memorial day workend

Pinstrip stickers Are Off The pup

The pinstripe stickers are finally off.....it took several hours of on and off work. Went to Ace and hot a good stripper....I decided the oven cleaner needed some help. There was my learning lesson. The stripper melted the sticker off in about two seconds and the paint came off just as fast. So after hours of struggling last night with abrasive pads, I was able to finish up the entire thing in a couple hours versus yesterdays effort which took about four hours and yielded very little.

Here is one of the sides complete. Just need to get some of that hardware off and scrub a little more then I can tape off.

Here is more of the same on the other side.

And this is the stripper that saved the day

vinyl pinstripes suck

All the paint came off easy enough but I can't say the same for the sticker pinstripe.
Not only are they impossible to get off but the paint under is solid as a rock, having been protected all those years by the sticker.

Above is an example of the condition at the start of sticker removal

This is an example after hours of work.....ughhh

done stripping paint

After working a couple of days, the paint stripping is over. It was actually pretty easy and I was able to do the second half twice as fast as the first one once I had figured out the best process and how to work more efficiently. Now I gotta think about getting those stickers off which could very well take longer than it took to get the paint off. Believe it or not those things are really on there good.

Each side stripped with easy off oven cleaner, green scrub pad, 400 grit wet sanded, and wiped down with mineral spirits.

The front part you see is actually a plastic panel over plywood with a door hatch. The plastic will be removed and replaced with aluminum sheet.

New Paint Idea

Decided to change paint and go with oil based enamel applied with a cheap hvlp sprayer. Colors will be mint white base with electric lime stripe and outrageous orange stripe.

Pup Paint Prep

Ok, last night I used easy off oven cleaner to strip the paint off one side of the pup camper. Then I hosed it off. Now its 400 grit to 800 grit to 1000 grit wet sanding over the aluminum...also gotta get the stickers off.This gives a sense of the before paint.

This is after stripping for a couple hours. Easy off, let sit, scrubbed a little with a brush then rinsed with water....still have some paint to go....and sticker removal

Here is the paint supplies I picked up....I wanted orange but they did not have that in krylon tractor paint in a spray can....they had an awesome lacquer orange that would need to be sprayed as well as cool metal flake but I'm concerned I don't have a fresh air respirator. So I picked up some acrylic enamel stuff in a spray can. It's krylon tractor paint in international red along with some spray glitter to put over top and some spray acrylic clear coat. They did not have the green glow in the dark paint that I wanted and I still have my heart set on that orange green glow color combo.....I'll stop by the hardware store tomorrow and see if the have a better selection than the auto part place.

The New Game plan

Ok....getting started on camper. Tear out old and put in recycled and found cabinetry which will offer more storage and a better layout for sitting and eating with three kids. Adding Rv Toilet and shower. Currently I just have a torn up pup and a pile of supplies. I will be painting the exterior and part of that plan is removing the old paint and stickers. Tonight I got one side stripped.
Here you can see a bit of damage some mice did on the tenting. I've removed the awning because I hit the porch last summer and tore the awning bag. With the paint job coming up I left it off and may end up not putting it back on depending on what plan I come up with.
Here you see the mess of construction. luan is being used to reface the old bench unit that had cabinet doors and draws. I don't find drawers to be the best use of space so I took all the doors and drawers out, took the top off and will place this new top on (to the right in the pic) and reface the front with luan. The new top will be on a hinge to make it a storage chest with cushions on top for seating and extra sleeping space.
This is that same bench unit with the new top laying to the side. I added additional framing to the inside since it was only light plywood with brackets and no real framing to speak of. It' s getting there.