Painting the frenchy-bus (longish)

[Dave5Cs]

Bob I had a car that I used to take out to the race track and everyone wanted to tell me how to build it ,paint it , drive it. Well the guy who tried the most to tell me how to do it was at the track 1 day and I had to race him. I won and I went home tape up the back of the car and had a friend come over that did really nice graphics and paint on "MY WAY". When my buddy know it all came over I told him I had something to show him that he could read the next time he was following me down the race track, LOL

Good Luck with your paint job, it will probably be great and if it isn't nobody died.

Dave5Cs

[chev49]

you dont absolutely have to prime. its just better cause the paint is all one color that way. as long as the surface has adhesion, paint will not come off.. thats what scotchbrite and cheap enamel is for the trailers or cars for resale. 

its just better if ya follow all the steps. i dont except on the good cars.

[bobofthenorth]

.......... and if it isn't nobody died.

Dave5Cs

Yet. 

Clearly you haven't watched any Red Green episodes.

[Van]

Oh! don't forget to mix thoroughly!
Red Green Handyman Tip - Paint Mixing
Boy talk about graphics in a can, hmmm! 

[Dave5Cs]

I did it mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyy Wayyyyyyyy, LOL

[bobofthenorth]

Oh! don't forget to mix thoroughly!

Boy talk about graphics in a can, hmmm! 

See?  What did I tell you?  The man knows his paint.

If you think about it a bit it makes more sense to use a vehicle with smaller wheels - higher RPM for the same speed or you can drive slower and still get a good mix.  And if you put the paint can slightly off centre you would get a more vigorous agitation.  Not to mention more spectacular graphics if the lid comes off.

K.Y.S.O.T.I.

[Scott & Heather]

Bob, hey have fun!!! We painted our bus and it turned out great!!!!


Sent from iPhone via Tapatalk

[bobofthenorth]

Update posted here: Current paint situation

Today I started putting the clearance lights back on and discovered that some of the cheapo Chinese LED lights I bought at Princess Auto a few years ago no longer light all their LEDs.  Imagine that! 

The clock is ticking now - there's about 20 couples from my grad class of 1979 that have got together the 3rd weekend in July every year since we graduated.  Not all of us make it back every year but a lot of us show up each year.  We missed last year but we'll be there this year as long as I get the paint done and the noisemaker is willing to start after sitting this long.

[Van]

Gosh darn it all Bob, it's startin' to look good, and see... it's not even moving so much for the 65mph paint job Don't worry bout changes your an artist' and they do it all the time

  Keep up the good work!

[bobofthenorth]

One last kick at this, update posted here.

Lessons learned:
- the advice I got here to prime everything first was well founded.  I think I already stated that it would have concealed the texture of the underlying graphics.  I don't believe priming was necessary to hide the underlying paint.
- any fool can do this (as long as the paint doesn't fall off Friday as soon as I get up to 60 MPH).  I don't have any fancy tools - everything I used came from Peavey Mart, Walmart, Canadian Tire or Princess Auto.  I certainly don't have any previous experience or skills.  I did have some previous experience with West System and in many ways I think that was likely more important than painting skills - if the fibreglass repairs don't hold then the whole exercise was for naught. 
- it takes way longer than you think.  WAY longer.  Sanding sanding sanding.  I bought a lot of sandpaper - I've kind of lost track and I've got a lot left over but I probably bought 800 or 1000 discs.  Velcro backed paper is wonderful.
- control the exhaust from your airsander.  I couldn't figure out where the oil spots were coming from and when I did figure it out I immediately put an exhaust hose on my sander and had no more problems
- cleanup wasn't nearly the chore that I expected but I was religious about it. Everything cleaned completely after every shot.  The clearcoat is a genuine PITA to clean once it starts to cure and on a hot day it cures way faster than you might think.  I lost about a quart of clear when I mixed a whole gallon and the last of it went off.  In theory I had 8 hour pot life but that batch went off in under an hour.  I've had that experience with West System but the clear took me by surprise.
- bugs weren't near the problem that I expected.  I did the whole job outdoors and I've got a few buggers embedded in the clear but very few and they'll sand and polish out easily.  The basecoat cures so quickly that bugs just weren't an issue and I seemed to always be painting in a breeze so that helped keep them away too.

Skip asked me if I'd do it over knowing what I know now and the answer is unequivocally yes.  I'd call Manpower and rent some lowlife to help with the sanding but otherwise I wouldn't change a whole lot from how I did it this time.  I haven't done books for a long time but I think I'm into this for about $5000 including the tools.  Figure $1500 for the tools and the balance for paint, epoxy and sandpaper.  That will give me 4-6 coats of clear on everything.  If my labour had any value it would be a pretty expensive job but since I work for nothing I think I got a paint job that will outlive me for not too much money.

[luvrbus]

I like it Bob looks good any boo/boo the 3M fast cut will take care of it 50 bucks a qt and worth every dime of it 


good luck

[Dave5Cs]

See I told ya it would look good. You never believe me. Whats the X on the front?

Dave5Cs

[John316]

Bob,

I am impressed. Would you like to come down and redo our Star Junk paint job? They were supposed to be pros, and your bus came out looking WAY better then our fit and finish on our bus. Great job.

John

[bobofthenorth]

Clifford: I've got some bottles of 3M polish sitting on the shelf waiting for me to get to them.  They'll have to wait until we get back from the reunion & until I get the balance of the clearcoat applied.

Dave: There's red pinstriping outside the headlights & I needed somewhere for it to go so it ended up crossing in the middle.  It just sort of happened.  I still think Red's painting machine would have been the way to go.

[Paso One]

Looks like a nice job Bob Can't wait to I see it driving thru town hopefully at 50 /50