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Date:         Sun, 20 Mar 2011 08:14:30 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Painting done, now see the movie....
Comments: To: John Rodgers <inua@charter.net>
In-Reply-To:  <4D85BE91.2020907@charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I painted my 356 Porsche long ago with a metallic silver yacht paint. A 2-part polyurethane called Awl Grip. I was working in a boatyard at the time and we had some extra, left over from painting a customer's mast, so I didn't have to buy the paint..

As someone mentioned, it is very difficult to get a good even "flow' with a metallic color, hard to keep the "wet edge" going. On my first attempt, I simply could not get the roof sprayed right...spraying from one side then going (rushing) around to finish the other, there was always a cruddy cloudy area where the paint had to meet in the center of the roof.

We took some nylon webbing and hung the whole car suspended from the overhead in the shop, then rotated the car so the roof was perpendicular to the Earth, so I could get at the whole roof in one pass, just standing on the floor. Might work for a Vanagon roof, if you had a strong place to hang it from. (My vanagon weighed 4250lbs recently with my traveling load aboard..The 57 Porsche?..probably about 1500lbs)

On the Vanagon, your roof won't get so many 'direct eyeballs' as that waist-high bath-tub Porsche. Despite my best efforts, I did leave some areas on that paint job that I was going to "buff-out, when the paint fully cures"...never did....

Don Hanson

As may have been mentioned...Squirting the actual paint, that is a relatively small percentage of the time involved with a successful paint job. However, when you finally spray, it must go right, and it should be done in "one shot" if you want to save yourself lots of extra time, wet sanding and buffing later.

So take your time, be very methodical, getting everything ready on 'spray day'. If you do have to stop to straighten a kinked hose, to re-set your compressor, to mix more paint, etc....you may have made lots more work for yourself, fixing the mess you will probably make. It is really tempting to 'rush' after all that time getting ready for paint...so you can see New Paint... Don't do it! Check everything twice, spray a section of something and adjust the paint flow properly, etc etc... before you go on to spray the actual vehicle...

And take care of your body as you do all this. Gloves when you wet sand, cover alls and mask and hood when you spray. Paint will harm you, inside..

On Sun, Mar 20, 2011 at 1:45 AM, John Rodgers <inua@charter.net> wrote:

> Just got done watching a whole raft of youtube videos on doing a > Rustoleum (and others) paint job using rollers and sponge brushes. Got > lots of wood around for scaffolding. Weather now in the 70's and will > get better. New paint job - here I come! > > Thanks guys! > > > John > >>

> I stand on a medium tall stool to work on the roofs of vanagons. >> I always at least polish and wax my non-westy roofs. >> >


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