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I had a rather rusty but very solid (3 mm plate) trailer grit blasted and zinc sprayed over 20 years ago. I still have the trailer, and apart from the floor where I've dragged loads of rubble over it over the years it is still rust free. I sprayed two pack over the zinc to stop it washing off in acid rain and it's really lasted well.
I do still have a Metco zinc spraying gun but haven't used it in a long time. Basically it's an oxy-acetylene flame with a nozzle that has an 1/8" hole up the middle. An 1/8" zinc wire is pushed through the hole by a serrated wheel driven by an air turbine and melts in the flame and is splatted onto whatever you are coating. By adjusting the flame and the pressure of the compressed air running the turbine you can get the individual zinc bits very small, almost dust, so the surface is matt rather than truly rough.
As the globules of zinc impinge on the surface they mechanically lock together and to the surface which needs to be fairly rough - grit blasting is ideal as preparation. I've even sprayed wooden models to look like solid zinc - an amazing process.
That's great to hear, I was thinking after zinc plating to do 2 layers of etch primer, then 3 coat's of 2 pack polyester paint on it after. That should make it and all the underside parts last forever if I keep on top of waxoiling it at least I think it will ?