Ater enquiring about some body filling quotes, I think I'm going to attempt it myself. Is it a difficult thing to do? The guy at the paint shop was making out its really hard and if buggered up it will ruin the van, but I'm guessing he just wanted more work. My plan is to do most stuff myself, then let the body shop do any hard bits and give the whole thing a once over to make sure it's all straight. Also, what sort of tools am I gonna need? These any good? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-FLEXIB..._Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item43be2b1dae Cheers in advance
there is a skill to it, no doubt about that....but that would be to get it to show room arrow straight if you just want to get it a bit respectable then its worth a go your self ....it depends on what sort of finish you want really. I wouldnt worry about expensive tools, you can do the same thing by stapling the sand paper to a straight bit of wood...the longer the wood the more straight you are likely to get the sides IMHO....its worth getting a small palm grip thing to hold the paper for doing the corners, edges and curves.....and an air powered random orbital sander will make things a lot quicker and easier you could also use a large block of polystyriene rather than a bit of wood as it has a little bit of flex to it fill a larger area than you need, then start off with some 40 or 80 grit paper, working to progressively finer grades I think zed advised me when filling, go for shape, shape, shape .....then the fine finishing touches you may need to sand the first skim, refill the low areas, resand, refill and sand again, then go back with some fine filler for the nice finish, lastly go round and sort out any pin holes your unlikely to get it right with the first skim....but that is usual ....and keep practicing....its nothing that cant get put right if you make a mess of it be warned it does get tedious though
I'm guessing he knows from experience it'll look better if he does it and if you have a crack he'll end up doing it again before he paints it anyway. Also he'll know what filler's been used, how thick it is etc etc. Filler can shrink. lol It's not easy first time around, but although you get better and fasterxperience it still takes ages. Some panels take longer than others - big flat panels are the worst as they give so you can't put much pressure on the sandpaper. Also they show your skills more than any other panel. Have a crack at a panel and see how you get on? Big chunk of 4" x 1 1/2" (ish) planed wood (flat) sandpaper on a roll stapled into the ends. 80 grit to shape until you're almost there, then 120, then 360 or so. Do it dry. Have fun. Some get on beter with it than others. Have an eye to spreading the filler to the right shape and concentrate on only shape until the shape's overall shape is right even if there's gaps in it. You can fill these.
Alright cool, yeah I figure ill start on the inside with really small bits, then move on. Problem is there aren't really that many small panels on the bus to practice on. I spose I could do the sliding door, so I can do it on the bench. Looks like I need paper and a bit of 2 by 4.
A long straight edge helps assess the highs and lows of the side panels too!! I have a length of 20mm box that I use... long enough to go from the B pillar to the C pillar
another thing to remember about filler work, its not how it looks, its how it feels thats important!! and once you think your done pour some degreaser over it, and then look down the panel. with the shine you will be able to easily see any high/low spots. oh, and make sure you properly clean your filler cards! cus that tiny bit of old filler left on there will truly balls up the next lot you try to put on... or, be like me and be lazy... and buy them in packs of 100... because theyre cheap and it makes life a lot easier to just chuck them away hope it goes well dude!
watched a guy doing some work on a Jag door at one of the best bodyshops in Bolton...basically, the whole door was bare-metalled and skimmed, about 4mm deep, then cut back with a body file (a long, flat open rasp..like a cheese grater) By the time it was the right profile there was about a fifth left on the door, 4 fifths on the floor...it's very therapeutic...but buy decent filler from an autobody shop...goes on, comes off easier and follow the instructions re mixing
If you can afford it then pay someone else to do the final prep on your bus Its a labourious and mid numbing arm aching process to do and when it hits the paintshop they will go over it again My advice is to get it reasonably close and let the paintshop finish it If your skint as a skint thing keep at it you will get there in the end but you will have aged a few years in the process Im very good at blending and shaping bodykits with fiberglass and then skimming with filler and have done custom work on tvrs before However those large flat slab sided panels on a bus id rather avoid
Just prepped my bus at home and the guy's above are spot on in their advice. It takes ages to do. I reckon I spent at least 50+ hours per large flat panel getting them reasonably straight. I put approx. 20 applications of filler on each large panel (most of it ending up on the floor again!). Just when you think you've got it you find another low or high spot! If you get a good feel for it and have the time, then its worth having a go yourself Do as Zed suggests and tackle one of the large flat panels. Here's a selection of the tools I use Good luck and let us know how you get on!
