Prep and paint

With the metalwork finished we moved onto painting the bus. I found it difficult to find anyone willing to paint the bus for a reasonable price so I decided to paint it myself ..... with a roller. Now this may seem to most people madness, however old Rolls Royce vehicles were hand painted so why shouldn't my bus.

I painted the bus with Rustoleum CombiColour RAL2000 Orange and RAL 9000 White. The first stage involved rubbing the whole bus down with 120 grit. After two coats with the roller I then wet sanded with 400 grit, then another two coats, then wet sanded with 800 grit then another two coats then 1000 grit then a machine polish with G3.

I have to say that I was impressed with the end shine and depth of paint, the negatives would be that the paint is very hard and chips easily often taking a 1p sized chunk with it especially on the front panel.