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Old 07-04-2021, 01:13 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Planning for paint

I am planning out how we are going to paint our 24ft international bus and wondering if there were some suggestions out there that people were willing to share.

Here is what I was thinking so far:

remove decals, adhesives, lights and windows
wash
sand with 100 grit using orbital sander and scotch bright pads
wash
mask
wipe down with acetone
roll and brush on sherwin williams direct to metal alkyd enamel, white on roof and color elsewhere (1 coat?)

Any advice or wisdom on the process would be appreciated.

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Old 07-04-2021, 05:29 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre3MC View Post
I am planning out how we are going to paint our 24ft international bus and wondering if there were some suggestions out there that people were willing to share.

Here is what I was thinking so far:

remove decals, adhesives, lights and windows
wash
sand with 100 grit using orbital sander and scotch bright pads
wash
mask
wipe down with acetone
roll and brush on sherwin williams direct to metal alkyd enamel, white on roof and color elsewhere (1 coat?)

Any advice or wisdom on the process would be appreciated.
100 grit is pretty coarse. Maybe start with 180 or 220? I usually go with 300 unless there's actual bodywork to do.
Why take it all down to bare metal? seems a lot of extra work.
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Old 07-04-2021, 08:25 PM   #3
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We did 220 grit on the orbital sander and used Rustoleum Industrial paint from Home Depot. Put it on with rollers. $100 in paint total. White roof, aluminum sides, red rub rails. I think we spent more on tape and rollers.
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Old 07-04-2021, 08:50 PM   #4
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Heat gun and plastic putty knife to remove decals

Lacquer thinner and scotch brite to remove adhesive

Wash

220 in an orbital sander.

Wash

Mask

Wipe down with a prepaint wipe down from an auto body supply

Tack cloth

Paint
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Old 07-05-2021, 06:01 AM   #5
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I am in the process of rolling a bus now and will never ever do it again. The things taken for granted when spraying are huge issues when rolling.

Rollers hate right corners, spray goes right in corners crevices etc.

Rollers have no overspray but you still mask all of the hardest and tightest areas to rolll.

Rollers leave an ok but not shiny finish. In my case ok because the previous paint was already terribly done.


Next bus I will somehow find a way to spray it. Or I’ll just pay a painter to shoot it after I prep it . No more rolling for me..
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Old 07-05-2021, 06:21 AM   #6
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Oh yeah, don’t take it down to bare metal. As long as the existing finish is sound.

I sprayed mine with single stage auto paint. I think this is a good way to go if you have a place to do it
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Old 07-05-2021, 07:01 AM   #7
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I have 2 busses, one that has OIL BASED single stage auto paint and one that is painted with standard base / clear modern paint.. the bus with the single stage doesnt have quite the new-car shine that the base / clear does but the durability of that single stage bus is 2 fold over the base / clear. the modern water base paints may be easier to work with and clean up after but they just dont have the durability of the old paints.. for a camping bus where you find yourself on gravel roads or backing into camping spaces with branches rubbing against the bus etc I want durability over anything.. even for me a guy who rarely sleeps a night in a bus, the durability over shine is important to me.
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Old 07-05-2021, 10:16 AM   #8
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"...roll and brush it..."
Marry me!
.
1964, my first vehicle was a 1949 International pick-up truck.
Black, but not '2021 Black©' black.
.
Well.
I had the idea to paint it 'pimp-purple', so I scrounged a partial gallon of house-paint and a four-inch brush, and I was off-and-running.
.
Even at fourteen, my genius-streak was clearly evident.
.
Fast forward to 2003.
Our 1997 Ford CF8000 commercial truck to ExpeditionVehicle conversion was as simple as we could keep it.
For paint, I went to our local-owned hardware store for rattle-cans of flat-matte.
Tan with a terra-cotta stripe, and black lowers to give the delusion of an 'aggressive ground-hugging' stance.
.
Heck, that turned out pretty good, so the toy-hauler I built from a commercial trailer in 2010 is rattle-canned identical.
Mighty sharp, if I may say so.
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Old 07-05-2021, 12:33 PM   #9
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I’m told that unless you’re doing orange or red, that the yellow will show through light colors unless you prime. If you do decide to prime first, use white primer for light colors and grey for dark color.

Be aware about paint compatibility. It’s advisable to read the manufacturer’s documentation when making product selection.

When you sand, everything is going to be yellow.
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Old 07-05-2021, 01:56 PM   #10
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my rolling and brushing as its going so far.. on a bus that already has from what I can tell 4 coats of paint.. 2 yellow 1 blue-gray and one cream...other parts have black as well. lots of runs-hits-and errors in the previous layers.. ive been scraping off bad paint and sanding out some paint too and sanding out the very few minor rust spots.. (this bus is luckily Very very clean for one thats 43 years old)


but you can see the finish is not a mirror and is not going to shine.. on a good note though part of it thats been dried for about 10 days I dropped my ladder against it and it didnt even scratch the paint so the oil based professional rustoleum seems to be pretty durable even before fully cured.


