My hood :)
 

Maybe I've been trying to do too much at once on my 127, but I thought I'd share my hood project. I've never done any serious painting so this was my first attempt. I went the whole nine yards.... used aircraft stripper, filler, several coats of primer and wet sand in-between.... I gotta admit I'm proud of how it turned out. Now, I gotta get the rest of the tractor....

Beautiful job!! If you don't mind me asking, what was your process for paint application?

Cant wait to see the rest of the tractor when its done!

Jeff (teet)

that turned out great, keep us posted with all your new pics.:American Flag 1:

Paint looks awesome. Nice job! :beerchug:

Jeff,

I went cheap on the spray gun, I really didn't know what to get or buy so I went with a cheaper Kobalt gravity feed from Lowe's($35). Since I've never did any painting before outside of spray cans I didn't want to spend $100+ on a gun.

It took me a few times (more than a few) practicing and reading articles on how not to get runs in the paint (how to overlap, how to adjust the nozzle...). I've got 4 light coats of primer on, which I didn't know that I needed thinned out, so I clogged up my gun at first....

After each coat of primer I went up in grit of sand paper, starting at 180 then up to 600 on the last. Each time was wet sanded. I've got 2 coats of finish on, with the hardener.

As far as paint goes, here's a pic of what I used. My best friend from HS has a Fisher Auto-parts store so he hooked me up on the paint.

Another thing I learned is to definitely make up a semi-permanent or some type of a paint booth. I had to do this over at my parents garage, I have no room whatsoever in mine. At first I tried spraying outside on a "calm" day, that didn't work...

The decals I got from CC, I didn't know they even carried them still, but they do. Rob Houtz informed me of that.

http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0...=1217741022000

Thanks for the great info Gary,

I've been planning to tear down my 73, and 127 eventually, and I've been gathering supplies as funds allow. I have not done a "non-rattle can" paint job before, so I'm happy to see your excellent results.

I'm guessing your friend mixed up some paint to match the oem colors in the cans?

Keep us posted on your progress!

Jeff (teet)

Awesome job, Gary! Your hood looks great. :ThumbsUp:

Smooth job Gary. I can't wait to see the rest of the tractor. It sounds like yu have learned a lot.....experience really is the best teacher!! You can paint for me any day!!!

Cub Cadet 123

Jeff,

He did... I took the color codes from here and had it mixed by that. They are a PPG shop and they actually had the paint chip cards with the correct colors too. They had paint chips for every piece of AG/Industry equip brand imaginable. I can't give you a cost on the paint since it was *cough* free *cough*. But the hardener and reducer was about $40. The primer, which I don't have a pic of was about $20 for a qt. and a gallon of thinner was about $20. The aircraft stripper was $30..... so I've got a little over $100 in those, not counting the paint.

I used about 1/2 qt. of the primer between the hood and dash. So it'll probably take close to a gallon to paint the tractor, someone who actually knows how to paint could tell better. I used very little of the white, so I'll have enough of it to paint the wheels, weights, dog house.... I don't know if 1 qt. will paint the tractor or not.

I had been wondering about doing a clear coat on it, but since I've put the decals on, I don't know if I can do it now or not. I want this thing to be a worker, but to look good too. :)

You did great Gary!