Paint

Ok 1st off I am not a painter. I know nothing nothing at all. Now that, that is said here I go:
I bought some paint (1 qt) off ebay it is N-5831 it is Toro red air dry, here are pictures of the labels of the paint cans. Now these are big pictures but I wanted you to be able to read the labels. http://www.pigs-of-war.com/paint All of the paint shops around me have no idea what reducer to use. They all want to use some base coat, then clear coat. I don’t know what they are talking about. So I call the company that makes the paint.(NCP)
They sent me an email with this in it.
( Methods: Brush or conventional spray
Mix Ratio: N/A
Reducer: Thin 10-20% by volume with T-43 (Xylol) or T-12 (Toluol). Mineral spirits not recommended.
Cleaner: Xylene or Toluene
Pot Life: 6 months
Dry Time: Dry to handle 25-30 min. See cure notes below.
Time To Recoat: Air dry 8 hours minimum )

Now the reducer ( Xylol or Toluol ) I was told is the same thing as. (Toluene & Xylene ). Now can anyone tell me if this is right? Do I need to go buy some other paint?

any help wil be appreciated. Thanks Donnie
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BadBad, I restore automobiles.

I use strickly PPG Omni paint. I am not sure I can help you on the reducers they are talking to you about. I used the reducer strickly recommended by PPG.

If you want to learn about paint and prep....email me.

But if you give it time.....someone else here might be able to help you with what you have already bought.

Either way I wish you success.

The reducer you pictured is for acrylic enamel. It may work, but I wouldn't risk it. The paint you pictured is plain old air dry enamel similar to Dupont "Dulux" and Ditzler (PPG) "Duco" that were phased out by the car industry starting in the fifties. They were still available as impliment enamels into the eighties and my still be. Plain Naptha should thin it. Don't expect this paint to hold up to sun or weather much longer than spray can paint.

The base coat/clear coat system you are hearing about is a base coat or coats of the color covered by a coat of clear for shine. They have become the industry standard primarily because the color coat can be sprayed relatively dry to reduce runs and covered by a wetter clear coat that doesn't show runs as readily. However, it can be hard to repair scratches to a bc/cc paint job because the new color coat will partially overlap the old clear coat and reflect light differently when viewed at an angle. A trained eye can also see the "orange peel" texture of the underlying color coat. That may not bother most folks, but it spells shortcut to me.

I was trained in the late seventies and still prefer to use Dupont laquer type primer surfacer and Dupont "Centari" acrylic enamel with a gloss hardener. If you want a DEEP shine using these products, make the top coat full wet with a mixture 20-40% color to remaining percentage of mixing clear (don't try this with metallics at less than 60% color, the flakes can bunch up in spots.). Mixing clear is the untinted paint base that jobbers add color to to match your paint, NOT the clear coat you can buy off the shelf. I don't know why, but some jobbers won't sell mixing clear, and may try to tell you there is no such thing. They may be technically right, they may call it untinted base. Go pick the brain of some of the old time body men in your area and see what they would use to replicate the finish used on your 'Horse. I would guess most will suggest mild acid etching (metal prep), primer surfacer, and acrylic enamel.

Ok thanks Jim. So it sounds like I need to buy some other paint. I can use what I have to paint the blade with a brush.
"Centari" acrylic enamel with a gloss hardener"
Now if I go get this kind of paint can you tell me what number the toro red would be?

I'm hearing rumors that Centari is getting hard to find. Dupont does still make it. Not to confuse you , but you may investigate some of the single stage urethane enamels. They are fairly straightforward. As far as the mix code numbers, I don't know. But be careful when asking for Toro red. Wheel Horse red or International Harvester red is what you want. Wheel Horse red is VERY close to IH red, as the Pond's wanted to match IH red. That is a copyrighted shade so they settled for very close. Shortly after the Toro company bought Wheel horse they found that they liked Wheel Horse red better than the older Toro red, so they changed to a close representation of the original Wheel Horse red (According to Toro, E.P.A. chemical reg.s kept them from making an exact match.). In other words, if you ask for Toro red, you may end up with the shade that Toro used before they changed to Wheel Horse red.

Someone else here may have the codes you need. I think they are in another post? Almost all paint jobbers have computer scanning color matching now a days and can readily match either an unfaded part from one of your 'Horses or even a dried sample of the paint you do have (check to make sure IT matches though.).

PPG also makes fine products, I just prefer Dupont (not the least of reasons is my FIL is a retired vice president of Dupont.). Any name brand acrylic enamel should perform reasonably well. Like Mike hinted at stay within one makers products and you should be just fine.

You may even want to check out the local book stores for painting guides. I would look for auto restoration books as they also have tips on working on older machines, body work with older metal, and replicating old time paint jobs.

I will add there are basically two schools on body work.

1. Get it back on the road. Use plastic filler and quick/easy steps. Good enough for everyday use. Ie. body shop.

2. Truly restore the substrate and paint. Use lead, welding and/or brazzing rod to fill voids and get the substrate as close to perfect as you can before spraying anything. Then move up to the finish. Will last a lifetime. Ie. restoration shop.