Question: Painting a Deuce

[historyfanatics]

Question for those who know more than me.

What is a ballpark price to paint a deuce? Also, what about sand-blasting?

I have located two trucks, but both are painted desert tan. After acquisition, I plan to paint them semi-gloss od and letter them for Viet Nam.

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

 

[ptg530C]

If you do it yourself, the cost of a gallon of paint. Do not sand blast it and only fix areas that need repair. If you leave it outside, do a complete every 2 years and touch up between. Buy your stencils from Rick Larsen -he will hook you up. The more layers of paint on there, the better. If you do any sanding wear a resperator and NOT a dust mask. That crap will kill you! Personally, I wouldnt paint semi-gloss, but thats up to you. I always paint mine outside. With the no-slip on the tops of the fenders and whatnot you dont worry about a little dirt or whatever in the paint job. But then again, I drive mine thru my woods and they get scrap marks on them all the time so I dont give a crap.

 

[littlebob]

Mine was Desert tan and rust. I have used stripper and sandpaper on the front sheet meatl and haven't made it to th bed area yet. It really depends on how goog the previous paint jobs were and how many. Mine is reported to be a 1953 by the guru's here and from the layers of paint I believe it
I know of one member that scuffed his up and painted it with one gallon and was happy with the results. I will probaly have 6-8 gallons and many other materials involved like primer, remover and assorted othersandind and other rust neutralizing chemicals.
one gallon painter probably spent a weekend and $50-$100 and I will probably have about $500-$1000 involved by the time I'm finished doing all of it my self.
If you sub out more(like the blasting) You could spend more depending on what you have to pay for it.
littlebob

 

[HeadWizard]

I was quoted $1500 to completely sand blast one last year. Changed my mind and got out the brush and roller before I sold it.

 

[dm22630]

I am painting one of mine right now....I started yesterday. It will be done tomorrow.

I will post a thread tomorrow night and everyone can see....the Krylon touch.

 

[cbvet]

I sandblasted/sanded a few bad spots. Wiped it all down with acetone, & sprayed 4 gallons of Aervoe Marine Corps green. Used a Harbor Freight $50 HVLP gun.
Not perfect, but pretty darn good. Have gotten a lot of compliments.
Eric
CBVET

 

[roger-wilco-66]

That's exactly what I have done half a year ago. I wouldn't sand-blast it either if it dowesn't have large areas that are rusted. Just sand it.
As for the stencils: I have found an army-style gothic true type font and used MS Word for creating the lettering myself. I printed the lettering on the thickest possible cardboard that a laserprinter can pull through and cut the stencils out myself with the "Armstrong-plotter". The most expensive thing was the beer that went along with the cutting.
The stars are the easiest to do, just draw them in the right size and cut them out (after that much cutting one delightfully appreciates long cuts without curves).

 

[maddawg308]

I am painting one of mine right now....I started yesterday. It will be done tomorrow.

I will post a thread tomorrow night and everyone can see....the Krylon touch.

Krylon ain't fancy, but it IS cheap and easy. I'd like to swing by after work sometime and take a look-see at that truck once it's painted.

 

[Barrman]

4-1/2 gallons of gillespie 24052 got all but my hard top and bed done. I just bought another 4 gallons last week from Rapco at $25.00 a gallon.

Mine was bare frame at Christmas and every part installed since has been painted inside out, top and bottom. I had to throw the unpainted bed and hard top on because I have a long distance motor home recovery in the next week or so. The picture below shows you how much a difference paint makes over rust.

I sanded everything so far myself. Or used a wire brush or something of that sort hooked to a grinder. I am really thinking hard about taking the bed someplace to get blasted. A single person with a few floor jacks and an engine hoist can manuever all the rest of the parts, but the bed is big, heavy and very hard to move. A loader or a tree just the right size and shape are really needed. My method of 55 gallon drums, fence post and HiLift jacks worked, but not the best.

 

[renovate7]

I just paid a sandblaster $2100. We removed the bed and all the tires 4 at a time. I pulled all the plates and seats in the cab. He blasted everything he could get, including most of the frame under the cab, axles, diffs, all the sheet metal, then primed it all. We did the wheels with the tires still on and they came out good. He used 7 gallons of finish paint I supplied and painted it. I took back various pieces as I pulled them and he blasted and primed them including the underside of the hood, seat frames, gas can bracket, legs for the ring mount et all. I still need to pull the screen around the exhaust pipe, compressor and a few other odd pieces and get them blasted. I've put in all new spec plates and gauges and am now detailing the engine compartment. Not exactly cheap but this is my "therapy" after a day in the real world.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Tim, that truck will be SO nice when you are done. KUDOS.

 

[tiger422]

Nice looking truck

 

[bulldog_mack13]

my truck

My last M35A2 , tan when i got it , and after a KRYLON paint job!!!

Added the winch , thanks to the G-man/mcmullag , and convoy/Rawls light thanks to Phil M. and the antenna thanks to Medlog and Mike M.


