Hi, I have a bus that I am converting and wonder if I could get a reasonable finish by hand (roller) painting rather than having to have it spray painted which might leave me without arms and legs. Anyone have any advice or experience on doing this?
Maybe if you grow your hair long, dread lock it, put a band around it and ware long multi coloured dacks and walk around saying "Peace Man" then use multi colours on the bus, it will look great TD.
Now, I saw a big converted coach and was actually camped near it just 10days ago and looked pretty good for a hand painted job. As KJ said, if you use a fine brush as well it shouldn't come up too bad.
I started to use a roller many moons ago on a Caravan but ended up just with a normal paint brush and came up pretty good. After prepping I even used "Solar Guard" house paint. I had that van "on site" at Kilcunda, near Philip Island VIC on a cliff edge over looking Bass Strait for 8 years with that paint job and no problem at all. When I sold it, I just washed it down with truck wash and looked pretty good still. Not saying that paint would work on a moving bus though.
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It can be done depend how good you are on the brush the main thing with any sort of painting is the preparation and when paint always have a wet edge plan your paint so you can have the smallest edge to work eg do the roof then from roof to top of windows then from window sil to bottom , Do not paint long ways along the side of the bus , It's like paint an door on you house tip off well.
First off, I am not a tradie, just tips that were past to me when I was maintaining my semi trailers, painted company trailers when things were quite using a brush, mostly red a long the sides and white across the back from a short distance away looked real good but looked the part.
A few years later I painted one of my own with blue Killrust it still looked reasonable after 10 years.
Warm the paint by placing the paint can in warm water it allows the paint flow smoother.
Small amount of kero as the thiner slows the drying time a bit but gloss paint will shine better.
Down those long sides is going to be the hard part, Brickies ideas are good.
Radars got it, Henry Ford did his T models that way when you only had the choice of black or black, I would just add that some P.C.F. (Parquetry, Cork and Flooring) hardener will make the surface harder and more durable, I have sprayed heaps of cars with house paint and P.C.F with excellent results. Just go for it.
Cheers
Gemmybob.
-- Edited by gemmybob on Monday 18th of May 2015 10:02:17 AM
My brother-in-law was infamous for brush painting his cars back in the 70's. But he topped it all off when he brush painted a car for his daughter in "silverfrost" ... after a week it still hadn't dried.
But keeping on topic, have you thought about hiring a spray painting setup? Once you've got it al prepped and got everything ready you should be able to get it done in a couple of days.
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I have seen a MG Sprite hand painted in acrylic. Paint was warmed and slightly thinned before each session/coat. Applied with a brush. Lots of wet and dry between coats. Final 8 coats were clear. Fantastic final product. Hand painting can be a good way to paint a vehicle.
Alternative is to consider one of the airless paint application devices. I bought and used one recently. Wagner brand, from Bunnings for $135. Teething problems were getting the paint viscosity right and operator error trying to apply too much at one go.
Iza
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Go with jemmybob and hire or buy a spray gun
Will not take long to get used to it and will do a better job than hand painting
painted 2 cars when younger and the job lasted longer than professional jobs
my 2 bob worth
Ken
Thanks for all thew tips guys. I have done some spraying before. I remodelled an old skiing boat some years ago and sprayed a nice two pack, but I had the use of a large closed up industrial shed which helped considerably. Ok some more things to think about.
I used a roller on my Coaster, the prep and masking taking most of the time. I used some good quality paint. Unless you get right up close it's come up quite good.
I can get a good finish on metal with my airless sprayer, you can hire them. Job done in 20 min. You can retard the drying of oil based paints with terribine (spelling) or if using water based flotrol is a good retarder. The slower it dries the better it levels.
