Roller Painting Upol Raptor: An Amazing Van Roof Transformation
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Our Mercedes Vario roof, like the rest of the bus, needs some TLC. This week we repair rust, prep the paint and apply Upol Raptor using a roller to give it a fresh new look. Once dried this paint should be durable, UV stable and look good - but this is the first time we've done something like this (just like the rest of our van build).
Items we used to restore our van roof with uPol Raptor
- 5 schultz tins of Tintable Upol Raptor - ebay.us/4h6HAK here's one seller that also tints
- 10 #upolraptor Rollers - Amazon now have these that look the same but way cheaper: amzn.to/48pyu5B
- Upol panel wipe: amzn.to/482MXon
- 320 grit sanding disks and abrasive pads - amzn.to/2RDgEtG
- tack rags - amzn.to/3eAbJ69
- Buzzweld Rust Encapsulator: ebay.us/ICsDbi
- Jenolite Rust Convertor -amzn.to/3uJgUGx
- Upol pre mixed fiberglass
Applying the Upol Raptor using their rollers took a bit of getting used to, but i got the hang of it and managed to achieve that Raptor texture we all know. As always this was all in the prep, so the vid walks you through the steps taken.
As always thanks so much for watching. Your comments and support are really driving us on (especially as we seem to be hitting a few gnarly walls lately). If you're new here - Welcome along! Please subscribe to follow our weekly progress updates; we show the whole lot. Good, bad, funny, not funny, birdy - all that jazz.
Rolling Raptor Project chapters
00:00 Intro Credits
00:00:15 A quick hello from us
00:00:32 Cleaning the roof
00:02:07 Discovering and rubbing back rust around our Mercedes Vario back doors
00:04:00 Removing old camera and light; rusty roof above the back door
00:08:28 Why we hired a scaffold tower for our van build
00:08:54 Day Two; preparing the surface with 320 grit and treating rust
00:10:48 Removing the old aerial from our Mercedes Vario
00:11:30 Day 3 -rubbing back and keying the paint
00:14:21 How we Positioned and Drilled out solar cable gland
00:16:41 More prep and progress shots of prepared Vs. Not prepared Paint
00:17:38 Mixing the Upol Rapor, Raptor Rollers and Overview
00:19:43 First coat of Raptor using a roller and why the rollers disintegrate
00:21:47 Testing the Raptor for hardness before the second coat and the correct #rollerraptor technique for rolling on raptor
00:25:04 Second coat of Upol Raptor bedliner results
00:27:02 End credits and behind the scenes
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If you want to see how it all began check out our first video; • Mercedes Vario Camperv...
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About us and our journey
We are converting this beast of a Mercedes Vario minibus into a tiny adventure home on wheels. We have grand plans for travel and adventure and are documenting the build each week. We are building in our spare time and need all the help we can get. With that in mind we love hearing your thoughts in the comments and would appreciate a cheeky thumbs up if you've enjoyed the video.
Thanks again for watching our #selfbuildcamper series. Take care. - Авто та транспорт
Rich, you are a lucky guy, gorgeous wife and daughter, nice home and soon to be travelling in something you built together. Wishing you all the best.
You’re spot on. Must have done something right in a previous life that’s for sure. Thanks a lot for your well wishes, means a lot. Hope you have a grand day. Take care Andrew 🚐🚐🚐
Very sensible using white Raptor as so many paint them black without realising just how hot the roof will get in strong sunlight. I bet you are well glad to get the roof out of the way! its all downhill from now on :)
Absolutely. We’ve a good roof and a good chassis now - so just the ends to sort out now 😂. We did keep it white due to the heat to be honest. Have thought up a colour scheme that will work with the white roof. It’s mini inspired actually.
You guys are awesome 😊I wish the rest of the world was like you folks. ❤️
Thank you for this. Really lovely comment. Take care and safe travels
Nice job on the roof will admit I have never used it before, look forward to next week stay safe cheers from Australia 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
Thanks Barry. I’ve used it on my mini interior floor pan but that went on smooth. This was quite a bit bigger! Thanks so much for watching. Have a great week and take care 🚐🚐🚐
Great inspiration I am doing g my t4 this week
Brilliant stuff. Hope it goes well for you.
