Picture Update

[JohnEd]

Is the bus skin aluminum?

You can strip paint and rust with high"ER" pressure water with baking soda in it.  That leaves the metal smooth and polished.

A friend of mine that owns a auto restoration shop used 2 part epoxy primer for the first time many years ago.  A few days later the paint started to bubble and lift.  Don't get me wrong, it lifted in large sheets so it looked goods.  He was upset as he had to sand blast all that paint off of the frame.  Turns out the label specifically said, in print to small for the naked eye to read, DO NOT APPLY TO SAND BLASTED METAL.  Plain as the nose on your face if you use a 5 power loop and lots of light.  Not saying yours is the same stuff and certainly not wishing you any bad luck.

I have been preaching here that a really good job can be had by spraying outside.  Early morning as the sun rises over the horizon and I sprayed down the DIRT road where I painted it.  10,000 you say?  The masking is the real beotch.  10,000 you say?  Try it.  Spray the side of an old refer or piece of sheet metal and see how it comes out.  10,000 you say?

There are time limits to apply more paint.  Some of those limits are "apply additional coats no sooner than and the second set say not sooner than if you miss the first window.  This field changes so much so fast that the ONLY people that can give you the proper advice is the painter supply store staff.  Find a "shooter" and ask what special technique he might use for the product you are shooting.  Painters probably get 50 or 75 dollars to shoot a car so maybe 250 to shoot the bus but that would be they arrive and start shooting and stop when the job is done.  one hour for a bus with scaffolds in place or a cherry picker.  Electric picker costs ?$ for a day?

Good luck,


John

Good luck and your bus looks great.

[TomC]

Really looks great.  I paid $11,000.00 for my paint job (that included some body and rivet work) 11 years ago.
It's nice to see someone else that's using a motorhome style front door. I would suggest you cut a small (12x12) lower window-it's a blind spot and has saved my butt many times (you can see the window in my picture).  Good Luck, TomC

[buddydawg]

Everyone told me it could not be painted in sections, that it HAS to be painted all at one time.  I am glad to see that is not true!
Jack

I think it would be more difficult to do with a single stage paint but with Base/Clear it is easier.  I am using the seams as starting and stopping points.  It would be ideal to do it all at once but that is nearly impossible for me to do since I do not have an indoor facility to work in.

Very nice work ! Is that an old New York Bus Service fisbowl ? They were still in service as recent as 2003 or 04 ?
I was always impressed at how well they kept them up.
Looks great now.

Yep it is a retired NYBS bus.  Bus #1313.

Brandon,
Look'n great buddy! Nice job.  Looks very nice! (even if I'm not fond of red!)

  BK 

Sorry BK, Big Orange didnt even make the short list.....

Is the bus skin aluminum?

You can strip paint and rust with high"ER" pressure water with baking soda in it.  That leaves the metal smooth and polished.

A friend of mine that owns a auto restoration shop used 2 part epoxy primer for the first time many years ago.  A few days later the paint started to bubble and lift.  Don't get me wrong, it lifted in large sheets so it looked goods.  He was upset as he had to sand blast all that paint off of the frame.  Turns out the label specifically said, in print to small for the naked eye to read, DO NOT APPLY TO SAND BLASTED METAL.  Plain as the nose on your face if you use a 5 power loop and lots of light.  Not saying yours is the same stuff and certainly not wishing you any bad luck.

I have been preaching here that a really good job can be had by spraying outside.  Early morning as the sun rises over the horizon and I sprayed down the DIRT road where I painted it.  10,000 you say?  The masking is the real beotch.  10,000 you say?  Try it.  Spray the side of an old refer or piece of sheet metal and see how it comes out.  10,000 you say?

There are time limits to apply more paint.  Some of those limits are "apply additional coats no sooner than and the second set say not sooner than if you miss the first window.  This field changes so much so fast that the ONLY people that can give you the proper advice is the painter supply store staff.  Find a "shooter" and ask what special technique he might use for the product you are shooting.  Painters probably get 50 or 75 dollars to shoot a car so maybe 250 to shoot the bus but that would be they arrive and start shooting and stop when the job is done.  one hour for a bus with scaffolds in place or a cherry picker.  Electric picker costs ?$ for a day?

Good luck,


John

Good luck and your bus looks great.

I have been epoxy priming blasted parts for years, no problems to date.  It never hurts to read the tech sheets though, lots of useful information to be found there.


Thanks for all the compliments.

