Made a mess of things!

[Mht]

I’ve used rustoleum farm and implement IH red on a couple of working tractor restorations and been very happy with it. I second the comments about using hardner without a supplied air respirator. I did it one time and could smell it with my regular respirator on. I don’t smell anything using just paint without hardner. I didn’t know about the dangers of hardner at the time but figured if I could smell it spraying outside in the fresh air it couldn’t be good for me. I’ve not had any durability issues using rustoleum paint without hardner but it does take a while to completely cure

[Tim in MN]

Thanks for the input on the hardener- it is duly noted. Eskimo, I'm feeling bad for steering you wrong- should have kept my yap shut. I worked for my dad as a house painter throughout my youth and paid my way through college doing it. We always used good PPE but one time had a respirator go bad and ever since I am ultra sensitive to any kind of paint fumes. Even Sharpie markers give me headaches. I learned years ago to always watch the overspray and stay in clean air- respirator on or not. I must have gotten lucky this time. Gonna squirt on good old Rustoleum on the cub I call "The clunker".

[Matt Kirsch]

It's amazing how many people still dismiss you as a negative nancy safety nazi when you warn them about using hardener... "Oh I put that stuff in my coffee every morning! It's perfectly safe!"

[Don McCombs]

Yep. The cemeteries are full of them.

[Eskimotom]

I'll remember to use the respirator for the spray work. I'm using a light grey Rustoleum latex primer (Fleet Farm). I didn't intend to use latex primer, grabbed the wrong can initially. But this is Rust-oleum "Painters Touch." It sprays well when mixed properly and most of all sands reasonably well with open coat paper. Decided to spay on one last coat of primer today/tomorrow, my wife found this product in White which will hopefully help the final thin coats of finish color stand out. For finish coat, I chose a Signal Yellow (M744) from Duralux, found on Amazon, as I couldn't find a proper yellow locally. It's a marine enamel, thins with paint thinner 650 or xelene. It works well with the Old 55 Catalyst on the brush work. I'll find out soon if this takes to the latex primer. This project was a 2 seat conversion I bought from Bernie Van Eps last September at the Albany show. He widened out the left front & rear side. There are two right hand floors with two seats. I bought the proper low boy seat, but have to get that cut & widened first to make it a two person chair. I still have to track down a Cub LoBoy dogleg badge (anyone-pm me), this was missing one, and a Rockshaft as Bernie sold that off separately on this unit.

[Jim Becker]

. . . Even though I scuffed the primer, the paint doesn't adhere to the primer as well as I would like. . . .

Something I just thought of but may not apply in this case. Most primer and paint have instructions similar to "recoat within 12 hours or after 2 weeks". Not following those instructions is sometimes the cause of adhesion problems.

[Eskimotom]

Do you recall what grit sandpaper you used on primer before spraying the final color coat(s)? I'm reading 600 grit is recommended on some of the automotive sites. Did you spray more than one color coat? Thanks!

[Gary Dotson]

I generally finish sand the primer with 400 grit, 600 would be great, just takes a little longer. How many color coats varies greatly with color and the nature of the paint, but a minimum of 2 - 3 light coats. The last time I painted a tractor yellow, I put a bunch of coats on it, ran out of paint and still had areas I wasn’t happy with. A different brand or a different color might have been a whole different deal.