Brush painting and a few other questions.

I'd like to brush on the paint. The cast parts should accept it pretty well, but what about the sheet metal? Will I have brush marks? Part of the reason I dont want to spray is I'm doing the parts at different times, so cleaning the gun every time will be a PITA.
Hardener? What's the point and why doesn't the label say to use it? Wouldnt harder paint lead to more chips?
What about fasteners? Do people paint them before, I would think wrenching on them afterpainting them would kill the paintjob on them? But painting after installation would make disassembly a disaster...
On most cars, rust forms mainly from around boltholes or penetrated by hardware areas... Do people use nylon washers or soemthing on the non load bearing (like hoods, dashes and so on) to help prevent this? I'm more concerned about rusting then I am about how shiny or good the paint looks, altho I dont want the tractor to be pink in a year. It will be garage stored, so fading should be kept to a minimum.

Idealy if I was rich and had all the time in the world, I would have a bigger shop with ac/heat and do a full restore, but I have to be reaslistic here..

You should follow the specific instructions on the can label. Please, before you make a decision on using any hardener, do a search in this forum on "isocyanates" (w/o the quotes) and inform yourself of the safety issues when using such additives. It's your choice to proceed but at least you should be aware up front. You may be getting into more than you bargained for with spray application using specialized additives not called for by the manufacturer of the paint. Personally, I think you should stick with your original thought of brush application and approach a spraying effort slowly with a lot of practice on something other than your tractor.

Rod

Brush painting a tractor when you have a paint gun available is like tieing a bandanna around your fore-head, rambo style, and going out into the woods and trying to take down a deer with a bowie knife to put dinner on the table, when you have a box of shells & 30-06 with a scope sittin' in the back window of your truck.

Cleaning? big deal.. what's a cup of mineral spirits and some naptha?

If you are looking for short cuts.. paint it all with spray bombs when it is 100% assembled... It's likely to look better with the spray bombs and some masking take and painters paper, vs brush painting it... and no paint brushes to clean.. since cleaning seems to bother you.

The bps paint, with hardner is economy.. but is better than a spray bomb.. etc.

I've got quite a few tractors with bps paint on them, and with minimum care, they are holding up fine. I define minimum care as having them parked out of direct sun and rain.. but not specifically garaged. Tarp canopies work fine... I'd want -any- tractor to be out o fthe rain / sun.. just painted or not.

For what it's worth, the seemingly micro-thin OEM paint on my 2002 NH looks worse than any of the tractors I've painted..

Soundguy

Soundguy

- You apparently already have a spray gun. Opting to brush instead of spray just so you don"t have to clean the gun a few extra times doesn"t make sense to me, but it"s your choice.

- Hardener should be called toughener. If your paint is compatible with hardener it will make it more chip and chemical resistant.

- Definitely finish paint the fasteners in place. And just as a point of reference, that"s how they were done originally. Anytime you work on it work on it you will obviously have some touch-up to do when it"s back together. Spray painting the fasteners in place often causes runs. Depending on your paint either; prime them and apply a light coat of color before installation, or spot them in with a brush after installation but before spraying.

- The best option is to, prior to assembly, cut-in(pre-paint) areas around bolt holes and where one piece overlaps another. Find out what the instructions say about re-coating the areas cut-in. Some primer and/or paint needs to be scuffed/sanded to accept additional coats after it has dried, others don"t, or don"t if re-coated withing a certain time period.

- You don"t need anything fancy or expensive to make this project come out well. Do be careful about rain or dew and temps that are too cold.