Hi All..Very Professional Job Rich..Well Done, It Looks Great . 😁
Thanks so much. Took way longer than anticipated as always but was worth it in the end. Also the sunshine was glorious. Not a bad way to spend the week off in the current ‘climate’. 🚐🚐🚐
G'day Rich and family good job Rich it's good stuff and a great protector. It's coming along kind regards John
Thanks John. It’s pretty durable stuff. Hopefully it’ll cope in the elements. Thanks so much for watching. Hope you’re keeping well. Take care
looks like 90% of you hard work will never be seen again. the devil is in the detail (preparation) work. your doing a professional job well done. take care all
That’s absolutely spot on; it’s all the hidden stuff that takes the time. Even before paint I was worrying it wasn’t keyed enough lol. Thanks so much for watching and commenting Dean. It’s really great. Take care bud 🚐🚐🚐
That's a proper campervan, great information as well, thanks.
Our pleasure! Thanks very much for watching. Take care 🚐🚐🚐
Perfect entertainment for my Sunday morning with a coffee and some rosemary sandwiches. Well done guys. You are making some great progress.
Thanks very much. Had to make hay whilst the sun was shining as it were. Thanks for your mega comment. Take care 🚐🚐🚐
Hope you enjoy the video. We forgot to mention the windscreen rust scenario. Will update you all on this next time but we are progressing it.
We are super pleased with the roof though. Any questions, thoughts really welcome. Thanks all. K, R & L x
Very nice great job so far keep the faith all of you and enjoy your journeys
Thanks very much. We will keep on plodding along for sure. Thanks for watching 🚐🚐🚐
Bit late guys I know but you know what it's like....work, work, work. 🙈 Really impressed with the rollering on the roof, when we did ours I was tempted to do the same but wasn't sure we'd get the same effect but I was wrong so Kudos to you, could have saved us a lot of hassle. Hope you are progressing with 'Rustgate' and it hasn't knocked you back too much. 🤞 Keep up the good work all. Kez and John. 👍🚌🤗
Hey guys. Hope you’re well. The rolling did take a long time and a fair few rollers but we are happy with how it looks. We weren’t sure it would give a good effect either. Rust gate is ongoing - new screen surround is en route which was a big expense. Should be here this week to take a look at. Really enjoyed your update this week, looking forward to seeing how that bed works haha
Cracking honest vlog buddy and thanks again for sharing.
Thank you 😊
Another lesson of how to graft by Rich. The roof is looking awesome. Look forward to seeing whats next :)
Thanks guys. It was a long week but the weather was glorious to be fair. Really lucked out as it would have been a disaster if it had rained. Thanks so much for watching. Hope you’re getting on alright x
Nice job, it looks great. 100% better than it was. Safe travels.
Thank you 😊. You too 🚐🚐🚐
Excellent good work beautiful people. Incredible video. I will definitely roll the raptor for the best results. Thanks brother
Thanks Roberto. Let us know how you get on. Best of luck.
The van is looking quite good at the moment I’m pleased with your progress keep the good work going guys
Thank you Mr. WH. We were pleased with this weeks progress. Granted it’s a lot of prep. Take care and have a great week 🚐🚐🚐
Roof looks great guys 👍
Thank you 😊
looking good , cheers ! .
Cheers Chris. Take care
u guys are adorable best of luck on your travels !
Thanks Timothy. Absolutely right back at you 🚐🚐🚐
Brill progress guys keep up the great work and its good to see the pigeon LOL
The pigeon is becoming a bit of diva to be honest. Demanding more and more to be on camera. Totally worth it though. He’s the real star of the show haha
Great video
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you for watching and commenting. Appreciate it, hope it helps you out a bit too.
Thanks it was very helpful to watch your video
Thanks so much. Appreciate your feedback.
