| Author | Message | ||
| school busnut Rating: |
I've painted a few cars... never a BUS! Anybody have a good close estimate? My bus is 35 feet. I will be painting the roof as well as all the way around. Several good sized RV type windows to mask off. Thanks! Mark 75 gillig 636 skoolie type 3208 cat turbo diesel pusher | ||
| Earl-8-Ky Rating: N/A |
Mark I painted a MCI MC8.I used nearly 3 gal of white on the top. I used a gallon of Burgandy and a gallon of wine red. I hav 4 strips on each side. There are 2 each of the wine red and the Burgandy on each side. There is a 4" strip of grey between the wine red and the burgandy Did not use much grey. The wine red and the burgandy are about 12 inches wide. Takes lots of masking tape and alot of old newspapers. About 3 gal of thinner too. Earl-8-Ky | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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depends... what color...& what color is it now..lots of varables,'sounds' like you are going to paint THE COMPLETE bus...get a h.v.l.p. & "about" seven gallons...red acrilic enamel is about 150 a gallon now..others are 70 or so.... | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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if you are a little stunned about the price of acrilic...use pure enamel...found at your local 'farm' store for about 20.00 a gallon | ||
| mclough Rating: N/A |
do you need to use an etching primer to stick to the aluminum? | ||
| Pete RTS/Daytona Rating: N/A |
35 foot 102" RTS - approx 750 sq ft of paint surface ?? 3 gals - PPG Omni expoxy primer (MP170 - MP175 - MP282) 5 qts - PPG Omni MP180 Sealer 4 gals - PPG Omni MBC Acrylic Basecoat (Light Pewter) 1 gal - PPG Omni MBC Acrylic Basecoat (Dark Pewter) 5 gals - PPG Omni MC161 High Solids Urethane Clear Plus MX193 Flex add (fenders/bumpers) MX194 Fisheye preventer $1200 approx in paint | ||
| Pete RTS/Daytona Rating: N/A |
35 foot 102" RTS - approx 750 sq ft of paint surface ?? 3 gals - PPG Omni expoxy primer (MP170 - MP175 - MP282) 5 qts - PPG Omni MP180 Sealer 4 gals - PPG Omni MBC Acrylic Basecoat (Light Pewter) 1 gal - PPG Omni MBC Acrylic Basecoat (Dark Pewter) 5 gals - PPG Omni MC161 High Solids Urethane Clear Plus MX193 Flex add (fenders/bumpers) MX194 Fisheye preventer $1200 approx in paint  | ||
| Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat)
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took me 1.5 gallons of catalyzed primer and a hvlp gun to do everything on my 35 footer BUT the roof. Havn't gone any farther... | ||
| MCI Larry (Eurof3)
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Hi MArk If your looking for the less expensive route. Black and Decker house sprayers work great if you like the Fred Flintstone look...with farm paint. With farm paint you can just buy regular paint thinner, its cheep. Maybe under $200 in paint. BUT A good place to buy acrylic enamal cheep is Parts Plus. They have Painters Pride brand for in the $60 range a gallon. They have a chart with about 20 colors to choose from. PP keeps these 20 colors stocked and will order you what you need. My estamate will be: 7 to 9 gallons. This paint only thins 8 to 1 so you don`t gain much paint. A LOT does depend on the base color or what your going over, as you must know by doing a few cars. Be sure to buy and use the hardner. It truly makes it shine and more durable. Plus it spreads/blends and will flash better. $540 paint $30 thinnner $120 hardner $690 total for a quailty shin job. + or - a $100 Just think of it as a big car. Paint it in sections and tape to the seams. Would be a good idea to start collecting paper now....or buy a roll at the paint supply store. Table cloth on the roll works to from Gordon foods. Sorry to rattle on. Good luck. | ||
| MCI Larry (Eurof3)
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Oh Ya Don`t ya love Pete`s RTS / Daytona NICE JOB ! Man that looks sweet... Larry | ||
| Jeff (Jeff)
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You should see Pete's bus in person. It looks better! Mine is still mostly white. I have been so busy on the inside I have not really gotten to the outside stuff. With winter coming to Virginia, I guess painting will be next Sprig / Summer. Unless I can find a big place to put the bus inside and work on it. Pete has the outside looking good and he is making way on the inside. I was lucky to get the $0.25 tour. Jeff | ||
| Bill K. Rating: N/A |
Use good paint, the work is getting it ready, if you use cheap paint it will fade in a coupl of years and then you will have a real job removing all that paint and doing it all over, do it right the first time. Ben there done that. | ||
| Philris Rating: N/A |
Don't use newspaper to mask. Paint bleeds through, newsprint comes off, etc. A roll of masking paper is cheap in the whole scheme of things and save a bunch of time. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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If you go back to the original question..the fellow has a school bus...NOT trying to hurt anybodys feelings...but...pure enamel sounds like the way he should go...don't think he will want to pay 2000 for paint | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
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That's a good point. However it's a Gillig, and they can be made into a gorgeous conversion if one wants to spend the money and take the time. I use Rustoleum by the quart or gallon to paint all kinds of things, I thin it with Acetone and shoot it through a cheap gun. It looks great as a "Utility Paint" and would certainly pass a 20/20 test on a bus. I will be using PPG Omni on my bus though, so it just depends on where your proiorities are. You can do a good job with oil-based enamel paint, but like anything else, the fiinished product is only as good as your preparation. Gary | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
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Two Dogs - Mark's Gillig skoolie looks similar to this, it's not a "dog-nosed conventional" like you're used to:  | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
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Well, let's try that again. . . | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
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One more time. . . | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
