It’s all red for our Routemaster mobile bus bar
After getting quotes for painting a bus I had to make a crucial decision. Do I have a go myself?
I thought to myself: What can be so hard…. Famous last thought…. In all fairness, I have worked as a painter and decorator in the past and I’m not totally incapable of managing a smooth surface. I also had the wonderful Richard around the corner (A professional body works guy) to ask for advice if needed. But non of this prepared me for the ridiculously large task that was upon me at this stage of my Routemaster Mobile Bus Bar Build.
Where to start?
Anyone who has done any form of painting before will know that the key to getting a good finish with paint is to prepare your surface properly. This involves sanding, sanding and sanding and don’t forget more sanding. It also involves removing all the trim and items on your object that do not want paint. You’d think this would be a whole load of gear but it turns out, there ain’t much on a bus that ain’t red!
If you are going to paint a Routemaster Mobile Bus Bar, have the right tools!
To sand something of this magnitude you have to have half decent equipment. I had a compressor ready so all I needed was an air powered orbital sander. This made the flat panels easier but we all know a Routemaster bus is not flat. It has riveted strips. All the strips had to be done with a little hand held sander. It was extremely time consuming and tool 2 months to do with a tiny bit of help from a mate (Tom) see picture above. Once completed I thought “Thank god that’s done!” Or was it…….
I then spent the best part of a month hand rollering the primer on, 2 coats! Once the pink had dried and I’d had all the pink bus jokes I prepared myself to hand coach paint two coats of red for the final finish.
I’d used the wrong type of roller and guess what!!!???
After trying a bit of coach painting in red it became obvious that I had choses a roller that was too rough and the finish was like frosted glass……NOT COOL! In a panic I called over my good friend Richard (the painter) and he said “It’s fine babe, you just gotta rub it down a bit”………..
RUB IT DOWN A BIT!!!!????
I was close to tears when it dawned upon me that I would have to sand the entire bus again. That was probably the low point of the mobile bus bar build (Apart from when I reversed it into 2 land rovers 2 weeks before it’s first outing…. more on that later) It took a further month and a half to flatten the bus all over again my only advantage this time around was that all the strips and rivets were able to be left as they were.