I'm known for sometimes being a bit lax with health and safety, but get yourself a decent mask like a 3M 06941, as you'll be wearing it alot! Consider borrowing a cement mixer and shovel, as you'll probaby be mixing a fair bit up. But on a more serious note though, a cheap can of matt black aerosol paint, used as a guidecoat, will make picking up the lows/highs alot easier. Seriously though, give some consideration to getting it done by the guy prepping/painting it, as he'll probably redo most of what you do.
Yeah I just can't afford it though. I got quoted £3000 for painting it. Then £20 an hour filling. And if it takes a pro say 20 hours for each flat panel... I think this is why I always see busses for sale that have 100% welding done, but no paint.
Don't buy cheap filler, it sets like concrete and you'll waste hours of your life sanding it. Use upol easy 1 or similar. All the old Bodyshop men I talk to say modern filler is so much better than the old stuff, 'we didn't have Easy1 in our, day , you lot don't know your born, blah, blah'!' But they're right. You also need to fill a larger area than you think. If you've got a dent the size of a tennis ball, you need to apply filler to an area the size of volley ball because the metal around the dent will be stretched. I'd also say don't rush it. don't think 'i'll get primer on this by the end of the day', because you'll cut corners. just keep going until you're completly happy with it. use your hand to check the panel not your eye, if you can feel it with your hand it will show up under paint. Good luck!
If your doing it yourself concentrate on one panel at a time and forget about the rest of the bus If you have had to repair your sliding door then do that first and once you have that perfect the rest will come naturally
Yeah ive got a huge tin of upol easy 1. Ill start on the slider as per paras advice. Normally im quite good at maintaining concentration and taking my time, ill just whack the ipod on the radio and get on with it. I think ill get it as close as i can, then let the bodyshop finish it.
You need to understand first what your filling ! A large flat panel that has been badly repaired might have lost all it's strength by being stretched and will easily pop in and out when trying to block it down and you will never get it flat. Filler is not waterproof either and will not survive long if your just going to fill holes with it. The nicer you apply it in the first place the easier it will be to rub down normally it will take two or three spreads to get a finish. Good luck
Even better body filler product in my opinion is Plastic padding PP100. expensive but lovely to sand. Sanding it with 80grit production paper literally takes the arm ache out of a large repair. Great for finishing off in preparation for stopper or dolphin glaze product. Don't be a lazy Marmite and either throw the spreader or leave the spreader in filler and break off to reuse. Clean straight away with cellulose thinners and you'll only need to use the one for whole bus! Use a matt black spray can to apply light dust after filler has hardened and this will show low spot areas when sanding. (This is called a guide coat) ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS, refill the complete repair even if you have small amount of low areas. Otherwise you stand the chance of removing filler material that is the correct height. Don't get filler wet! Sand filler with P40 (if you have to but this does leave some pretty nasty scars on filler) P80 - P120 - P240 - P320 Finish off with P320 before application of filler. After application of primer - P500 Dry/ P800 wet (Don't leave sanding residue on panel when wet flatting. VERY BAD!) Try to use a larger sanding block than the repair as the surrounding edges will need to be your guide! makes sense when you think about it. Having worn my elbows out over 24yrs of sanding the stuff and training panel beaters for 14yrs I've done my apprenticeship with it. As I've said, just my opinion.
I'd recommend Roberlo maxi light and multiextender stopper (ebay) for really easy sanding compared to U-Pol easy. I haven't tried PP100. For large flat panels your filler needs to sand easily as you can't put much pressure on them.
i havent tried that stuff zed said but i may give it a go! i thought U-Pol 'easy' was pretty crap too, howereverer.. i did find i got on well with U-Pol 'fantastic'.. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330952963029 although you will need a lot more than that to do your bus!!
