How to do my own bodywork restoration?

[alexthecheese]

Hi all

I have a bus, the one in my avatar, and it went to a bodyshop last year to have some work done on it. It came out well, but there's lots of bits the guy missed and didn't fix.

I'm reluctant to take it back and want to save myself some money and do it myself.

I wanna get myself a compressor spray gun and tackle it all, mano y mano. What do I need to get? And what are the principles of sanding something down to repair it and make it good?

Also, I know you need a paintcode depending on the van you've got, to make it all match up. How do I find that, and where do I get the paint from? I want the van to be mint, ultimately. Cheers.

[AndyJ2506]

I think ultimately it's a case of practice as to much filler and you'll spend an age rubbing down and not enough you'll be going over it again( in a lot of cases you'll need two coats anyway). With regards to the paint it's not as expensive as you might think to have it blown over if you have already done the bodywork and you'll more than likely get a better finish. It also costs a bit to get a half decent spray setup and you'll need a large heated workshop to do it in with very good extraction. There are loads of decent how to guides on the net, try u tube