Thread: I-scream

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I took the wheels over after work and had some new Goodyear rubber put on. She's back on all four feet! Also painted the dash panel and the engine compartment side of the core support and the side panels. I should be primering the other side of these tomorrow.

Getting close now Falcon!!!! Gonna be neat to see this one done and out cruizin'!!! Betcha you won't pull up to a stop sign and have another one just like it beside you!

That's for sure, Dave. According to what info I've been able to find it looks like they made about 5,000 of these per production year for the postal service so I'm thinking there's not a lot of them left. I'm sure that doesnt make them worth a bundle but it does make them pretty unique. I primered my front clip pieces, my rear quarter pieces, and the roof today. Actually I'm in between roof coats now. Has anybody done any big truck painting that can give me some guidance on this? The roof is huge and the only thing I know to do is stand on an 8' ladder and lean over. I can reach about halfway and my shoulder is killing me by the time I got one coat on this.I can wetsand out the stripes in the primer but I'm trying to figure out how in the heck I'm going to make this roof look decent. There's just no way I can see to get a nice continuous pass. I'm just going with single stage white so I'm not trying to do a show quality job but I dont want it to look terrible, either. any advice from some real painters????

yep i was a real painter ... have painted .air planes . boats . cranes . mack trucks . box vans

Cool; so how would you takle the roof on this thing?

if a small shop with slow pulling ex fan i would and have done .just paint the roof .first set the body as low is you can i set the axles on the foor on 4by 4 s or 2by4s tap under the drip rail drop a plastic paint cover over the body to keep over spray off the rest of the body drape paper on the top of the drip rail over your body bag .this helps hold down the body bag .keeps paint from sticking back on fresh paint as the paint will stick to the paper and if you use just the body bag the paint can flake off and stick back on the fresh paint. tape body bag down good . start from the farthest part form your ex fan . after done with the roof. final sand the body sides when good and dry tape off the roof and paint the side .if good fan with good pull and you want a work out you can shoot the hole truck .i would start by putting on the first coats on the roof and i would lay two coats down spray the side till your up to your last coat go back hit the roof wet it out then wet the tops of the side upper side keeping every thing wet and work down if you do it this way you still may have some fall back and have a dry roof painting the roof and taping it off makes for the best wet job in a small shop . but first on any paint job i cut in under wheel wells lips rockers all hard spots .if you drop it on the floor you can cut this in first and when dry scuff with a gray 3m pad and finel sand the body with wet 400or if gold back 3m go to 600 if you blow paint out on the body you will see it so it needs to be good and flat so wet sand it out

Man-I am setting here in the fan's cheap seats and I have to tell you that looks so sweet.Great work.I am learning a ton from this thread.Thank You.

Thanks, Pat! Setting it down on the axles is a great idea; I think that will help a bunch with having to lean over so far. I think you're right; finishing the roof first is the only way to go.

Gary, I'm glad you're enjoying it! I think your van project is pretty cool, too.

Man, it's been a long week. I started a new job and didn't have a day shorter than 11 hours yet. I can see my idea about having the ISCREAM finished this spring are looking way too optomistic, but I'll stay at it the best I can until it's done. I spent a few hours this week and today wet sanding with 400. I'm about halfway around it not counting the roof so it's got a ways to go. I'll hit it again with 600 when I'm done, although with white paint I dont think I have to be as picky as when we painted my son's Firebird black. I'm sure it'll be a good 3 or 4 weeks before I'm done and ready to think about painting the body. Then I still have to go back and do the hood and doors. It is what it is; I got to make a living first. Here's the dash; that was about the only thing worth taking pictures of today.

Looking good, Falcon! Sounds like the new job is going to eat up some Hot Roddin' time.....but I guess that would be good news considering how many people can't even find a job these days!!! Don't let the delays get ya down, anything good is worth waiting for and the extra work and time expended to do it right is always worth it when it's done... Heck, you've got a long time to go on it yet if it ends up like my '71 pick-em-up--been working at it off and on for 18 years now!!! Might actually fire the thing up tomorrow!!!! Always said I'd have it done in the Spring, just never specified which Spring it would be!!!!!!

Thanks, Dave. You're absolutely right about being lucky to be among the employed; I've been really blessed with jobs. This one was a good promotion for me but with it comes a lot more responsibility so that translates into more hours; at least for a while. OK, I'll stick with my spring prediction. Then if its summer or fall, I can always say I finished early.

Looks great Falcon, and congrats on the new Job! It's not how fast you get done, just getting it done is good! Keep up the posts.

Thanks, Steve. It's been a challenging few weeks but hopefully it'll get better as we go along. I'm head of maintenance for two 50 year old high rise buildings; one 26 story and one 16 story. The powers that be aren't letting me hire a full staff yet. They want to do a 90 day staffing review so in the meantime I'm trying to do the job with two maintenance guys. There's a ton of work to get done so we're just trying to prioritize and stomp out the fires for now. Just another example of how I cant resist taking something old and beat up and bringing it back to life.
Anyway I got a few hours in yesterday so I decided it was time to try my new paint gun. I wanted to get some color on the interior so I can start putting some things back together inside soon. I just did the areas that will show after the interior panels are put back in. I've got the whole thing wet sanded for the first round; one more time around and we'll call it good. Then I'm going to go for painting the roof first. In two weeks my wife will be gone for the weekend plus I've got Monday off so I'm hoping to get to the point where I can shoot the roof by then.

Getting really close for the paint now!!! Just how long does it take to make a lap around the van when you're doing the wet sanding???????

Thanks, Dave! It took me about 30 hours to go all the way around and do the roof.