[buddydawg]

Really looks great.  I paid $11,000.00 for my paint job (that included some body and rivet work) 11 years ago.
It's nice to see someone else that's using a motorhome style front door. I would suggest you cut a small (12x12) lower window-it's a blind spot and has saved my butt many times (you can see the window in my picture).  Good Luck, TomC

I have enjoyed the RV style door.  I wanted to have a larger window but that was the largest option they had available from the factory.  I have thought about adding the lower window it just hasn't made it to the top of the list yet.

[jackhartjr]

I vouch for the lower window.  I have one in the truck I drive, and when I drive the same model truck without on, I am always wondering if someone is down there I don't see!
Jack

[Chaz]

Nice job!! Spraying in sections may be my way as well. But for now, the grey epoxy primer looks p-r-e-t-t-y good.  I too had mine sand blasted. Unfortunately, he was a little more aggressive with the media but, it's OK. The problem John Ed mentioned could have been the baking soda, not necessarily the "blasting" (??). You can read about how it can have adverse effects on paint jobs if you don't get absolutely all of it off. I just did a paint seminar where they stressed that. They say the baking soda can get into the metal and needs to be worked out other wise the paint will lift.
I looked up the DE Soto stuff. Which product did you use?
Thanx a bunch!
  Chaz

[buddydawg]

The Manufacturers Description:

PR-1422-B2 is a two-part polysulfide liquid polymer for sealing integral fuel tanks and pressurised cabins. The mixed compound is a thixotropic paste, readily applied by extrusion or injection gun, which does not flow from vertical or overhead surfaces. Sealant has excellent adhesion to aluminium, titanium, stainless steel, and other metals. It was especially developed for use over a temperature range of -55°C (-65°F) to 121°C (250°F).


I picked up this trick from my good friend in the aviation business.  It is an excellent adhesive for installing metal to metal panels and repairs.  I used it for an adhesive/sealant when I skinned over windows and for edge sealing.  The process for edge sealing is pretty straitforward. Apply electrical tape to the high side of the seam right at the edge and tape the lower panel approximately 1/4" away from the overlapping seam.  The material is 2 component and dispensed from a pneumatic gun. Run a bead down the edge of the seam and radius with a wooden tongue depressor then remove the tape.  After it sets it can be lightly sanded to remove the edge.  Prime then paint.  It does a great job and looks even better.  It really keeps the corrosion at bay along seams.   I have found that you can apply it after primer so long as you prime over it again to prevent bleeding through to the topcoat.

I will make a pictorial of the application when I do the driver side.

http://www.skygeek.com/prc-desoto-pr-1422b2-sealant-6-oz.html

It is a little pricey but it is the best I have found.

[Van]

RED BUS!! Nice job!! Hey just for giggles, I'm gonna start stripping the red paint off our siding one section at a time Time to reveal her inner beauty Photo's forthcoming... I also hear that the strippers here in Vegas are the tops!! but a bit pricey  LOL!
so, I'll have some left over used red paint for any one to stingy to buy the new stuff! ROFLMAO
   Van

[wal1809]

That is a kewl looking bus!!

[Chaz]

I'd suggest a sand/media blaster as opposed to a Stripper, Van. I really like strippers, and they can be nice butt, I mean, but, I think blasting was money well spent.  He was only going to charge me 350.00 but i gave him 500.00. Well worth it. And Buddy seems to have the ticket on the media. If you do strip it, you're a better man than me. That's a ton of work! Mine had 11 coats of paint.

Thanx for the info on the sealant, buddy!!

Chaz

[JohnEd]

Guys,

You have jogged my memory.  I was standing there looking at that frame and there were bubbles as wide as softballs where the paint was lifting off of that frame.  The shop owner said "would you have ever thought in a million years that there is a 2 part epoxy primer that cannot be applied to sand blasted metal?  I am certain that he didn't sand blast it himself so it might have been soda for all I know and he might have not known the media used.  It was a horror story I though might bear repeating.  Now I know that soda blasting isn't the benign process I thought...thanks.  The crap you learn when you speak up and that doesn't neccessarily mean to ask a question...really, thanks.

Curious note:  that shop owner was a Sherwin Williams Auto Paint Products jobber. 

[Marcus]

What did you  pay for the tires? Marc

[luvrbus]

Mike Wilson told me the Red base coat he uses cost him 400 bucks a quart now and the blues are getting there also


good luck

[buddydawg]

What did you  pay for the tires? Marc

I paid $1012 out the door for 2 which is nearly 200 more than I paid in August of 2009

[buddydawg]

Mike Wilson told me the Red base coat he uses cost him 400 bucks a quart now and the blues are getting there also


good luck

I paid around $140 per gallon for the red.  I used Chevrolet's Victory Red.  Nason was the brand.