I have been wrestling with what to do with some decals that are in bad shape. I thought of trying to have decals made but hard to find a place in the area to do this. Considered taking them off and making a ghost but decided against that as well. That left the option of paying someone big bucks to paint it or doing it myself. I have done some auto body work before and know it can be a very tedious and decided to give it a try.
Following is an outline with some pictures of how I did it:
1. Removed the decal to be replaced. I used the hair dryer and eraser method and it went well. Once the decal was removed and any excess glue removed a high gloss ghost still remains where the decal once was.
2. I outlined the ghost with a fine point marker and then used tracing paper to make an exact pattern of the old decal. I removed the tracing paper and cut out the exact pattern of the decal. If I were to do it again I might try trace the pattern before removing the decal.
3. I prepared the surface to be painted by washing and rinsing with detergent, blew dry and wiped down with 99.9% alcohol , sanded the gloss area left by the decal with 800 grit wet paper to remove the gloss , rinsed the area again dried and wiped with alcohol again. At this point the ghost was completely gone, this is why I made the pattern.
4. Taped the patterns back into its original position.
5. Using ¼ inch 3M fine line tape to outline the pattern and then removed patterns.
6. Masked outline tape with 1 ½ inch 3M automotive performance masking tape.
7. Masked remaining with masking paper to prevent overspray as much as possible.
8. Sprayed several coats of metallic blue paint to create the new decal.
9. Sprayed several coats of clear coat to protect and create shine.
10. Removed all masking very carefully.
It took about six hours to do all this for just one decal. It makes you realize why it costs so much to have the entire coach redone by professionals. Retirement is a great thing, giving you time to try things you have never done before and hopefully not messing up.
A few more pictures.
Jason, awesome ^.^d Looks tediously and professional.
Retirement, busier than ever :))
Hi Jason,
That looks real nice. Great job.
Raymond
Jason,
Great job! Thank you for all the pictures :D
That is fanstactic....
Looks great! Obviously not the first time you have done something like this. Mark
Nicely done.
Wow! I removed the vinyl graphics from my 1990 Grande Villa a couple of months ago, and have been trying to decide to go back with Vinyl (about $1800) or to try to paint, or just let the next owner decide (it's about to go up for sale). I've done some painting before, but not detail stuff like graphics. You method and excellent pictures just might give me the courage to go ahead and paint. Many thanks!
Very very nice!
Jason,
That looks really nice. A really good match on the color.
Looks great, what type of paint did you use?
What size tip in the gun?
Didn't look like you had too much over spray based on how much you masked off.
I'll give you one tip, I used "Vinyl Off" spray it on wait 15 min start pealing or scraping, takes the glue off to use 8 oz bottle on one side. Not easy just did take that long, about 8 hours for the whole side including wet sanding with 800.
I'll be painting in 2-4 weeks that's why I asking about the paint
Yep, I used Vinyl Off as well, great stuff, did the whole bus in one day, and the vinyl was 24 years old.
Hey Jason, Nicely done! Anything more complex than a rattle-can is beyond my payscale. :)) Looks great....
Dean
Great job. It looks like new!
I'm about to do something similar but not as Pro on one side of mine (the side that evidently took the brunt of the Sun for years - the other side is almost perfect)
Anyway - I bought some spray cans of a Krylon paint called Fusion -- formulated for painting vinyl and/or plastic.
I did a test area, and have been letting it sit for about 6 months now to see how it would hold up -- while I worked on other things.
It seems fine, so this is the route I'm going. It's only the two long runs I am addressing. The rest is acceptable for now.
Oh! -- on that test area, I first wet-sanded the existing vinyl until it was pretty smooth, but of course where the "spider checking" is -- the gel coat was peeking through.
Then after masking, I just sprayed over the vinyl.
I picked colors that are close to the earth tones originally used (that on one full-length stripe had faded to an almost purple color from Sun exposure)
Here is the product I'm talking about:
Fusion for Plastic® - | Krylon (http://www.krylon.com/products/fusion-for-plastic/)
I'll post before and after pics when I get through.
Down the road I'll strip all of them off and have a full-body paint job done with more modern graphics. It's just not anywhere near a priority for now.
When I had checked about 18 months ago with that supplier that has all the NOS Foretravel stuff, I thought she said the OEM stripe kits were still available, but they wanted $1200 per side. Ouch!
That amount (for just the one side) will pay for the fire suppression systems for both my fridge, and the engine bay, and the materials I need to re-do the three sides of my engine bay for heat shielding.
Safe motoring out there to all,
Michael
Great Job .... Looks Wonderful!
Thank you all for your kind complements. It nice to know that others appreciate your hard work.
LI Pets:
The paint I used was a lacquer as I was spraying outside, need something that dries very quickly. Also lacquer has a no recoat window. I sprayed 3-5 coats of color followed by 3-5 coats of clear coat. I know lacquer is old school and there are a lot of better paints bui I am old school.
I used an inexpensive HVLP touch up sprayer with a 1.00 mm nozzle. The HVAC sprayers minimizes overspray and are very easy to learn to use.
The 3M fine line vinyl tape is what makes the job possible. Without it you could not get smooth curves.
Will try Vinyl Off the next time I have a large decal to remove. Thanks for the tip.
Geomm:
I hope the Krylon will hang in there. Your approach is very systematic and thought out. I know what you mean about doing the things that make it go down the road better before making it pretty.
John:
Give it a try, it is not that difficult just time consuming.
Jason
Well done sir!
Outstanding job!