Idacamper2.0 Color change, please let me know your thoughts.

1000arms

Well-known member
... BTW, laying glass on gravity challenged surfaces is entertaining.....

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...
Was it a bit of a pain in the glass, or a major pain in the glass? :cool:

Joking aside, any tips or suggestions?
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Best method I've found, and what I used, was to go this route...

Apply base/seal coat of epoxy, let cure.

Sand / de-gloss base coat, then apply a coat of epoxy.... then wait....
Wait time will depend upon epoxy you use and temperature.
But you want it to be tacky enough to grab and hold the glass, allowing you to conform the glass to the surface.

Once fitted, wet out the glass with another coat of epoxy.

Finally, before the wet out coat is 100% dry, apply another coat of epoxy.
This application should iron out any wrinkles and air pockets you might have in the glass.

Once that is cured, you do your sanding, and 1-2 more coats of epoxy to completely fill the glass weave and blend the transitions.
 

1000arms

Well-known member
Best method I've found, and what I used, was to go this route...

Apply base/seal coat of epoxy, let cure.

Sand / de-gloss base coat, then apply a coat of epoxy.... then wait....
Wait time will depend upon epoxy you use and temperature.
But you want it to be tacky enough to grab and hold the glass, allowing you to conform the glass to the surface.

Once fitted, wet out the glass with another coat of epoxy.

Finally, before the wet out coat is 100% dry, apply another coat of epoxy.
This application should iron out any wrinkles and air pockets you might have in the glass.

Once that is cured, you do your sanding, and 1-2 more coats of epoxy to completely fill the glass weave and blend the transitions.
Thank you.
 
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IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Some more details of that portion of the project...

The next step is a messy one. Especially when working over your head.
I suit up with a painters suit, hood, goggles, gloves and respirator... all in an attempt to keep the fiberglass off of me.
Hate that stuff...

The next step was using the DA sander with 60 grit to knock down the highs, cut away all the excess glass, and rough shape things.
This goes fast, but makes a bit itchy mess.

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Closeup of the transition. Upper portion is sanded into the glass, then transitioned to unsanded glass/epoxy

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From here, we add more coats of epoxy. And being inverted, the thinner the better to avoid drips as they add more sanding.
So thin coats, and sanding in between. Dropping from 60 grit to 100 grit. Lots of people go much lighter, say, 220 grit, but Im familiar with it and like the work to go fast.
With a lighter grit, you can also overwork the epoxy, especially if not 100% cured.

2-3 more coats after this one should do it.
And yes, there are brush bristles in my epoxy. I use cheapo acid brushes for this. A few bristles dont bother me. They sand right out ;)
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IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
"wet" compartment vent painted/textured with color-matched enamel

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Vents painted with color matched enamel.

This will reduce the amount of detail work Ill need to do when spraying Monstaliner

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Also started yet another portion of this project, tail light buckets/boxes.
The surface mount LED strips we had were nice, but they started failing in just a few years, and were surface mount making them tough to replace.

These wont look the greatest, but they will be easy to service, easy to source replacements, and match the tails lights on the truck.

I started by breaking some .090 aluminum for this...

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Ducstrom

Well-known member
Did you suffer any good rock hits to the front portions of your camper? What was the damage like? My camper is going to end up being a similar construction and finish so I'd like to know what I am in for.
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
No rock hits (so far) Plenty of trees :ROFLMAO:

But the 6mm marine ply saturated in epoxy is remarkably strong.
A few paint chips from use, but no more.

The photos above are not a repair, but a slight design change (y)
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Quick update about the Schutz gun upgrades.

Turns out the dip tube is threaded with 1/8" NPT

So instead of extending the original tube, it was a simple matter of making a new one using pipe nipples and a coupler.
Had I found 6" brass nipples I would have gone that way. Galv will have to do.

This change also allowed me to bend the tube to draw from one edge of the bottle.
This will allow the gun to more easily spray UP or DOWN, depending upon how you orient the tube.
Should also allow me to use more of the bottle as well.

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IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Not much to report. Sanding, sanding, and more sanding....
Prep is nearly done. Good things, as the coating showed up.

Should have the medium quartz gray base coat down this weekend (y)

Plenty of fancy goo to work with here....

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IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Here we go..... base layer for graphics down, and underside of cab-over done in Medium Quartz Gray.

Pleasantly surprised about the near lack of over-spray with this product.
I had the entire floor masked, but it really wasnt needed.


Satisfying texture :sneaky:

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Details of the main power connection....
A bit of touch-up needed here, I wasnt too concerned about it as you never see this spot :p

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Detail of the coating over the door, door frame, & hinges

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IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Yep, but slow. Life, weather, and cure times slow things down :sneaky:

After a week of letting the base coat cure, we were able to get the decals applied today.
These will serve as stencils, and will be removed as the other colors are applied, to expose the dark gray.

The wife helped me out with applying the decals, its certainly more than a 1-guy job.
This evening will be final masking/sanding/prep for the upper, and the light gray will be sprayed tomorrow.

Next weekend we will spray the white lower.

I was hoping to spray today, but we have some freak 90 degree day with a severe thunderstorm following this evening.
Far too hot for spraying. Tomorrow it is supposed to be back in the 60's, just right.

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1000arms

Well-known member
Looks good.

I know you are pretty aware of the weight of your rig. Did you estimate the weight of your new finish? This isn't any criticism, I'm just curious.
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
Good question, but I don't have a good answer for you. But I'm not concerned in the least.

After the solvents evaporate out of it when applied and cured, maybe 35# ??
 

1000arms

Well-known member
Good question, but I don't have a good answer for you. But I'm not concerned in the least.

After the solvents evaporate out of it when applied and cured, maybe 35# ??
Lighter than I would have guessed, having never used it. Thanks.

With the care you have taken in building a light-but-strong rig, I wouldn't be concerned either.

I know the epoxy-soaked plywood is a tough surface, but do you think the Monstaliner will help protect the box from flying gravel? Soak up a bit of the impact and cut down on energy in the gravel strike?
 

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