Great video and great presentation of the jobs needed and prep required, will really help me get my fibreglass roof to a similar standard, great job! I doubt I will be as relaxed as you even if mine roof is half the size. Thanks for the time to post this. Best video of all I have watched so far. Hope your bus lasts forever. You may just be left with the roof in 30 years, in perfect condition.
Thanks Ste. That’s very kind of you to say. We gave it a good wash yesterday after it being under some pine trees for months and it’s come up nice and bright - raptor does seem to be a great product for sure. We hope yours goes well, will you be rolling on the raptor too?
@@WanderbusAdventures YES, Just pricing up all the bits now and ensuring I follow all the prep you noted. I have a old VW with the fibreglass bath tub on the top. Its looking so tired and old now. I planned to do it in black but will tint now and will drop you a before and after picture once done as a thanks.
That sounds amazing. Good luck with it.
@@WanderbusAdventures Can I check, did you use any of the adhesion promotor spray on the roof prior to applying the raptor, if so what did you use?
Hey. I didn’t but it couldn’t hurt. I made sure it was dull all over, which took ages. Found those flexible scotchbright sanding pads very useful. I think it would depend how far down you’ve sanded - it might be worth checking with whoever you’re getting your raptor from just to be sure.
That looks great ...never knew you could do it with a roller.. so now i do ill be doing the same with my roof .. but mine is going black 😁
Yeah. Top tip is to look out for packs of four rollers. Apparently fuzzy blokes rollers are good, so I might try those next. We almost went black as it does look ace.
25:49 she comes back when the work is done 😂
On this one yes, what you don't see is the numerous cups of tea, food, pep talks and other support. We really should show more of that.
It looked really good after cleaning but that raptor stuff totally transformed it! The roof can be such a nightmare, it took us weeks of leak testing and sealing to get ours water tight. You have to be so careful with those rear cameras as they often aren't sealed properly (or at all!) Really great work guys, it's coming along so well!
Thank you 😊. We were quite nervous it wouldn’t work well with the roller. It took ages but was the only way as we worked on the drive.
That’s good to know. Will add some extra sealant on the inside to be sure. We are still having some major leak issues on the windows, but will get them fixed up soon (hopefully).
Hope your build is going well. Will pop over to check out your latest vid later 🚐🚐🚐
@@WanderbusAdventures Well, it has worked really well with the roller. It looks great!
We were pondering about trying the tintable raptor stuff ourselves (if we can figure out how to tint it yellow!).
You'll get the windows sealed up! Even if it can be a pain!
Thank you so much! We feel it's going well. Starting to take shape 😊
Thank you. The tintable stuff is easy to mix. The body shop can supply the ‘tint’ to go in. What I did was add the hardener using the measuring cup and then topped it up to just below the bottle neck with tint. This was just over the recommended 100ml but I knew that each bottle would be the same if that makes sense. It definitely would have been quicker to spray it but space and skill led us down the roller route. Which does make it a bit more expensive too. Yellow would look ace - we’ve a yellow mini so might be biased 😊
@@WanderbusAdventures That's great that the bodyshop can supply the tint. We were shopping around all over for yellows that vaguely match our mystery yellow (the previous owners painted it yellow from white so we don't have the colour code).
Yeah, that makes sense. It was a little over the 100ml, but it was consistently a little over the 100ml 😛
The roller was probably the tidier option. Covering up things you don't want sprayed can be a real faff! You might have dodged a bullet there!
Yellow is definitely the best colour for a Mini! That little thing sounds awesome! We're probably biased toward yellow too though 😛
Great job guys! As always, the preparation is time consuming but it’s the most important part of the work. Good decision on a white roof too, dark (black especially) can absorb heat in strong sunlight and work against your roof insultion. 😎👍❤️
Hey Andrew. Honestly it makes us laugh how optimistic we are in how quickly the prep will take. We are pleased with the white colour choice - I think black would be more aesthetically pleasing but we’ve chosen an overall colour scheme that should work. Had the same thought re. The sunlight situation 🚐🚐🚐
@@WanderbusAdventures looking forward to seeing the full colour scheme in due course! The time time you are talking now will give you a great van for years to come… well worth it. Hope the windscreen scuttle is going to plan too. 🤞✅
Its true black does absorb more heat ... but as many of these end up with full length roofracks and solar on them it doesn't happen so much ...with a decent airspace between the rack and the roof its minimal.
