Those look good. Did you use the "old record player" method to spin the drum as you hold the spray gun steady?

No record player. I made a jig to hold the gun steady. Here is a pic of it, you see the rig on the right that holds the gun. The square peice with the dowel sticking up is on a lazy suzan bearing. I have different size circles cut out of plywood that have a hole in them that goes over the dowel. The beaing/dowel assembly slides back and forth so you can adjust the distance between the guns air cap and the drum shell.

The record player would be too fast. I actually spray from edge to edge instead of around the drum. It is eaiser to see the 50% overlap of each pass that way. This finish is very high in solids and can ony be built up so much. So I have to be careful not to spray to much on the drum.

I took many more pics of the entire process, if you want to see it from start to finish I would be glad to show you. You will think Im nuts, I know that much!

> The record player would be too fast.

The machine they used to spin the shells for painting at the Ludwig company when it was located in Chicago is faster than my old turntable set at 33 1/3. The speed is what produces the nice straight lines all the way around, no 'steps' in the paint job along the borders of the blend. In this case, the speed is an asset. You should try it with a turntable just once, you'll see what I'm talking about. Did you crank the shell around by hand to spin it?

One other advantage to mechanical spinning... After I paint the shell, I just allow the shell to spin for another 5 minutes, it speeds the drying process considerably and helps prevent drips.

Hey, as long as the results are good, it doesn't matter what method you use. I just found the turntable really helpful in a lot of ways.

Try it next time!

John

There wont be a next time. You have no idea how these products work. You cant just spin a drum around and throw paint (my paint)all over it. I used three diffeent products, Claw Lock, Stealth and Krystal. I cant build over 5 dry mils. If I were to spin the drum on a table I would have no idea how many coats are on the drum. I know your method worked great for you, you did a real nice job on yours, but, you used spray paint and were talking about two completely different things here. THe finish I use is for high quality kitchen/bath/furniture and commercial display case work.

I use the table to apply one coat by spraying edge to edge, turning the drum little at a time. Then I sprayed the "fog" part by placing the gun in the holder and spinning the table by hand. I thought about a record player but I knew it would be way to fast for what Im doing. It would be nice to have motor with a variable speed to turn it, I just never figured out how, plus turning by hand is easy.

Jeff - I didn't use the industrial-strength paint that you used, I'm sure it was whole other kettle of fish for you to do that great DUCO paint job. Like I said... if it works... use it!

The shells came out great.

John

Thanks John, when I get time I will explain the proccess more clearly. Im sure its never been done my way before, too many steps. But I would be glad to share my crazy method, lol!

Would love to see how you did it. Yes I'm that crazy too. BTW Bears vs Packers tonight!!! Go Bears!! ;)

Would definitely love to see more steps in the process.

I have an airbrush and have been thinking it might be useful for Duco jobs.

OK, guys you got it. You will probably never see anyone else do a duco job like this again. But as my very good friend Glenn mentioned, Bears Packers tonight. I do not miss MNF for anything. Love the Bears, long time fan but the Pack is much better and should win this one. Of course, I think Chicago is better off without Cutler, so there you go.

But I will post some pics of the steps I took tomorrow. Its OK if you laugh at me.

Ok Buddy The Bears WON~! where's those crazy pics now?? LoLoLoLo