After
completing all the primer and interior
paint, we moved onto the exterior of the
cab. After several hours of working with a
DA sander with 1200 grit paper, the primer
was now down to a sooth, even surface. There
were many spots that required hand sanding
to get into the nooks and crannies,
especially on the tops of the doors and
windshield area, but the extra attention to
detail would prove valuable when the job was
done. Although I have no desire to be a
painter, I was quickly learning some of the
tricks of the trade. After sanding there was
cleaning with dirt and grease remover and
then cleaning with the tack cloth, and after
that it was laying down the masking tape and
paper. And before the paint could be sprayed
the floor had to be hosed down to prevent
any dust from getting stirred up. And that
does not include mixing the paint with
reducers and catalyst! After the paint gun
was filled and Andy was all suited up, he
would fire up the ventilation system and
heaters and head in to start spraying.
Typically I would watch him through the
little window in the paint booth door for a
few minutes, then head home and anxiously await what I
would find when I returned the next day. Our
paint shop is a couple blocks away from our
main facility and many times I would head
there first before finding my way to my
office, not having the patience to wait
until the end of the day to see the
progress. Before
painting the white on the exterior of the
cab, we decided our next step was to paint
the inside of the compartments and inside
the hose bed. For a couple days after work,
Andy headed home while I went to work with
the DA, sanding the inside of the
compartments, inside the hose bed and the
ladder storage area. You don't realize how
much surface area there is on a truck like
this until you are sanding away, and just
when you think you are done, you see another
spot that needs sanding. When all the primer
was sanded, Andy came back to the shop and
started painting. There were times I would
leave a 9:00 and Andy was still there, yet
he would be back to work at 6:00 am the next
morning. By working together as a team, Andy
and I were able to get lots of work done and by the end of the
month we had the inside and top part of the
cab painted white and the silver laid on the
compartments and hose bed.
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