Ah. We will update you on that. Trying to fashion a makeshift weather barrier today. Key message - screen is out 😊
Wait until you see our solar. It’s going to basically be one long sheet of black haha.
Well done both! That raptor looks the nuts on the roof. As a note to DAB if you have a decent internet package on your phone have a look at a stereo with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto. I use it a lot instead of DAB, as long as you’ve got internet you’ve got anything really - Spotify, tunein radio, bbc sounds etc etc DAB is patchy AF! Well it is in South Wales.
Thanks Ian. Apple Car Play would be amazing. Have been looking into it and almost opted for a double din for our reversing camera. At the very least we will have Bluetooth but Apple car play is the dream.
@@WanderbusAdventures well worth a look, I had good DAB reception with a rooftop beesting powered aerial but when we had the poptop fitted to our T5 we lost it and those windscreen ones are dire hence I went for a CarPlay unit.
Can resonate with the windscreen aerials. I tried one in the car and it didn’t work at all.
Nice work. But iv used Rustoluem combi coulor . I used the matt black and a textured foam roller looked real good and very tought finish... Cheaper than Raptor
Fair enough. Glad you’re pleased with it.
Hi, just catching up with you, we have a blue transit 07 minibus that we are converting and are thinking about raptoring. How's the paint holding up? I enjoyed your vlog and content, and will watch the others shortly. Best regards, David.
Hi David. Its holding up well. The only thing is our bus lives on our drive by a pine tree, so needs a good scrub every now and then but it takes this well. I’ll be getting up there soon and will report back if there’s any trouble spots.
Great job..wish I could do mine but it's got to have some fibreglass patched s9 local body shop is doing mine 😊
Thank you. Sounds like it’ll be a top job when done though, hope it works out well for you.
I'm sure it will be 😊
The windscreen rust is doable , it will be great when its finished .
Thanks Chris. We will definitely get it fixed. It won’t be easy or cheap, but totally worth it in the end we think.
@@WanderbusAdventures , it will , it will be worth a few bob as well , good investment as well as a holiday bus , cheers .
Come on Rich, now that we know you’re safe and not injured, I think we deserve to see the full “ladder incident”! Might get you more views .....
Roof looks fantastic - a lot of hard work there
Haha. Honestly the camera battery packed in on that section of the lapse - even I was annoyed. Thankfully I managed to scrabble back on the roof like a bearded ninja 😂
Hi Rich,
Great job,
just wondering if the roller job came out patchy at all or did it work out great? Thinking of rolling it as have the drive as well..
Hey Andras. Not at all. Just ensure the first coat has time to dry (it dries pretty fast) and keep the pressure light as it really eats the rollers otherwise. I’d say it’s as textured, perhaps a bit more, than spraying.
Hi, can you add the links to the products your using to treat the rust on the roof please, can't wait to see the finished product, your doing an amazing job!
Hi Jan, absolutely. I'll pop this in the description too but basically I rubbed back with 220 grit on the rusty bits. On my roof this was little micro blisters really. I then used tack cloth to remove the dust and painted over in Buzzwelds rust encapsulator; fair warning this is not everyone's product of choice but it has worked for me. I then decided to dust that over with some white paint as I was worried it would show through. I think if I were to do it again I'd use Buzzwelds grey superzinc instead which comes in very light grey.
On the back door roof I did have to use Jenolite rust convertor too. I used this after the initial rub back stage before making my repairs. Buzzweld is buzzweld.co.uk. I've popped some other links in the description too.
Hope this helps. Thanks so much for watching.
@@WanderbusAdventures many thanks, that was a great help. Got some rust appearing on out old camper that needs some attention ! Good luck k and love the videos.