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Never mind. . . Two Dogs, you'll just have to imagine a flat-nosed diesel pusher skoolie. . . | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
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They look like crowns. Gary | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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like I said you guys...wasn't trying to hurt any feelings | ||
| Jeff (Jeff)
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Is this Cee Cee's old bus? Her Gillig was baby blue and was painted at the Maaco in Richmond, Virginia. I went to look at her bus when I was wondering what kind of bus I was to get. Skoolie buses need loving too. I've seen some nice Skoolies and I've seen some crappy more expensive shells. No need to look down your nose, just because it is not like yours. I almost got a Crown, until I met Dwight in the Diesel Chatroom. Jeff "Take Another Road" Member 4:10 Club Rustless not Busless in Buckroe 1988 TMC RTS-06 6V92-TA DDEC IV/V731 da Bubba | ||
| Jayrjay Rating: N/A |
How many gallons? Brush or roller? ...JJ himike | ||
| schoolbus nut Rating: N/A |
Now THATs funny, JAyJAy! (I think I,ll stick with a spray system)! Two Dogs! I like your charactor! But...just so you know... I bought a Gillig because it was the best candidate for my needs...not because I can,t afford anything else! I live in the great NORTHWEST of the USA (Oregon coast) I have three kids (the oldest is 13) We love to camp. I can take my gillig ANYWHERE your Eagle will go,(it will do 70+ MPH,Also) and then trek up into the mountains where you will just have to wave goodbye! (Just because some of us choose a 'skoolie' doesn't mean we're going to paint our rig with barn paint!!) Thanks everybody for your estimates and experiences! I wonnnn't be painting for quite a while, just making some desisions for now. Thanks again, Mark 75 Gillig 636D Caturpillar 3208 turbo diesel pusher skoolie type BUS! | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
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OK, gonna try posting a Gillig pic again. . . and, if it works, also a Crown. This is for Two Dog's benefit, so he understands we're not talking about conventional skoolies:  | ||
| RJ Long (Rjlong)
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OK, that worked, let's see if the Crown pic will. . . Both of these, Two Dogs, are 40' tandems, mid-engined, either a Cummins or Detroit, most likely 5 or 10 speed sticks. And both used a stock 18-wheeler dual drive rear axle - very difficult to get one stuck on a rural route!! Depending on the district, many of these will easily top 70 mph, especially the 10-speeds.  I can't find my photo of a pusher Gillig like Mark's at the moment, but will post one as soon as I can locate which CD it's on. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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was just saying that if somebody buys a bus that is 'more inexpencive'..(school/city bus...)then they must be watching the $$...& should when it comes to painting..altho..this board would implode if there wasn't people asking why won't my city bus go faster than 50,& my automatic trans. just cost me another 4000..I know what they look like R.J. | ||
| Gillig-dan Rating: N/A |
 Here is a reason to do a decent paint job on any bus you may have. Can you imagine how difficult it's going to be for me to remove all the fading, chalking white paint and stenciled stars from this bus? The previous owner may have thought they were cool but, it doesn't fit my tastes. A bus should last many years, I only want to paint it once, other than touching up areas that get screwed up over its life. By the way, anyone know where I can some vinyl graphics for peace signs and pot leaves for the bus? Gillig-Dan '70 Gillig 636 Cat 3208NA pusher VIN E0013 In West Point, VA | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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yep...the hardest part...will be getting ALL that stuff off....get a big 5 to 7 h.p. compressor & a D.A. (dual action) sander & some 180 grit stick ons...was it sanded good "before" that white paint was put on????...or are you haveing 'flakeing' problems...The PREPARATION is the most importat thing in a paint job...get the surface ready..NO flakeing...all that 'erased'...nothing really wrong with pure enamel,...'cept it will over spray on anything within 100 foot & it takes longer to dry...you will need to find a barn or some big building to paint it in..was not "insulting" you saying pure enamel...the Eagle has it on her | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
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My bird was painted several times (And None of them were yellow TD) Since all the layers were "unknown" and about 50% of our steel is new anyway, we used the Jasco Gold to remove every Spec of paint before priming with PPG Omni. Here is an interesting aside--When we removed all the paint, there were obvious silouettes of various shapes right on the metal. My painter told me that they are were there were decals applied to the paint that were removed. Even though there was a layer of paint between the decal and the metal, there was still an imprint on the metal. We DA'ed the metal to remove the imprints before priming. He had a lot of experience repainting commercial/motorpool vehicle and he'd seen this alot. Gary | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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got nothin' against yellow...was just saying,when I ran a bodyshop...learned REAL FAST..to back out of a paint job "IF" the guy before me screwed up a paint job...have seen some weird stuff over the years...latex house paint..(with a brush)...or...somebody "sanding" it...with a 7 inch grinder.. | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary)
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My paint guy would only gurarantee a job if he took it to metal, which is a heuulva lotta work. You can do it with a 7" if your REAL careful. (Just kidding) On boats, we use rollers all the time. if you haven't seen this done, you would be amazed how good it looks. We had to roll primer on some of the panels on the bird before departing CA, and it will only require a small amount of sanding to look like the sprayed panels. You can roll a whole bus, but you have to know what you are doing. Gary |
