Hi

So my Routemaster needs a LOTTTTTTTT of love and attention when it comes to the body work. Which you can see from the Photo below


Picture borrowed from flickr, all my pictures of it are either on rainy dark days or taking of it in barn surrounded by other RMs so only partial views of it.

A few of the panels will be replaced, how ever as you can see its has a bit of vinyl on it, can any one advise me as the best/easiest way to remove this myself as i am trying to save my self a bit of money

Also what is the best way to prepare the existing paint work for repainting, I don't want to strip it all off back to the metal. Am I right in thinking rubbing it over with Sand paper or power tool equivalent?

Possibly this tool?

Very much looking forward to your input!

Matt

My bus number (if any): RMF2771 (also known as RCN701)

Hi Matt,
you should be able to remove the vynil with an electric heat gun pulling of the vynil as you warm it up,
you may find the easiest way to sand down the old paint work is with an airline sander to give a key for the new paint to take.

My bus number (if any): 2613

Use a hairdryer to warm the vinyls and peel them off. Use an electric orbital sander for £20 from B and Q to sand....but use fine grade paper to avoid gauging and scoring the soft aluminium. Be very very careful on fibreglass parts such as bonnet and grille. Practice on an old panel or inconspicuous area first!!

My bus number (if any): rm531

If the vinyls have been on the bus for a long time and the ambient temperature is low and thus the metal cold, even with a heat gun it can be a very slow process. A bus that is always parked indoors and kept warm will be a much easier proposition than one that always lives outside or in a cold place. Old vinyls are prone to becoming brittle and can break into smaller pieces. It can be a real case of wishful thinking to wave a heat gun over the edge of a vinyl and expect within a couple of minutes to get a finger nail under it and peel the whole thing off in one go. You might be lucky but don`t be too surprised if it turns out as I`ve suggested. I know, I`ve done it and it`s incredibly frustrating especially if you`re on a ladder and holding the heat gun upwards for ages. On a gantry holding it downwards is easier on the arm and safer too.

Equally wishful thinking - and not much use if you are in a hurry to do this - is to wait for a warm sunny day. It`s surprising how much help it is to have warm sun on a vinyl for a couple of hours. But if the heat gun proves to be tediously slow and the temptation of using a scraper beckons to help lift the edges, beware. Gouges rarely seem as readily obvious at close quarters as they do from ground level looking up at freshly applied paint. Another option if a way exists of keeping out of the spray area is to soften a vinyl using a hot water pressure lance but when this needs to be used above lower deck window line it`s not really safe.

yeah that was my thought it would just break, it been on there since 2005 i think, and since 2008 it has been stored inside.

i will go armed with various tools that can heat in different ways then!

cheers

matt

My bus number (if any): RMF 2771 (also known as RCN 701)

Don't use heat like a blow lamp as this will cause the ali panels to buckle.

Personally I've found it much quicker and depepnding how you value your time, cheaper to repanl the whole bus.

I've known some folk who have spent a fortune on Nitromors (other strippers are avaialble...but that's for another forum) when it would have been much cheaper to replace panels.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

We use a lot of vinyl nowadays for promotions and strip it with hair dryers as suggested by Denis and Steve above.

Stubborn areas of residual glue can be removed with industrial alcohol or solvent cleaner. It's not quick but far less expensive than having to strip large areas of paint or replacing panels unnecessarily.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960.RMC 1458, RM 1585 and several RTs

thanks all loving the great response to this,

as i originally said i don't want to strip it back to bare metal, just remove the vinyl and key the surface for new paint but thank you for all the input!.

when i next get the chance i'll make sure i have lots of tools for me to use when doing this, unfortunately weather may be a disadvantage, but at least it is inside at the moment.

My bus number (if any): RMF 2771 (also known as RCN 701)

When used short term it generally comes off easily and done carefully will not damage the paintwork under.

.If the vinyl has been on for a few seasons it will not only be a devil to remove but will also leave a 'ghost' an imprint into the paintwork underneath.

Amazingly detail will still show through new paintwork even when the old paint is thoroughly flatted and prepped.

This is no new revelation - A thin sheet known as the Turin Shroud is remotely similar in phenonemon!

Heat will damage the sealant between panels and can warp the panels so you have to be very careful and apply the heat over a wider area.
As Neil G. says a hot sunny day with the sun directly on the surfaces concerned can make a huge difference.

I note it has LT wind down windows and not the Norther General originals. Are you going to change those too?

On the whole it looks a fairly tidy example.

The plan is to keep them, as they work well with my plan for the bus. The bus is far from original, that i have been able to research it has has at least 3 conversions and lots of alterations, it even has a AEC engine in - i know right! i was surprised too!

i brought this bus for my project because it has been "attacked" so many time before - i didn't want to "harm" a good bus

My bus number (if any): RMF 2771 (also known as RCN 701)