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Old 07-05-2021, 04:06 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Danjo View Post
I’m told that unless you’re doing orange or red, that the yellow will show through light colors unless you prime.
I did a test patch two years ago using Rustoleum "antique white" with no primer over the yellow. No show-through from the yellow. The patch is partially over some gray automotive primer sprayed over a Bondo job and that's not showing through either.
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Old 07-05-2021, 04:19 PM   #12
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So far the Rustoleum pro oil based white and black I’m using have had. Zero issues with show through once I get coated properly. It is taking 2 coats on most everything but the red rub rails are taking 3 and that’s with no primer on the red first just a 220 grit sand and then clean with dawn powerwash solution, and mineral spirits after that then paint.
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Old 07-10-2021, 03:54 PM   #13
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I'm concerned about painting outside where bugs and stuff can get into the paint and ruin the paint job. How do you do it outside OR how do you find an indoor place to do your painting with such a large vehicle?
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Old 07-10-2021, 04:13 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daledorm View Post
I'm concerned about painting outside where bugs and stuff can get into the paint and ruin the paint job. How do you do it outside OR how do you find an indoor place to do your painting with such a large vehicle?
Look around for boot rentals. I found one that was just big enough for my short bus. If you can’t find that then you just gotta go for it.
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Old 07-10-2021, 04:17 PM   #15
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ive been trying ti paint only before 4pm or so with my oil based paint.. most of the flying insects arent out even under my canopy when its sunshine out.. once the sun goes down my paint seems to have enough tack to it that bugs dont stick. and if they do they fall off real easy the next day without residue.. obviously they will crawl into wet paint till they die and for those I wipe em off with a cleaning wipe the next day and it doesnt seem to be a huge issue..



the couple times I painted into the evening was disaster as i had lots of bugs in the paint so I quit that.
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Old 07-10-2021, 04:51 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
my rolling and brushing as its going so far.. on a bus that already has from what I can tell 4 coats of paint.. 2 yellow 1 blue-gray and one cream...other parts have black as well. lots of runs-hits-and errors in the previous layers.. ive been scraping off bad paint and sanding out some paint too and sanding out the very few minor rust spots.. (this bus is luckily Very very clean for one thats 43 years old)


but you can see the finish is not a mirror and is not going to shine.. on a good note though part of it thats been dried for about 10 days I dropped my ladder against it and it didnt even scratch the paint so the oil based professional rustoleum seems to be pretty durable even before fully cured.


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That actually looks really good! The alloy wheels also set off your bus nicely. I absolutely must have Alcoa's on mine. They have the durabright version which is clear coated. I want to keep maintenance on cleaning as low as possible.
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Old 07-10-2021, 06:07 PM   #17
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I pressure wash several times before sanding, scotch briting, and wiping down with acetone (if I still have the energy). Pressure washing gets a lot of crud out from under the trim pieces and rub rails, gas cap flanges, crevasses, etc. It gets to where you cannot scrub by hand. You can sometimes remove flaking paint and stickers by pressure washing. And mine had lots of moss and lichen so it got rid of that first.
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Old 07-10-2021, 07:34 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre3MC View Post
I am planning out how we are going to paint our 24ft international bus and wondering if there were some suggestions out there that people were willing to share.

Here is what I was thinking so far:

remove decals, adhesives, lights and windows
wash
sand with 100 grit using orbital sander and scotch bright pads
wash
mask
wipe down with acetone
roll and brush on sherwin williams direct to metal alkyd enamel, white on roof and color elsewhere (1 coat?)

Any advice or wisdom on the process would be appreciated.
I just finished painting my bus with Sherwin Williams Pro Industrial Alkyd enamel. I ended up rolling it when the sprayer completely failed to handle the paint and I had a bus ready to paint with no other option.

The decals peeled off without tools for me when I waited for a hot day and exercised patience when peeling them. I bought a gallon of Xylene because that's what was suggested for the paint. It's some nasty stuff but it takes any adhesive off with little effort, not sure how it would compare to acetone but way better than thinner or terpentine.

I used 100 grit on random orbital sanders. It's aggressive but if you're careful you can avoid sanding through.

I don't have enough time to remove windows. I figure I'll take care of the trimming when I'm parked somewhere next winter. I painted because it's a legal requirement not because I wanted to or because I fancy myself an automotive Piccaso. I got the bus covered (mostly). If you stand 30 feet away it doesn't look horrible, I'll be satisfied with that if it gets me out this winter.

One coat did pretty well in covering. If you've seen my conversion thread, "Leaventaun -- Soon" it took 1 gallon to do it. The bus is right around 28' bumper to bumper. I didn't paint the entire roof, just far enough to make it look, from the ground, like I did.

I didn't bother with scotch bite pads, too slow (I tried them, very briefly)

When I switched to rolling from spraying, I didn't bother masking. I didn't find it necessary. I used a 6" roller initially then bought a 4" for the next session. I painted the rails the same color so I wouldn't have to mask them, I think it was a good, time saving, decision.

If you roll, whatever you do, buy the best quality rollers you can find. That alkyd enamel is very thick and will pull the roller fibers right out of any but the best rollers. I should add that I didn't thin when I rolled it on.

Buy and use tack cloths and tacking should be the very last step before paint.
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Old 07-10-2021, 08:17 PM   #19
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what are tack cloths? I did mineral spirits aftwer my degreasing and light sanding.. so far ive been painting the rub rails the same color as the body since there was so much runs hits and errors already from the previous 4 paint jobs the bus got.. i'll probably still trim them out in a different color.. its much easier to mask the bus body and paint the ribs after vs mask the ribs and paint the bus body.. most ribs have indentations for water drainage which makes it tougher to tape on them.. one thing is for sure is GET THE TAPE OUT once you are dont painting.. dont leave it around! once my second coat is tacking up and looks good I peel the tape..
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Old 07-10-2021, 08:31 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
what are tack cloths? I did mineral spirits aftwer my degreasing and light sanding.. so far ive been painting the rub rails the same color as the body since there was so much runs hits and errors already from the previous 4 paint jobs the bus got.. i'll probably still trim them out in a different color.. its much easier to mask the bus body and paint the ribs after vs mask the ribs and paint the bus body.. most ribs have indentations for water drainage which makes it tougher to tape on them.. one thing is for sure is GET THE TAPE OUT once you are dont painting.. dont leave it around! once my second coat is tacking up and looks good I peel the tape..
They capture particles that will otherwise end up in the paint finish. They leave no residue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tack_cloth
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