Another breakthrough in PATINAFICATION!

[67_C-30]

I got out there yesterday and sanded just the center of one of the letters down to metal and came back and dry brushed some white paint back over. I put some chlorine water on it to speed up the process and WOW! it rusted through in less that 30 min. I'm going to do it to some more of the them, except I'm just going to keep putting water on and let it rust naturally. The wouldn't look so dark if it weren't wet from the dew being on it this morning. Being that it is bare metal with very little paint on the whole letter, it will eventually have surface rust popping through everywhere.

[GRIMSS]

Looks natural.

[lowriden58]

workin on a dodge? looks pretty good

[Longhorn Man]

my only question is, how do you intend to keep it from getting worse... or from spreading? Rust is rust, intentional or not.

[70rs/ss]

Maybe a clear after it is good and patina'd up?? I live in AZ, so I have never actually seen this thing you call rust?














Ha Ha, yeah right?!

[prg machine]

You coulda had all of mine if I hadn't cut it all off and threw it away. Trendy yes,............. looks cool I agree.........yes...................BUT!!!!....rust is rust and i don't like what it can do!

[powell72]

A little bit of faux-tina is o.k. for touch up situations, just don't get carried away and end up like this-

[72BlckButy]

Lookin' good 67 C-30!

Yikes powell72... that's a little drastic!

[pissonNOS]

i was wondering the same thing about the spreading of the rust, the local bodyshop here did some bikes like that made em bare metal then cleared over them with something special, 2 years later the gas tanks are covered in rust

[Longhorn Man]

clear over rust will slow the rust down, but not for long. I think we've ALL painted over rusty lower control arms and were surprised the next time the wheel was removed when it looked like nothing was done before.

[67_C-30]

Here are pics of them dry.


I also totally agree that its crazy to take a nice truck with new or nice sheetmetal and make it look old and rusty. I just don't get that. The truck above has new bumpers, a grill and the body looks flawless. That's a waste of a potentially beautiful truck IMO. However, my old truck is already faded, rusty and both of the doors I'm going to logo are in rough kinda shape. So to answer the question about stopping the rust, I'm going to neutralize the chlorine residue with sodium bicarbonate and I may put some satin clear over it, but i'm pretty much going to let nature take its course. I'll ride the shop truck wave until I either get tired of it, sell it, decide to change directions on it. Either way, if I were not leaving it as a patina truck, I'd replace the doors anyway.

[dan42]

Hey, just throw a few bags of fertilizer in the back of your truck and see what it does - instant "patina"!

[67_C-30]

I did another test door tonight, and I'm going to post step by step pics of the process. This time I laid everything out it turned out much better than the free hand did. I painted the outline of the letters, and then went back and sanded down to the metal on the inside of the letters. After that I simply came back and drybrushed white over the sanded area. Tomorrow after it dries I'm going to lightly sand the letters, but not near as aggressively as I did the first door. I am also going to prop it outside and let nature do the work this time. I'm not going to use the chlorine water this time. This should make for a more natural look. We'll see!

P.S. - After my science project is complete, I'll probably give it to Tim if he wants it.

[powell72]

I understand your take on things, I knew you wouldn't faux-tina a whole vehicle, I just had to mess with you some.
I think if you want to have some surface rust on your doors, it's good by me. Your truck is unrestored, with some rust, and the rust you will be making will be closely watched by you. As truck lover it's not like you're gonna help the rust start, then forget all about it and neglect it until the doors rust off.

[corn]

One question... Why would a painted letter rust before the metal around it? Now you will have to make the whole truck rusty...

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by corn

One question... Why would a painted letter rust before the metal around it? Now you will have to make the whole truck rusty...

I don't know, but they usually do. Most of the trucks I have in the yard have have surface rust on the factory white letters of the tailgate even if the color of the doesn't. If fact, everyone I have is like that if it still has original paint. Have you ever seen an old Coca Cola box outside that the red is faded but still decent and the white is nearly brown from rust? Same principle. My beater truck is the way, and I'm trying to kinda match it on the doors. Here's a shot of the letters on the gate. I'll get some close-ups tomorrow.

I can't 'splain it, but that's what they do!!

[corn]

I had no idea. Looks like you have done your homework. Keep at it, & keep us posted...

[Rokcrln]

I like your idea. I am starting with this for a shop truck and will do a simular LFD logo on the doors in the old service station style. It only has 45k miles and was stored in a barn for over 40yrs. It's getting a 95 T-bird IRS with bags and a TCI MII front end with bags and a 2005 vortec 5.3L and 4L60E AOD.


I'm going for this look


Kevin
LFD Inc.

[special-K]

Why would old lettering be rusting when that`s the one place on the door with the most paint?Letterers don`t sand before lettering and it`s a one shot process,hence the name of the most popular lettering/striping paint.It fades off over the years because it`s not alot of paint and it`s not etched into the body paint.
It looks cool,either way.I just don`t see it as natural,since I`ve never seen lettering end up that way.

[67_C-30]

Originally Posted by special-K

Why would old lettering be rusting when that`s the one place on the door with the most paint?Letterers don`t sand before lettering and it`s a one shot process,hence the name of the most popular lettering/striping paint.It fades off over the years because it`s not alot of paint and it`s not etched into the body paint.
It looks cool,either way.I just don`t see it as natural,since I`ve never seen lettering end up that way.

Once again, I can't answer that, but that's what they always seem to do, at least around here. I don't know if the white holds moisture or whatever with our humid climate, but the the lettering always rusts first. The pics below are just 2 trucks I ran out and snapped in the back yard. Its always struck me as wierd as well, but I've always noticed it.

You've got me wondering if this is common everywhere though. Everybody go out and snap pics of your old weathered tailgates!

[67_C-30]

I don't think it is just a southern thing! This truck is for sale in New Jersey.

[tcb-1]

wonder if the original GM paint had some minute percentage of iron in it. I have seen it in the past.....

[Rokcrln]

I am not sure but guessing the white was a single pass then they put sticker covers over the letters and painted the two top cotes of body color.
Can you tell if the body color was over the white or if the white was over the body color, is their a paint lip? On my shop truck I will just be going for a faded letter job not the rust thru.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[67_C-30]

No, oddly enough the white is on top of the color. You can see it on the "L" on the red gate I posted. That's what doesn't make sense about it. It would make perfect sense if it were like you said, and I know that's what made you think of it. Maybe it is iron in the paint like Doug said, but I've seen actual real old shop trucks and vans that have rusting on the lettering too.

I want to make sure everybody knows that I'm not saying or thinking that if it isn't rusty, it isn't right or anything. The sanded/faded look looks great and works perfect on shop trucks, rat rods, and beaters also. The only reason I even tried this was to see if I could match the letters on the tail gate of my truck. The letter I did above on the Jenny's Garage door is cool, but its still not the look I'm trying to get. I hoping the Uncle's door rusts from underneath the paint which I why I did it differently. It will probably take a little more time to get that look on it though. Right now I'm experimenting (playing) to try to get the perfect look so I don't mess up the awesome paint on my beater truck!

[67_C-30]

Here's the finished product on the uncle door. It turned out WAY better than the first one, and I'm gonna prop it up on a tree watch it age. I picked up better techniques this time using the brush strokes to make the letters look more authentic when they are lighty sanded. I wet sanded them this time with 600 grit and I feathered the edges of all the letters to take away the crisp hard line caused by masking.