Hi,

who has hand painted his/her bus? How did it look? Did you use brushes or rollers? What undercoat/primer did you use?

We have decided to hand paint it and after we have already painted the whole interior I think we should be able to do it. As we will apply vinyls by the end of the year we have to safe money and do the painting ourselves.

Thanks for your hints and tips
Tonia

My bus number (if any): RML2386

Routemasters were sprayed when built but garage repaints were brushed as were repairs. They were spay painted at Aldenham overhauls with some areas being hand painted or rollered.

Hand painting is a very highly skilled process.
Some of the best preserved and restored buses are coachpainted. The best are works of art.
Some LT garages had some very talented coachpainters and several are still around.
But it is so easy to mess up and end up with a very poor end result which is even harder to flat down an refinish.

Brush marks, orange peel, roller pit, runs, flow direction changes. It can be as bad if not worse than a poor spray job.

The correct paint from preparatory coats up has to be fully compatible and brushable.

RM 408 was brush painted 11 years ago and the finish lasted right up to it's export to Sri Lanka 4 years ago. Last image I saw showed it still looking good.

The coachpainter was an ex-cricklewood man, now retired but his name fails me. But he does still do some coachpainting

This subject has been discussed on what is referred to as the "the other channel" by many contributors to this forum. Whatever one's views about some of the attitudes and content of certain threads, there is much valuable information to be found on it that is not available here.
Link below: you will have to follow the instructions to apply for membership and wait for approval.
Having had the pleasure of meeting you I am sure that you will ignore any possible hostility from any who disapprove of your conversion, without knowledge of the manner in which you are going about it.
best regards roy

http://www.network54.com/Index/37116

My bus number (if any): RML2271 (owner)

Thanks for your advice.

If you know a retired coachpainter around Rochester/Kent we would be happy to pay someone to help us.

My bus number (if any): RML2386