Very disappointed in the COVI show at the Alexandra Park Trotting club. Yes there were some unbelievable caravans, motor homes and fifth wheelers.
Not much in the way of fixtures and fittings. I was hoping to sort out a new layout for the old bus but there was no furniture or furniture makers, no purpose built cupboards, door knobs, draws etc. In fact other than GPS, tellies and bike racks, nothing of interest. I did buy, an inflatable kayak and a telly . Oh and a “Quarter Acre Pot” which works on the hay box principle.
I stayed there for the full three days Sunday night being the night the tail end of Cyclone Pam came through. Not too bad just a lot of rain. Monday up early and on the Mount Wellington to organise the paint for the bus.
I had hoped to do the roof cream and the main body in British racing green.. Now Kiwis take on colour seems to be different from the rest of the world. RAL numbers do not seem to exist but they make up their own names for colours and this can vary depending on the manufacturer. They are often named after places or objects such as tea cosy or Shotover street green, Wai O Taiki Bay??? Not sure how you are supposed to visualise these colours and if you want tones then it is 1/8th 1/4 or ½ . Anyway cream was out, as the expert in the paint place convinced me I needed a mastic type pant for the roof. This would need very little prep and had 200% stretch ability so would take the flexing of the riveted panels. Unfortunately this only came in Greyish White, that’s the name on the tin! I hope the green I managed to get tinted to what I imagine is as near as dam it BRG.
Orbital sander on the roof to feather in all the old paint. This was a dusty job but had to be done and the paint seemed to be three or four coats of varying quality. The top coat appeared to be a cheap emulsion, which just threw up loads of dust. And the lettering on the front. LETT IT and the little bee figure proved very hard to remove. I did discover a previous name but could not make sense of it “Croma or Groam on the passenger side and similar on the driver’s side, Still none the wiser.
Nice bright day and I started the first coat on the wrong side of the bus, full sun. By the time I got to the other side the sun had swung around so full sun again. This roof paint dries on the roller and is tacky within minutes so if you go over a spot it pulls and you get a textured finish. Now I like the textured finish but getting it consistent is a problem and where it is applied by brush, like around the edges it is smooth. Maybe a second coat will even things up a bit.
Second coat on two days later due to rain but looks okay. May just need to go over a few bit here and there but on the whole looks good.
Think the green bit will be a big job. Need to think about how to go about that project.
DunK
deltabet100 