Ah. It’s a troublesome thing to find. Fingers crossed it’s not too bad.
How is it holding up after 3 years? Keen to do the same on my van but wanted to know how well it lasts?
Still looks pretty good to be fair. Couple of places by the back doors have a little rust but that's more on my repairs that the raptor. Overall it is holding up well. It is more difficult to wash than regular paint, but again I am hindered by the solar panels
could a less textured finish be had with a smooth roller?
Yes for sure. You’d just need to get a roller suitable for solvent use. You can also make it less textured by rolling it less if that makes sense. I went over it when tacky to roughen it a bit more.
Hi, just wondering how are the rust repairs have held up now 2 years on?
Hey Louka. On the main roof they are great. I do have a little bit of creeping rust behind one of the rear lights that will need sorting.
Does it wash easily? Sometimes the spray is too gritty and it catches your rag.
Same deal with this really. It can catch a rag. It power washes fine, I’d say it is harder to keep clean marginally compared to regular smooth paint.
Fantastic video! I'm about to do the same to my campervan and was just wondering what you think about the raptor paint 3 years on, and was it all worth it?! ♡
Thanks so much, after 3 years it still looks pretty good to be fair. A couple of things with our roof to note is it can make for a tricky clean due to the solar panels and whatnot we have on it. Just make sure you scuff it up nicely before paint and it seems it last very well indeed.
@@WanderbusAdventures thanks loads!!! We want it more for protection as much as cleanliness. We're re living in the French alps at the moment, so between snowy winters and baking hot summers, We're really hoping a raptor coat will give us the extra protection We're looking for!
@clairevanbesien7149 ah that makes sense. It’s held up in our rain and winter. Plus many sunny days
Hi how many bottles did u have to use for the roof any help thanks.
Hey, 5 bottles were used on the roof. Thanks for watching.
Hi great job is it safe to use without mask 😷
Thanks Mark. I certainly wouldn’t spray it without a mask on. As I was rolling it and outdoors I chose not to wear a mask.
Do they sell the brush separately. In my country they have the raptor liner but no brush. The guy is telling me to spray it on but I told him you can roll it on. Helpppp lol
Hey Anthony. Yes you can buy the rollers separately. Upol do their own amzn.to/3wjAag5
If you need a brush you just need one that is solvent resistant. Hope this helps.
Hi how much raptor in litres did you use on the roof?
I think it was 6-7 litres
Great job, well done, how many rollers did ypu get through
That’s a good question. I can’t exactly remember now. Between 6-8 I think.
@@WanderbusAdventures thanks fot your reply, iv'e got 14 to do a whole caddy van so i should be ok
dave kennedy keep the pressure light and they last much much longer.
@@WanderbusAdventures thanks will do
Can you use solar panels of a house thought they were different power outputs
The Victron MPPT (150/70), takes the input voltage and amperage and manages them suitable for the battery bank voltage and optimal charging algorithm.
So on the input side it will be 3 panels in series so (33.8V + 33.8V + 33.8V) = 101.4V @ 9.47A = 960W whereas on the output side it will be 14.4V for absorption and 13.8V for float at 66A and 69A respectively. (Based on Rich's 12V battery bank)
Hope that helps and if anyone has any other questions about solar please feel free to ask.
Thanks Chris. @Ray I asked Chris for his thoughts and he’s provided this mega explanation. Will explain a bit more why we have opted for these when we get to it.
Scorch the roof?
Hey. The red scotch pads worked very well for the bumps and troughs of the roof. amzn.to/3PPvmJO
Do you have a link to buy this paint please?
HI, i bought it from a company called buzzweld.
Perfect job man, but the color...😢
Thank you 😊. What colour would you paint your roof?
@@WanderbusAdventures Of course the van is yours and you choose the colour, it has to please you first.
I would have made it all black with something yellow.😁😁😁
It's a beautiful van anyway
@wrappatodos ah neat. We were worried about the heat of a black roof but that would look nice.