Paint Your Wagon - with a roller!

[CovKid]

Thats the beauty of this method, you can paint bits as you have the time.

Yep, and why I like this method so much Llamapup. Nice colour by the way. Having done that section, you'll now have a 'feel' for it and will be as expert as the rest of us. Was actually a great day today for painting (apart from occasional gusts of wind which can sometimes throw up grit) but at least it was mostly dry out there (apologies to those in scotland who experienced heavy rainfall today). You may find it takes a lot longer to dry in this weather but its generally skinned over after a couple of hours.

Ofcourse, the other thing pointed out rather well by your pics is that you can at least do it in the street. Spraying might not go down so well but you're unlikely to get many objections to rollering and not everyone has the luxury of a garage or even offroad parklng.

[twd40]

Thanks for the advice I have a pretty powerful heat gun, probably use that along with some lighter fuel to remove sticky residue. I will try to take photos as I proceed.

[Llamapup]

Ofcourse, the other thing pointed out rather well by your pics is that you can at least do it in the street. Spraying might not go down so well but you're unlikely to get many objections to rollering and not everyone has the luxury of a garage or even offroad parklng.

I am indeed painting my van in the street. Its a fairly quiet side street in Leeds, but it is certainly very public. I regulary have to contend with 30 mph traffic and pedestrians stepping over my power cables and eying up all my expesive tools and materals. But it is possible to paint your van with a roller in a fairly urban environment.

I woud say that the most anti-social elements of this "painting your wagon with a roller" business has to be the general debris that accumulates under a vehicle and the dust from sanding. There is quite an accumulation of paint drips and used sandpaper on the road at the end of a session on the van. My random orbital sander is great at sorting out body filler, but the amount of sanding dust could be a problem if my neighbours needed to park quite closely to my van. Luckily they have been giving my dubious activities quit a wide birth. The actual rollering probably goes unnoticied, except by those who (incorectly) think I'm crazy to attempt such an unfeasable activity.

Regardless though, painting in the street is the only option I have. Thankfully with a roller it is entirely possible.

Thanks

Llamapup.

[eatcustard]

My random orbital sander is great at sorting out body filler, but the amount of sanding dust could be a problem

Put water on the floor before you paint it.

[Llamapup]

My random orbital sander is great at sorting out body filler, but the amount of sanding dust could be a problem

Put water on the floor before you paint it.

Its the dust the blows around and lands on nearby cars that is a bit of a problem when working in the street. My sander has a filter that collects the dust, but it still can be a bit messy working in a public place. Lucky for me I have reasonably understanding neighbours. They do seem to be giving my van an unusually wide berth though.

[Llamapup]

Thanks for the advice I have a pretty powerful heat gun, probably use that along with some lighter fuel to remove sticky residue. I will try to take photos as I proceed.

Wow that sounds like an exciting approach to removing stickers! Your more daring than I am. I think I speak for us all when I say, .....don't set your van on fire!

Let us know how your entrirely reckless attempts at removings stickers progresses.

Llamapup

[chuckle-bus-tom]

Looking great Llamapup! I painted ours on a main road in Hackney, with double decker buses hertling past and all sorts of unsavouries getting interested. I did most of my painting at 3/4am to beat the traffic and undesirables. It also gives the paint a full day in the sun too!

[CovKid]

3/4am? what with a torch?

[steveo3002]

Looking great Llamapup! I painted ours on a main road in Hackney, with double decker buses hertling past and all sorts of unsavouries getting interested. I did most of my painting at 3/4am to beat the traffic and undesirables. It also gives the paint a full day in the sun too!

haha thats keen ...cant be many days when its dry out that time

[lorri-d]

Hi,

We have just got our first T25. It's a transporter which the previous owner has done a pretty rough paint job on, it's white at the top and matt black at the bottom. The black at the bottom looks pretty rough and we would like to re paint it sky blue. Do you think this would be possible with this method and if so can anyone give some advice about painting over such a dark colour?

Many thanks

[steveo3002]

yes the method will still work...it might just take more coats to cover but id expect sky blue to cover pretty nice anyways

[lorri-d]

That's great I'll give it a bash then! Thanks

[Llamapup]

More progress this weekend: I have now managed to get the second coat on both sides and one fantastic coat on the front. The weather has been great for painting. Warm, no breeze, no bugs. Its been short sleves all weekend. I'm waiting for my local garage to fix some rust holes along the bottom edge of the tail gate before I do any painting at the back. It needs some new metal welding in. Here are some photos of some work I did this weekend:

Front all ready for paint.

I've never noticed until I stripped everything back how substantal the front end is on a T25. Thats a lot of metal! Once I put the steel bumper back on this thing will be like an orange Panzer!

Cab roof section of pop top removed to aid in painting the strip above windscreen


First Coat of Paint on the Front and Sides





Two coats on sides and front with some of the trim and lights replaced so that I can drive it to work on Monday.





Shot of two coats on the side, still needs flatting back ready for coat 3.



I should be able to get the third coat on all sides but the back next weekend. This rollering seems to be working well.

Someone mentioned cuting rollers to fit in smaler locations. I would like to be able to run a roller down the groove in the bodywork at the top of my orange paintwork for the final coat. I'll need a smaller roller to do this. If I cut the roller the metal rod will just stick out the other end. I'm not sure this would make things very easy to work with. Can you get shorter rollers and shorter roller handles as well?

Once a get the third coat on, I'll need to learn how to polish the paint. It seems that when I sand with 1200 grit wet dry it leaves the paint very smooth indeed, but pretty flat looking. How do I make the paint shiney again. Do I just T-cut it and puts some wax on it?

Thanks

Llamapup

[gaz f]

Damn that's looking good!

I really, really want to get started on mine now!

[eatcustard]

Llamapup

You really need to give it a week between coats, then flatten back