Morris Minor Owners Club

I am absolutely no paint job expert and I had been warned a few times by various experts about attempting this job. But this had to be done or lose the bonnet of my Morris Traveller to corrosive rust!.
The other alternative was to replace the whole bonnet but I am in no position to do that just yet.
If left in this state (pic 1) the bonnet would come off within another year. So I put 2 days aside. First I took off the hinges (remember these screws nuts and bolts have not been moved since 1970!) amazingly they came off with ease. Next job was to get rid of the rust and repair any holes. Only one 0.5cm hole needed reparing with P40. So far so good and was surprised that the rust had not penetrated the area completely judging by its initial state.
Finally the paint job. I sourced the original Almond Green from a classic car supplier rather than use an aerosol (I think that commercial aerosols are too heavy for such a small areas).
I thinned the paint myself and instead used an airbrush normally used for finer detailed work such a miniature models. Not as much masking is needed as the paint is more directional. Mine was bought from the bay for only £13.00.
The result was good/acceptable (not excellent) however a perfect colour match .
Now at least it is saved from corrosion for a few years to come. Bonnet saved. [frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Big improvement !
Did you use any kind of rust treating chemical before the paint?

Yes I used Hammerite Rust Remover.
Its a green non toxic gel that doesn't harm surrounding paintwork if accidently splashed.
Cheers
M

Really pleased I have seen this I am going to do some touch up work on my Morris 1000 and will be treating chips the largest of which is about the size of a 5p piece. I am going to buy one of those air brushes that will be so much easier than spraying over them using an aerosol can as I was planning on doing. Thank you for the useful tip.

Excellent job I too have a couple of little areas that need attention but even my touch in spray gun seems a bit too big. Does the airbrush run off a compressor or a tin of compressed air and what primer did you use?

Thanks Panky
For this relatively small job I used a tin of air but if you are doing lots of jobs a strongly suggest you use a compressor, quite cheap on the net.
The primer was a small tin of Hammerite primer half primer and half cellulose thinner.
Good luck

Looks really good,and buys you lots of time.

Looks like it did a good job

I'm sure I've seen a You Tube vid - where the operator simply blows into the air brush tube to do the job. Important to remember to blow - not suck, I guess!

That certainly is a cheaper option

This post prompted me to buy an airbrush!
Nicely made unit with different size jets hose etc all for £15 post free!?
I have a full size gun and a smaller one (with about a half mug size pot)
Not used it yet but looks as though it could be very useful!

Alan