the post together, with the door and windshield post! Then slathered bondo all over so the door seam is GONE at that point, and a foot away it reappears. The paint is FULL of dirt and runs and crap. It is a MESS. The Elvis car, LOL, it is the worse. Horribly welded angle iron and crap supporting body parts, no grinding to smooth the edges, not cut to length, then just rattle can black paint on them, HORRIBLE. These cars have the quality of a typical farm tractor that has been kept alive on the ranch for fifty years by an unskilled maintenance man. I just saw one of Chip Fooses cars at a Good Guys show. It had some real nice work (likely done at the begining of the build before the dead line loomed) and then it had some REALLY bad fitting problems and VERY "cheap" looking mouldings. I think a lot of Fooses design eye and fab skills, but this thing had some real hack work on it. I have also met a model from the front page of Cosmopolitan, holy crap, she had the acne of a 14 year old! What you see in the mags or any photos to speak of are what the artist WANTS you to see. Brian
Foose Loose I can't imagine that Chip Foose twice Riddler Award winner and consumate smallest detail guru would lend his name and expertise to a show that would build any car to a standard he would not proudly add his signature. I have stood in awe of a couple of his creations and marveled at the level of detail he produced, but I have never seen one of these 7-day made for TV cars, so perhaps you are correct. I guess my question remains - could it be done in a weekend AND have a show quality end result? If so what specific brands, ratios and technique?
Chip Foose uses BASF Glasurit and R-M products, both on the Overhaulin' show and in his shop. They both have some very quick products, but Glasurit is the more expensive line and has the reputation of being the ultimate paint. We use R-M Diamont b/c in our shop, and it's no problem to mask the b/c in 30 minutes for a 2 tone or graphics, and probably safe at 20 minutes. It can be cleared after 15 minutes. Of course it never hurts to let paint dry a little longer. There are some new UV cured primer surfacers that cure in 3 minutes with a UV lamp, and 20 minutes or less in sunlight.
"Show quality" is a pretty subjective term. Who's show quality? What show? But in general terms, you could produce a very nice job, sans the cutting and buffing in a week end. Specific brands? PPG, DuPont, S-W, most all of them. Ratios, it's all the tech sheets. Technique, even one of my mile long posts couldn't possibly scratch the service. But mostly just follow the tech sheets and you would be there if you have the talent to begin with. Brian
The cars that they build on Overhaulin' are not really built to be something like a trailered "show car". I don't think if you rush a paint job through like that you will end up with a finish like a Riddler winner, whether or not you force dry between coats. A perfect finish takes patience and more than a couple days no matter how good the paint material and the painter. But the best quality paints are European brands such as ; Glasurit, Sikkens, and Spies Hecker.
Got an email from my Buddy Skip, he was at the Art Carr thingy for the Buick guys the other day and he emailed me this. Art hosted a bunch of Overhaulin shows that will air in October. Chatted a bit with him about that. 15 people moved into the shop and did three or four projects. They eat there, sleep there and work on the cars around the clock. He was saying how nice the cars came out, but I have heard from others that they really don't look that good. Don't see how they can be show-stoppers when done that fast.
It's not the paint so much as it is the painter, I work at a paint store, we sell PPG, it is OEM paint, in the 5 counties we sell to, only one shop uses Glasurit so I don't know much about it, I know the shop is locked into using it because they are a franchise and I know they have issues with getting paint to match but that may be their painter's fault. We just switched a Chevy dealership over from Sickness to PPG, we sell Spies Hecker at another location but no one uses it around here. Dupont is a pain in the but to use once you've used PPG. (They have different reducers and activators for everything) Martin Senior and S-W, don't know personally but I know painter's who have worked on cars for over 25 years and some could make a pile of rust look brand new using house paint. The biggest thing of all is preparation. The more steps and finer grit sandpaper you use, and the least amount of the proper filler, and the better the job. Ask to see some of the painter's former jobs and get referrals from people he has painted for. If his customer's are mad and the job in his lot looks like **** keep walking.
Considering how bad some of the cars on overhauling look at the start, even if the final product is not perfect, I'm sure the car owners are still as happy as a pig in mud considering the super big improvement in how the car looks plus the money they saved on not having to get the work done. I would be running around and jumping up and down like them even if I had a big run in the paint, that would be minor to me. At least now they can drive the car and save up for better prepared paint job. Allen
Agreed!! I would be happy too, although I would probably end up re-doing stuff as well. Most cars look pretty decent, the show stoppers are the detailed ones, no way can you build a car that fast and really sweat the details... Later Tim
