How do I fake it?

You all haave got me thinking now. I drove a vw beetle for years that was yellow with one green fender. It sort became my trademark for a while. Not sure that is a great trademark, but.....

There will be more patches in the coming years as my tolerance for bottomless tool boxes and ventilated floorboards decreases and my current nonexistent skills and confidence in welding and body work increase. Maybe I'll just pick a color like flat black that would not stick out terribly, especially with some trail dirt on it, and go with that. As you say, it might be better than a bad fake patina. Hmmmm....

A friend once asked me, as he helped me load my first jeep. "You know how to weld?.... You're about to learn!" How very right he was.

mikec4193 wrote: Hey Stan   P.S. I thought I was the only VW bug on here...

Funny thing about that beetle. When we first got married my wife had a yellow 67. We sold that one when i was stationed overseas. A few years later when we decided we needed a 2nd car, my wife suggested another beetle. We looked around and found anothet yellow one, a 72 this time, yellow with a green fender. My wife drove it once, said, "that's not as fun as I remember." So the beetle was my ride for the next 10 years or so. I think my wife drove it twice in all that time.

Spray a light base coat of clean metal primer.
Spray a covering coat of robins egg blue mixed from rustoleum blue + white.
Spray a light coat of rustoleum damp proof red primer over the blue.
Wet sand the primer so your blue just starts to show.
Use a windex bottle to spritz blotchy lumpy areas of brown rustoleum. Not covering. Just some jumpy splotches And some more blotchy areas of black. Let dry.
Lightly coat with the rustoleum red primer. Just a light coat.
Wet sand with 400 or 600 until the tops of the brown blotches appear and start looking like bumps of rust.

Repeat with whatever colors you have handy. The spray bottle gives you the texture, the base coat of robins egg blue is under there and will appear as you lightly wet sand. Cover it all with flat clear if the sanding doesn't give you a flat enough finish.

Cover the underside with a heavy coat of rustoleum red - let rocks and mud cover it.

yes, I have used these ideas on a number of small projects but don't have any pictures.  I didn't invent the techniques - Got them from a 2008 article in Street Rodder magazine where they put "patina" on this fiberglass hot rod.