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Thu Dec 16, 2010 3:08 am

skid wrote: You should pose them in a make-out pose sometime. I bet it would really make people look twice!

Looks like Herbert's got the same idea, judging by the big smile on his face and the hat over his lap. :roll:

Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:26 am

Well, here is my '79 panel two years later. Again, keep in mind that it gets driven in very harsh Nova Scotia weather year round... road salt for six months and lots of it! Some of the rust has returned. Next spring I will remove the rust and touch it up as I still have some paint left.

Mon Dec 20, 2010 11:35 am

Joey wrote:

Can you give some what of an estimate for each colored used. That's the color I want. 70% green, 20% white, 5% red, 5% yellow??? Experimentation sucks. I'm afraid I'll get baby shit green.

Hey I just thought of something what if I mail you some. I have a ton left over and you can use that to match it?

PM me your address.

Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:46 pm

pdlrofdrms wrote: Joey wrote:

Can you give some what of an estimate for each colored used. That's the color I want. 70% green, 20% white, 5% red, 5% yellow??? Experimentation sucks. I'm afraid I'll get baby shit green.

Hey I just thought of something what if I mail you some. I have a ton left over and you can use that to match it?

PM me your address.

Its says Joey Wrote, but that was me that asked. I appreciate the offer but I was trying to collect the information for later in time. A full brake job is the first order of business this spring. Then I have to patch a few rust holes and do lots of paint prep before I can even think about some fresh paint. I'll experiment in small quantities like you did. Thanks again...great people here on The Samba.

Mon Dec 20, 2010 8:14 pm

Trailjunky wrote:
That's the color I want. 70% green, 20% white, 5% red, 5% yellow??? Experimentation sucks. I'm afraid I'll get baby shit green.

sig line anyone?

Mon Dec 20, 2010 8:25 pm

nvwainfo wrote: Trailjunky wrote:
That's the color I want. 70% green, 20% white, 5% red, 5% yellow??? Experimentation sucks. I'm afraid I'll get baby shit green.

sig line anyone?

I know! Right? :)

Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:24 pm

Started working on my rustoleum paint job this weekend. Did some paint stripping with Jasco paint stripper. Then sanded. Today I got a chance to lay down some primer :twisted: I mixed in a little bit of mineral spirits to help it flow a little better. Overall, the results weren't bad. Certainly better than the old rattle can job it had before.

Sanded

Painting

End Result

I think this is going to end up either almond or gloss white...

Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:03 pm

90% of a paint job is in the prep work and you're getting a little ahead of yourself spraying already. That top should be masked off as well as the canvas. 2 tiny phillips head screws remove those headlights. Things like door handles and trim are easy to remove and it makes a world of difference in the final product.Kudos for removing the turn signals and tail lights. You should tape those holes where you took out the lenses from the inside to stop from blowing dirt and overspray into your interior or your engine bay. Just cover the holes from the inside with some tape. Cover the wheels with a garbage bag. If you plan to paint them, mask off the tires and do them separately. An hour or so of work before you started spraying that primer would have made a huge impact on what it will look like when it's done. Everywhere you see a piece of tape on that Vanagon is a potential spot for the paint to start peeling. I applaud your efforts to do it yourself and I'm sure you'll be happy with the end result, but please take my advice. Don't rush this, I know it's easy to get excited and wanna get that gun spraying but seriously, your prep work is what makes it look good, not what comes out of the gun.

Sun Jan 09, 2011 8:23 pm

Thanks for the advice! Any suggestions on how to mask off the top? Just newspaper and tape like the rest of it or is there something that would work better? Most of the top area has not been sprayed yet. I went about as far as the gutter. As for the wheels/tires I was going to put trash bags over them but we were all out (I plan to replace the tires in the next few weeks anyways so I'm not too concerned about overspray).

Sun Jan 09, 2011 9:07 pm

You could use newspaper and masking tape but I would think you could buy a roll of plastic at a home depot or other such store and do it much easier.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:03 am

We made it! Our bus is finally running and ready to get some cosmetic surgery. We are finally at the point where we get to bust the paint out. Hopefully this will be a colorful weekend.

After re-reading this thread I am encouraged all the more to give rolling a good try! Thanks for all the advice and updates everyone! A lot of you are reaping good results from your work.

We live in California and wanted a custom color. No one here will tint Rustoleum for us, but we got the fellas at the local Ace hardware to tint their version to the color we want. It should come out like a nice sea-foam green. I practiced on an old metal folding chair and it looks decent. We are thinking of doing almond on the top (cause it seems classy), but after seeing how crisp plain white has come out for many of you... hmm... we might rethink that.

Tomorrow the old paint comes off and we're doing all the rust work. I need to fill on some holes below the windshield and in the area around the sunroof, but if the God of VW's smile upon us we won't find any surprises that will set us back. Wish us luck!

[/img]

Fri Apr 01, 2011 6:09 am

kevarilla wrote: We made it! Our bus is finally running and ready to get some cosmetic surgery. We are finally at the point where we get to bust the paint out. Hopefully this will be a colorful weekend.

After re-reading this thread I am encouraged all the more to give rolling a good try! Thanks for all the advice and updates everyone! A lot of you are reaping good results from your work.

