2012 USA Van Nationals

[rossie]

Go to a air brush school , ask them if the advance class want to use it as a test bed(ford).  give them a theme, or get real guttsy and wait for the suprise when you pick it up. If you go to the right school, the panel section can do the rust, paint section the base paint and interior etc...
Apprentice do modules at school which they have to pass and a teacher is looking over them and working with them. It will cost but not near as much as a work shop. Go talk to them, ask the teachers who the star is and aproach them.

[Bedfordcrazy]

For me, now i am in a wheelchair, i cant go and get a 2nd job like i use to, i have to do mine out of my pension, once a month. I was in the workshop this morning packing up all my beddy parts into sealed crates ready to put up on the racks till i can start work on it again. Anyhow i was sitting there looking at my van, and i decided to try and clean up some of the work that was done by the sheet metal guy. When we did things like the numberplate housing, we left the welds untouched, with the idea of it getting cleaned up when it went for the final bodywork. I figured i could clean them up, whats the worst that could happen, i could stuff it up,   or find my true calling. lol   \
george

Here is my promise to all BUGA members, if i win lotto i will set up a custom van workshop and do nothing but beddies from start to finish.   just dont hang round waiting for me to win lol LOL  

[restoreid]

Good on ya George Yeah were all waiting for that lotto win haha

[petrolhead]

My mate does murals so thats covered and I know somebody else that only likes doing custom work so if your intrested let me know

[tiwaz_nz]

in 2002 i did a refinishing course and passed top of the class , 2003 i did the panel beating course and just missed out on top of the class , worked in a few panel shops and also did wheel alinements of a while but being a solo dad and only on min wage went back to my trade (paint and decorator) l just the art work is the only thing i cant do but when the time is right ill find someone as i want a gor or viking therem .....

[Sundownernz]

Come on guys, where there's a will............

You don't have to pay big bucks to get stuff done. Gain the skills to do it yourself. I did a vintage car restoration course at night school a nuber of years ago at a polytech and built all the bits for my van in steel there, gaining the skills to fully customise my van myself. I also did a custom airbrushing course with Airbrush Venturi, an Aussie based school that runs courses across Aussie and NZ. They teach you all about custom and photo realistic airbrushing and you don't need to be artistic to get awesome results. Check out there websit (google Aribrush Venturi) for courses in your area. You can also do it part time throughout the year.

You can also get van parts in from overseas via the net. Most parts outlets will ship overseas but it'll cost a bit to get it shipped, but you can get them.

The more you can do yourself the cheeper it is but there is a good base here on this site to get most stuff done and help each other out. I'm happy to do custom airbrushing here in NZ when I get time and could help out with putting people in touch with other airbrushers where needed.

Sure some of the vans at the US Nationals were big dollar vans but most of them weren't. It's amaising the effect you can get with a bit of thought and limited funds so don't let the lack of money stop you. If you can gain a few extra skills by doing an airbrushing course you can use these skills to get extra money on the side as well as painting you van at the same time.

I'm still in the US, currently in Arizona having a great time, spending too much, but having a ball. Back home again in a few weeks time and looking forward to some real food.

Cheers,
Garry

[taggraphx]

Your spot on Garry,
 getting into airbrushing is not that hard, I practiced on mdf boards for a while until you get more confident, and even if you make a big mess of it, you can allways sand it back and start again, (done that a few times) there's lots of methods and techniques and most corse's will guide you in this area, my personal biggest headace was re-training myself on double action brushe's, I still use both, its allways been a contraversal  subject on what you should train with first. either way just have a go, like Garry said you might end up making some extra bucks, and getting your murals for free

above all, have fun
cheers
Graham 

[cfjeff]

gidday, as garry siad, dont let the hurdles of building a custom van get you down, just step back and find another way to overcome the problem at hand. When I built my van the first time I knew very little about pretty much anything except that I wanted a custom van. A mate was serving an apprenticeship as a panel beater so opted to help with the body work (yes lucky, but he was still learning and when he got stuck asked his tutors and employer). Motor had to be rebuilt by motor reconditioner including taking it out and in as I wasnt profecient at any of that back then. Interior something I wanted to do, did the wood work myself but covering it nah so searched out a suitable tradesperson, got a furnature recoverer. So first time around cost me a lot of money. Second time around some 15 years later had learned a lot and was prepared to give it a go and learn new things. Body this time did most of it myself, stripped it all back, bodyfilled it, a mate taught me how to fibreglass ( new skill, and not that hard to do). Couldn't and still cant weld to save myself so employed someone to weld for me. Sheet metal specialist job so employed someone to do that as well, made it all fit myself and tidied up all the welds myself. Where Ineeded advice asked several people for it and took all into account when exceuting.
Anyhow I digress, the point is to build a van in the states is somewhat easier because of off the shelf solutions and products, out here we have to mostly make from scratch and that to me is somewhat more satisfying, that I did it the hard way. A wise vanner once told me (while I was building the van the first time) the only way to get it how you want is to do it your self. As time has gone on the more true this has become. If you come to a seemlingly impassable obstacle, step back shelve it for a while and seek the advice of others in the mean time then return to it and overcome or change it.
cheers Jeff