Advice: Re-painting metal sculpture

[Jiblet]

Hi all,

Background info:
So in high school I made a metal sculpture/water feature out of standard metal piping with sheet metal pop riveted to it.
It was painted white professionally, but is now starting to rust. The finish is reasonably glossy, but for the water feature part i'd like there to be a bit of texture so the water spreads out.
I don't know what paint was used.

Looks like this:
http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/tt44/jiblet087/sculpture.jpg

QUs:
- If i was to re-paint it, what would I need to do?
- Can i just put paint over it and hope?
- Do I need to apply primer and then paint?
- Should I rub it all back and start again?
- What is the best paint for a white item that sees a lot of water/weather?

Cheers in advance.
Paul

[HANS YOLO]

my Dad works for www.akzonobel.com/international - protective coatings on a large scale is his forte....his advice below


Suggest the following is undertaken to provide a longer life to the feature from the past.
1.Remove via mechanical means or hand preparation all existing unknown coating.
2. Make sure all paint is removed and you are down to bare substrate.
3. Apply an Epoxy Zinc Primer via brush or spray to achieve 75 um DFT.
4. Apply a Polyurethane 2 pack product to provide good UV protection. Please note a textured surface will not be able to be achieved with the product mentioned.

QUs:
- If i was to re-paint it, what would I need to do? –See below
- Can i just put paint over it and hope? No
- Do I need to apply primer and then paint?-Yes
- Should I rub it all back and start again? See comments.
- What is the best paint for a white item that sees a lot of water/weather? See Comments.

[Jiblet]

Thanks notagolf, exactly what I needed to know.

[JasonSS]

Im a painter by trade and if you go down the Epoxy Zinc road i hope your ready for a shock, that shit aint cheap lol best system to use for marine/water feature by far.

[Scaf]

How big are we talking? Not worth taking it to get blasted and powdercoated?

[schnoods]

if it has pop riveting well i dare say its quite thin, sandblasting would turn it into even less^^

[Jiblet]

I can't remember the exact dimensions (i'm at work at the moment too) but it's about:
- 1700 tall
- 1000 wide
- 1000 deep (maybe more)

So not small (and pretty heavy). I'll get more details when i fly home tonight.

Sandblasting and powdercoating could be a good option.

[mr m00se]

Maybe try sodablasting to get the old paint off.

[RICEY]

Rub the paint off with your dick.

Take progress pics.