posted
I'm looking at striping and lettering some semi trailers. Some of them already have broad, painted stripes running the length of the trailer.
Some have corrugations and some just have smooth sides with rivets.
Would it be best to mask and paint? What kind of mask or tape to use? Would you brush it on? Is Oneshot the best paint to use for this?
Would paint or HP cast vinyl be best for the lettering?
Some of the trailers have vinyl lettering and some of it is peeling. I know the guy who lettered them and know for a fact that he uses intermediate vinyl for everything.
But, alot of the paint is chalking and fading severely.
Thanks
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
wayne....i would be more comfortable painting the stripes with automotive A/E spray paint. since ive done body work, maskin and taping & spray painting the stripes would be the easiest for me. as for the chalking paint get some 409,FANTASTIC or similar products and scrub with a soft brush, will take all the dead paint off.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hi, Ya know I guess it would depend on the condition of the trailers. If they are new, and they want to spend the money, I would use automotive paints. Or my second choice would be 1-Shot lettering enamel(Strained). You could roll or brush it on. Corrigated? I guess brush or maybe even spray it on, with a touch up gun. I really don't like using vinly on large jobs, but if you are expeienced enough, use vinyl. As for the other trailers, you can color sand the old stripes and repaint them. So much of this depends on how much the customer wants to spend, the design of the stripes and how many colors you may have to use. As for tape. I use 3M green fine line or 1-Shot tape. If it's a complicated design, maybe you could use paint mask, hand cut or computer cut. To get the paint to adhere properly, color sand or rough up the surface a bit with a red scotch-brite pad. Work on the shady side of the trailer, less brush strokes showing. Sometimes I use Smothie in my paint if it does'nt go on nice. And be sure you prep the he----- out of the surface on those trailers. Those trucks take a beating at the truck wash. If the work comes off, the customer is gonna call you. And then your gonna have to go back and "Work for Free" fixing it. I hate when that happens!!!!!! Good luck buddy.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3855 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Sounds an awful lot like work to me Wayne. Cant even imagine it would even be fun to do. Charge enough to cover the boreness factor. A little known variable that creeps into some of the less rewarding projects we sometimes take on.
-------------------- Bob Stephens Skywatch Signs Zephyrhills, FL
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Wayne, Had a project that is related to your question. We used single stage automotive spray paint for the stripes (like Dupont Centari). We chose the spray method because of all the rivets and the time it takes to lay vinyl over rivets didn't appeal to us. Decided not to use 1Shot because too much area to paint by hand. Would be glad to discuss or if you have any questins feel free to call or e-mail.
Jim
[ February 05, 2003, 04:46 PM: Message edited by: Jim & Chris hetzler ]
-------------------- Jim & Chris Hetzler JC Hetz Studio 513 W 3rd St. Muscatine, IA 52761 563-263-2803 jhetzler@machlink.com www.jchetzstudio.com
"We are the one that makes you look good!" Posts: 137 | From: Muscatine,Iowa,USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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wayne, you got a body/fender shop near you? or do you have some you know that has done body/fender work? its a simple process to mask/prep/paint something that big, but you need someone who has done this so you can see how easy it is. if you can go to a body/fender shop, watch a car being painted. all the same process. how ckose are you to defuniak springs? guy over there by the name of cliff jette, does custom car/bike paint jobs....hes a good guy, if hes close enough he could help ya. 850-951-1855
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
I suppose if they are "high end" trailers spraying would be the way to go, using masking tape and a paper off of a roll. But if they are of the everyday ordinary type I just paint em' with One-Shot. I use a roller to apply and a good quality paint brush (larger Purdy)to "tip off" and smooth out paint going into the direction of wet paint to eliminate lap marks. Once you get this technique down, you can produce an almost "sprayed-look" finish taht holds up well and if needs be, can be touched-up easily when dinged. "Piece of Cake"
-------------------- Rich Stebbing RichSigns Rohnert Park CA 707-795-5588 Posts: 755 | From: Rohnert Park, CA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Wayne, Masking was very simple, and yes we did mask the whole trailer. Most auto supply stores that sell paint, sell rolls of masking plastic that is 12' x 500' rolls and on top of it I used the kind that has static cling built into it so it "clings" real easily to what ever and in this case the whole trailer without much masking. I masked the stripes off with 1/2" 3M fine line tape and taped the masking plastic right up to it. On the Tiger Hawk logo toward the front, I enlarged the logo in Corel and computer cut vinyl masking material and since it only comes in 24" wide rolls and the logo is 6' tall I had to cut the logo in three sections and piece them together on the trailer. Easy to tell about it now that it is over but did a lot of head scratching prior to the actual painting.
Jim
-------------------- Jim & Chris Hetzler JC Hetz Studio 513 W 3rd St. Muscatine, IA 52761 563-263-2803 jhetzler@machlink.com www.jchetzstudio.com
"We are the one that makes you look good!" Posts: 137 | From: Muscatine,Iowa,USA | Registered: Sep 2000
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The customer is the driver training department of the local technical school. They have dozens of trailers, several tractors and just acquired a new 53' freezer trailer and a tanker which need striping and lettering. Some of the other trailers are obviously in dire need of re-striping and lettering too. The man who was painting the trailers (a fine hand painter) had a heart attack and isn't able to do them anymore.
We have already done bunches of sandblasted signs for the other departments of the school but I'm not sure if I want to tackle this or not. It helps to know what materials to use though. Since I will have to paint them onsite, I don't know if spraying will be an option anyway. I will probably end up brushing them.
Some of these stripes run the length of the trailer. Will the fineline tape hold up to a pull that far or do you snap a chalkline first? I will try to post some pics of one of the trailers in the next few days.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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At the last place I worked, we did tons of trailers. All One Shot and taped with fine-line tape.
We would run multiple lines right down the side of the trailer with it. Here's an example. It's all One Shot.
With multiple stacked stripes, we would take as many rolls of tape as there were lines that needed to be taped off, tack them at one end and with them all hooked over our fingers, we'd walk to the other end, letting them unwind and tack at the other end! If they were up high, it would be one person with all the tape in their hands up on top of a rolling ladder and someone pushing them down to the other end.
posted
Thanks Wayne, here's a close up of the circular saw. I didn't do it. I think we did 3 of these trailers. One person did the circualar saw and I did a table saw on the other side. The images were projected on, roughly drawn in with a Stabilo then outlined with the fine-line tape. Just fill in the shapes and airbrush where needed. Peel the tape and fill in the 1/4" gap with a quill and black paint, creating sort of a cartoon. The lettering was vinyl.
Everything else was done with pounce patterns, except the stripes. We'd pounce the patterns on. Outline everything with the tape and mask wider areas with premask. Then just fill it in with rollers and flats. The only size fine-line tape we ever used was 1/4". It bends around curves very well. The smaller white lettering was vinyl as well.
[ February 07, 2003, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: Terry Whynott ]
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