We live in California and wanted a custom color. No one here will tint Rustoleum for us, but we got the fellas at the local Ace hardware to tint their version to the color we want. It should come out like a nice sea-foam green. I practiced on an old metal folding chair and it looks decent. We are thinking of doing almond on the top (cause it seems classy), but after seeing how crisp plain white has come out for many of you... hmm... we might rethink that.

Tomorrow the old paint comes off and we're doing all the rust work. I need to fill on some holes below the windshield and in the area around the sunroof, but if the God of VW's smile upon us we won't find any surprises that will set us back. Wish us luck!

Just please, please use a good primer on that Bus.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:06 am

kevarilla wrote: We made it! Our bus is finally running and ready to get some cosmetic surgery. We are finally at the point where we get to bust the paint out. Hopefully this will be a colorful weekend.

After re-reading this thread I am encouraged all the more to give rolling a good try! Thanks for all the advice and updates everyone! A lot of you are reaping good results from your work.

We live in California and wanted a custom color. No one here will tint Rustoleum for us, but we got the fellas at the local Ace hardware to tint their version to the color we want. It should come out like a nice sea-foam green. I practiced on an old metal folding chair and it looks decent. We are thinking of doing almond on the top (cause it seems classy), but after seeing how crisp plain white has come out for many of you... hmm... we might rethink that.

Tomorrow the old paint comes off and we're doing all the rust work. I need to fill on some holes below the windshield and in the area around the sunroof, but if the God of VW's smile upon us we won't find any surprises that will set us back. Wish us luck!

[/img]

Good luck. Just FYI though, I did the same thing from 2 different paint suppliers and had them tint the oil based paint to my selected color. The result was that the tinted paint did not have a good of a gloss as the factory tinted Rustoleum. If you are not really worried about a gloss then tinting your own color is definately the way to go.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 7:59 am

ccpalmer: Could you give me an example of what you would consider a "good primer"?

Our original plan was to sand away all of the rust before painting, and we have been on the fence as to whether we'd have to use a primer at that point (some people here seem to have done well w/o a primer when using this type of paint). Others have also said "the OG paint is your best primer", so we've also considered just sanding/grinding the rust away, inhibiting the metal there, patching what's needed to make it flat, priming those parts alone, then proceeding with the colors.

I know that if we go down to bare, non-rusty metal that we shouldn't use the "rusty metal" primer, since in contains extra oils that need to have rust to penetrate, or the primer will actually prevent a top coat from setting in as best it could (or so the company says). We were looking at just getting a regular gray auto primer out of a spray can. In your opinion that not good enough?

magnus: Yep. I saw that. All our test so far show a pretty decent gloss though. If it doesn't turn out as glossy as I'd like, then we could consider doing a clear coat down the line.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:40 am

kevarilla wrote: I know that if we go down to bare, non-rusty metal that we shouldn't use the "rusty metal" primer, since in contains extra oils that need to have rust to penetrate, or the primer will actually prevent a top coat from setting in as best it could (or so the company says). We were looking at just getting a regular gray auto primer out of a spray can. In your opinion that not good enough?

Rustoleum makes a clean metal primer. It's best to stick with the same brand for primer and top coat to prevent unexpected interactions.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:59 am

GeorgeL wrote: kevarilla wrote: I know that if we go down to bare, non-rusty metal that we shouldn't use the "rusty metal" primer, since in contains extra oils that need to have rust to penetrate, or the primer will actually prevent a top coat from setting in as best it could (or so the company says). We were looking at just getting a regular gray auto primer out of a spray can. In your opinion that not good enough?

Rustoleum makes a clean metal primer. It's best to stick with the same brand for primer and top coat to prevent unexpected interactions.

That is a very good point. I don't know that much about rustoleum...

What about using an epoxy primer then using the rustoleum primer? Or POR-15 then rustoleum primer?

Fri Apr 01, 2011 12:02 pm

ccpalmer wrote:
What about using an epoxy primer then using the rustoleum primer? Or POR-15 then rustoleum primer?

Probably OK, but I'd try doing a sample first before I did a major panel of the car. If it wrinkles or otherwise messes up it is a bear to get clean.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:00 pm

I have used trim clad to paint a bus before as well, we bought a 1985 vanagon that was in ok shape, we only had a 400$ budget. We got a new sliding door and i welded in new panels.

Before

after im sure with a bit of sanding and a polish it would look a bit better, but we were happy with the results. I found watering down the paint with some mineral spirits (50/50 mix) works well, it flows out better with a foam roller.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:22 pm

nanaimovwclub wrote: I have used trim clad to paint a bus before as well, we bought a 1985 vanagon that was in ok shape, we only had a 400$ budget. We got a new sliding door and i welded in new panels.

Before

after im sure with a bit of sanding and a polish it would look a bit better, but we were happy with the results. I found watering down the paint with some mineral spirits (50/50 mix) works well, it flows out better with a foam roller.

I agree, 50/50 mixture

Fri Apr 01, 2011 1:50 pm

GeorgeL wrote: ccpalmer wrote:
What about using an epoxy primer then using the rustoleum primer? Or POR-15 then rustoleum primer?

Probably OK, but I'd try doing a sample first before I did a major panel of the car. If it wrinkles or otherwise messes up it is a bear to get clean.

I used POR15 and Rustoleum primer on my window frames. It works good, just don't be in a hurry between coats. It will wrinkle. Use a few dust coats of primer let dry,light sand then primer coat. It came out very good. Then I rattle canned Rustoleum over that.