Hey 200 dollar Krylon job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! = New truck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[littlebob]

I just paid a sandblaster $2100. We removed the bed and all the tires 4 at a time. I pulled all the plates and seats in the cab. He blasted everything he could get, including most of the frame under the cab, axles, diffs, all the sheet metal, then primed it all. We did the wheels with the tires still on and they came out good. He used 7 gallons of finish paint I supplied and painted it. I took back various pieces as I pulled them and he blasted and primed them including the underside of the hood, seat frames, gas can bracket, legs for the ring mount et all. I still need to pull the screen around the exhaust pipe, compressor and a few other odd pieces and get them blasted. I've put in all new spec plates and gauges and am now detailing the engine compartment. Not exactly cheap but this is my "therapy" after a day in the real world.

renovate7
It looks like your doing everything right. I'm trying to do everything to the best of my
money, time and abilities/tools. I think Barrman has done a great job in a lot less time than myself. I know sources that I can borrow the equipment from that will speed up the end of mne to finish the chassis and bed when I get finished with the front and cab.
I think the paint question is pretty is well answered by our posts giving the level of
restoration and the paint required, as you came close to my estimates for taking one apart compared to someone that just wants to put a fresh coat on one.

Good posts,
littlebob

 

[Barrman]

Thanks Chris and RJ. I pulled the top off today and painted the inside of them along with rim #11 and rim rings # 11 and 12 plus a few other odd and ends. Tomorrow I get to mount up tire #11 so I will have an actual spare, piant the outside of the cab rear and start sanding on the cab top. Then I get to spend the weekend stuck at a historic bed and breakfast with my wife's family. The top should be done middle of next week. Anybody got a source for the rubber that goes between the top parts and the cab/top rear?

Back to the subject at hand.

My truck spent time up North in the land of rust. The cab was beyond repair. All the body parts came from another truck being parted out in the Republic of Kalifornia. Starting with no rust makes sanding a lot easier. The frame was rusty, but thick enough that a wire brush on a grinder knocked it off and still left me something to paint. My non original drop side bed probably came from the rust belt as well. I can't touch it without getting rust down the back of my shirt it seems. The more I look at it, the more I think blasting is going to be the only way to get all the rust out. So, look at what you have, what kind of tools, equipment and experience you have on hand and decide from there. What worked for me on a rust free body will not work for you on a rusted one. There is no correct answer to your question except paint is relatively cheap compared to normal auto paint and it will be the easiest stuff you have ever sprayed.

 

[dm22630]

I am painting one of mine right now....I started yesterday. It will be done tomorrow.

I will post a thread tomorrow night and everyone can see....the Krylon touch.

Krylon ain't fancy, but it IS cheap and easy. I'd like to swing by after work sometime and take a look-see at that truck once it's painted.

I sort of got done.....27 cans! (7 cans of primer & 20 cans of paint)

I still need to hit it with 5-6 more cans before I will be "done".

I have bought ALL the olive camo paint at 2 different walmarts.....now onto the 3rd one I guess....

*** If you are using Krylon spraypaint....you WILL need to put on at least 4 coats before you stop seeing spray lines***

 

[renovate7]

You may find it's a LOT cheaper to buy the $49 spray gun at Lowes and gallons of paint from Rapco. I'm amazed at how far just 1/2 of a gallon has gone. I've done the underside of the hood, inside of the side panels, seat frames, M23 cradle and a lot of other small pieces. No way you could do that with $15 of spray cans. I do use the Krylon Camo as an accent paint for small pieces. I've done the ring mount/legs with it as well as the troop seat metal parts, cargo bows, slave recept, light switch, throttle and cut off handle. I painted a small flat piece with the Krylon and we color matched it at Walmart and mixed a gallon of exterior flat paint for the wood on the troop seats.

 

[67Beast]

When I did my deuce, I didn't feel the need to go as far as I had done on my M715 restoration. So I just blasted a few items and went at it with paint and primer. The bed was in rough shape so I found a replacement and had it stripped. All in all he charged me $700 to blast the bed, troop seat pieces, front fenders, hood, side panels, and grill guard plus a few small bits and pieces. I think I used 6 gallons of gillespie 24087 and 4 gallons of primer to do the whole truck. The markings are from my decal site http://www.i2k.com/~schwarzd/ and are usually quite a bit less expensive than the markings or paint masks from the other vendor.

 

[Barrman]

Dave, why are your air tanks mounted outside the frame like that? Does not have a forward mud flap on the drivers side get a bunch of road trash thrown on the cab?

I was at Rapco last week. The $6.00 each spray cans they sell are made on sight using the gallon cans of the same color. I like having a spray can around to hit the bolts after I mess them up some putting stuff together.

Another kind of spray rig to look at is the remote resevoir stuff at places like Harbor Freight. They hold several gallons and allow you to lay underneath somthing and paint pointing up. Something a normal gravity feed HVLP won't let you do. Sermis has one of these and the bottom of his truck and frame looks great. I don't have one and the bottom of my truck has a thin layer of paint at best, my arms hurt when having to support the gun plus 3-5 pounds of paint in the gun out at full reach. Plus, when I did my frame I was going through 28 ounces of paint per side. I was having to remix, clean all my mixing stuff up, paint, repeat. He just mixed once and started spraying.

 

[67Beast]

Dave, why are your air tanks mounted outside the frame like that? Does not have a forward mud flap on the drivers side get a bunch of road trash thrown on the cab?

Remember, mine is a tipper. The air tanks were moved outboard to make room for the rear facing, pto driven hydralic pump and tank. I do not seem to get much thrown back at the cab, most all of it goes out the back. Heavy mud will sometime make the trip up and around the tire, but it is not much. My rear flaps are hindged so that they don't hit the tires when the bed is tilted up.