ddvann79 wrote:Russ,
Mike's restoration thread covers paint, as well as mine.
You are correct not to use the rust converter. It has oil in it that bonds with the rust. If you don't have rust, you just end up with oily metal - not too good as a primer for paint.
Regarding the self etching primer: some people have had good luck with it and I have had mixed results. The Rustoleum Hammered products can be applied with or without primer. I have found that in situations where I used this primer under the finish coat, it actually chips more easily than if the paint was applied directly to the unfinished metal. I don't know if it has anything to do with the chemical composition of the Gold and Copper colors I used. Mike said he hasn't had any problems with the Verde Green and Silver. My inclination is to use the self etching primer to the insides of the castings for protection and not use it under the finish coat. I also found that to develop the hammered finish, it requires more of the finish paint than without the primer.
Use news paper and masking tape to fill in the larger holes in the casting. I didn't worry about the screw threads and just tapped out the excess paint for clean threads with a tap and die set. This generally cleans up the threads, which is a positive.
Oh, and practice developing the texture on a piece of cardboard before applying to the metal. It's a bit finicky. You have to apply so much paint that it almost runs. It will require a second coat to fill in pin holes left by the texture, which must also be heavy. Spray only left to right, relative to the can nozzle because it sprays a vertical ellipse shape, as opposed to a circle.
How does 'unidirectionality' help?
How close is that to the hand-painted color? If it's close it will likely require fewer coats.
