Questions on Painting a tractor

Ok, I want to paint some tractors this summer. However, I have never used a spray gun before. I have thhree tractors, a 1933 f-12, a 1927 regular, and a 1938 JD D. Now what?
1) How assembled/disassembled should the tractors be?
2) All of the are being rebuilt, shhould I make sure they run first then take them apart?
3) Spray indoors, outdoors, in a booth, make your own booth? Do you need to worry about the dust and bugs?
4) What paint should I use? I have Dupont gray for the regular, Deere for the D, Should I use TSC for the F-12 & Wheels?
5) What time should I paint? morning, night, in sun, in shade? Humidity matters?
6) How long should I wait to put together?

Any suggestions?

1 - The more disassembled the better your results.
2 - Yes, it is nice to make them run first. I am not doing it on my WD-9 because it is half apart to get the motor out, but that way kind of stinks. There isn't as much to any of your tractors so it shouldn't be that big of deal to put them together and take them apart again.
3 - There is no better light than outside, but the dust and bugs will make you mad. Painting can kill you. Make sure you have the right equipment or don't use hardner if you don't. Also the sun can mess up your paint if it is too hot. Humidty will cause many problems. Watch the calander or get an air conditioned shop. :lol:
4 - The better the paint the more money you will spend. TSC paint sucks. Deere and CNH paint is pretty good for the money. Urathanes are the best quality but way expensive.
5 - Don't know.
6 - I hear it is best to wait a week. You can do it sooner, but it might cause more touchup work.

I like to paint outside as I can see so much better. But yes, you run the risk of dust, bugs, or other hazards. You don't want to paint in extreme heat, that's sure. The paint will dry too fast and you can't get a shine. They do make slower drying thinners for hot weather. In the summer I'd paint first thing in the morning. Provided the tractor is dry, (not wet from dew) If it's cooler where you live you might wait til later in the day, or maybe paint in the shade. I'v e had a little trouble if I paint too late in the day bugs will land on the paint. But if the paint is set up at all if you leave the bugs alone until the paint is completely dry they will wash off and hardly leave a mark. Don't buy $500 paint and don't mess with "hardener" you will learn as you go. I never have enough patience to wait to put it together. I'll have it together with the decals on 12 hours later. Always have. But yeah, I always have a few boo boos too. New paint is pretty soft the first week or two.

SOUNDS TO ME LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE A BODY MAN PAINT FOR YOU. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS PAINT IN A CONTROLLED BOOTH SETTING, LESS DUST AND NO BUGS. i PAINTED A CASE SC THIS MORNING, 100 DEGREES HERE IN WI. LOTS OF SHINE AND ALL DONE. i ALWAYS USE HARDNER. PAINT MANUFACTURED SINCE THE EARLY 70S IS DESIGHED TO BE USED WITH HARDNER. aLWAYS BUY PAINT AT A PARTS HOUSE OR A PAINT SUPPLY SHOP. PAINT AT THJE BIG BIN PLACES IS SOLD TO FILL THE CHEAP GUYS VOID, AND SHOULD BE APPLIED WITH A BRUSH!!!!!!!

Of course all questions depend on how perfect you want your results to be.

Assuming you want good, but perhaps not show winning results -

1.) All sheet metal should come off and be painted separately. Wheels should come off - ideally tires would come off too - but not necessary, just take the time to mask them well. Overspray on tires makes the whole job look ameteurish. In a perfect world, the entire tractor should be dissassembled and sandblasted and parts should be painted individually. But, you'll save a LOT of time painting everthing as one unit.

Bigger question on how best to paint it is how best to clean it and prep it.

2.) always a good idea to be sure things run first - then when you put it back together and it doesn't start, you're not looking at 20 different variables of what's not working.

3.) Spray outside, not in direct sun. yes you'll worry about dust and bugs - if you can wait till fall bugs will be less of an issue. Paint indoors or in a booth and your need for supplied air goes up - especially if you're using hardner in the paint. Temperature is important, but only has to be in the range specified by the paint.

4.) TSC is changing their paint line - the valspar restoration series was ok - but jury is still out on the Magic stuff they're selling now. For primer - I'd go with epoxy because it's water proof. If the paint gets scratched, the primer will still protect the metal. It's expensive, but not too crazy. On sheet metal I'd also do a layer of "surfacer" - works great to smooth things out with a real light sanding.

5.) Read the paint instructions for environment requirements. Usually just boils down to avoiding extremes with temp and humidity. Avoid direct sun when spraying, but ok for drying. I've painted and had parts rained heavily on 5 minutes later and they're fine. But you certainly need to keep your air dry from the compressor - use a good water trap.

6.) You can put things together the next day. If you use hardner, it should be pretty solid. If you don't - the paint is going to scratch VERY easily for about a month - but just go easy assembling part.

Expect to go over the entire tractor doing touch up after assembly.

I'll add #7 - start with your least favorite tractor! It's all pretty easy, but get you will make mistakes and learn a lot along the way.

I have painted (restored) a few tractors now and can give you a little advice. First, disassemble as much as you can to clean, repair and test things before you paint. Finding out you have a bunch of oil or antifreeze leaking on your new paint job is no fun.

I have found that removing the lights, the gas tank and any other easily removed items really helps with getting the paint into the proper places. Painting around a gas tank is tough and you waste a lot of paint trying to spray under it. Paint them separately and they turn out much better.

If possible, remove your tires and paint the rims.

Prep is the key...wire wheel or sand blast or bead blast separate pieces and then reassemble them for painting...you will be amazed at all the gunk hiding in places you never thought possible. I found snail shells in the front bolster of my Grandpa's H from when he used to scour the plow in the lake! When you shoot the paint is not the time you want to find junk like that flying around!

I prefer to use an Epoxy type of primer and a good enamel with hardener. I bought one of those $85 10x20 shelters from Northern Tool (like a white car port roof) and set that up to keep the direct sunlight off of my painting. It is the best advice I can give you!

Sand the sheet metal smooth and degrease it well. One tip I use for all the parts is to rinse them with brake cleaner from a spray can...it cleans off things and doesn't leave a residue. For a final cleaning, wax and grease remover is a great thing! There will always be bugs unless you paint in a booth...don't try to remove them until things dry! Been there and done that wrong!

If you want to see the overall process of what I did for my Farmall A, follow the link to my photobucket site and check it out. The only thing I would change from that job was to have had the engine finished and bolted together before painting the other things, but time and money didn't match up that time, so I painted everything I could last summer and finished it this spring.

Good luck, you can't go wrong too badly, just take your time and it will go well!

Mark
Farmall A Restoration Photos

As mentioned, it all depends on what you want in the end. All of the above mentioned will give you a far better job than the factory ever thought of!

I've also seen respectable looking jobs where the cast iron parts were brushed and the sheet metal was painted with rattle cans!

So take your pick.

As to hardener, you need supplied air outside also, the wind will not blow it all away, if calm you are standing in isocyanates, if windy it swirls around you. You say you are going to paint several tractors, either get supplied air or don't use hardener. Hardener with quality paint flows out better, and can be repaired sooner and easier, I do not paint without it.

The paint reducer I bought was for 70 degree weather. They make reducers for 60 and also 80 degrees. It has to do with evaporation rates. So if you want a more perfect result you will need to match the temp. and humidity to when you intend to paint. BUT don't waste your time worrying about these little things. Try one tractor and learn from it and do better with the next one.
SDE