Darla’s Dazzling Paint Job & More!
WHAT’S NEW WITH DARLA?
She has a fresh psychadelic new paint job, painted bulkhead gate inside, and all-weather pergo flooring!
FLOORING
We have been following the tutorials on Far Out Ride so far. Click here for the flooring tutorial we did. We did quite a bit of work grinding away the rusty spots in the cargo area after we ripped up the nasty/weird rubber flooring. The 3M Paint & Rust Stripper drill attachment was like the most amazing thing ever and we ground it down to a stump by the time we were done with it! Next step was patching a few holes with a fiberglass body kit. The Isopson Fiberglass Repair Kit made it pretty simple at least, because fiberglass and resin were totally new to me. I did a very ugly job but it doesn’t matter because it’s not visible! Finally everything was sealed with a POR-15 Rust Preventative kit. Then it was just onto laying minicell foam, underlayment, caulking, and installing the pergo!
GLASS
It turns out people are really against permanently painting glass on vehicles so much so that I could only find 1 person online who had done it. They used glass etching cream first, and then sprayed primer on it, then the paint. That’s the plan I ran with as well so I got Armor Glass Etching cream from Michael’s and immediately buffooned it up. I definitely used it incorrectly because it had already become way too cold outside and it pretty much froze to the glass (it’s supposed to remain wet). It did etch about 50% of the glass but I didn’t feel like buying another bottle so I sanded the windows for good measure. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little worried about the windows because one of them did have about 1 sq. in. that bubbled off before I got it to the painter. I kind of just figure if it keeps peeling I’ll keep painting over it lol. I’m just documenting this here so y’all can learn from my stupid mistakes!
PAINT
Michael Campbell from Mason, Michigan painted the pink and black basecoat for me and then was nice enough to let me use the shop to paint the mural! Mind you, the van does not fit in my garage so it would’ve been impossible for me to paint it without renting a space! I used 1 Shot Lettering Enamel for the first time which had a bit of a learning curve. I really struggled getting the consistency right. It’s an oil based paint that you have to mix hardeners and thinners to. I had to mix hardener in it to make it resistant to the clear coat that would eventually go over the whole thing. I don’t know if I didn’t mix the right amount or what but on our test swatch the paint reacted badly to the clear coat and crackled up. 1 Shot is meant for sign painting and automotive work so the vehicle should be all fine and dandy without a clear coat, but I’m a little frustrated that I couldn’t figure it out. I’m really mostly just good at making things look pretty.
I really wanted the design to blow people’s eyeballs out of their face LOL. It’s an amalgamation of all of my favorite weird and pretty things! I even got a new logo out of it which I wasn’t planning (the eyeball flower on the passenger side door). I’m just so pleased with the design and colors despite absolutely rushing to get it done in 2 days and fighting with a new medium! I still have to make vinyl decals with my contact info and apply those but I think that’s it for the paint! I wasn’t able to do everything I wanted to in my sketch. Once I was with the van in person some ideas I had didn’t really work. I actually couldn’t fix any of my mistakes (other than painting something else over them) because the base coat was matte and once it got oil paint on it it was donezo. I went into this knowing nothing and I’m armed with a significant amount more knowledge than before and will definitely plan accordingly next time! I’m going to paint some respectable flowers on my Chevy Sonic once it’s nicer out! Respectable ones w/o eyeballs in them 😂
WHAT’S NEXT FOR DARLA?
Next up is to have all the solar equipment installed and insulation of the walls and ceiling. We also have a ladder that will shield Darla’s pooper from prying eyes 👀 –LOL What I’m saying is the ladder will be on the back driver side door covering the bathing feline. Not sure how much we can get done at this point since it’s regularly in the 20°s and 30°s right now and getting colder (in East Lansing, Michigan). I bought a propane heater for the garage but it’s still not enough heat.