Oct 17 2007
Ben’s Painting Primer (Fire Engine Red Redux)
(Note: If you haven’t read Make Mine Fire Engine Red, then you might want to do that now to know what’s happening)
A thin man about six feet tall with sandy blond hair and matching mustache carefully released the clamps on a paint shaker and lifted a gallon can onto the counter with a thump. “I’ll be with you in a minute,” he said.
“Hey, Benjamin, let’s look over here for what color you want to paint your fire truck,” I said.
“OK, Daddy.”
We found Disney’s own line of paints, available only at The Home Depot. I pointed to several red samples in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head. “Do you like one of these?”
“That one,” he said, pointing to the one called, “Code Red.” (It was related to one of Buzz Lightyear’s favorite sayings.)
“That looks just right,” I said. “Take it up to the counter and ask the man for that color.”
(click any pic to enlarge and sharpen)
He grabbed the paint chip (get the jargon down, loser) and marched over to the paint man. “I want this one, please.”
I stepped in beside Benjamin. “We’re painting his little fire truck that we just built outside. How much do you think we’ll need?”
“Well, the smallest size you can get in that is a gallon.”
“We won’t need that much, but what does that cost?”
I can’t remember exactly what he said, because numbers aren’t my thing, but it was more than $15 and less than $20.
“You have anything else close to fire truck red that comes in a smaller size?”
“Nope. Except maybe spray paint.”
He pointed me in the right direction. I wondered about spray paint’s safety on a kid’s toy, but made my way over there nonetheless. The truck was going to be red before the weekend ended, dammit. The kid’s four. He’s not going to be chewing on it.
I had second thoughts after seeing the cans. I remembered the fumes of spray paint, and the warning labels. Not to mention the uneven paint jobs I’d seen it do in the hands of my wife and mother-in-law.
Next to the evil ozone-killers was a plethora of half-pint latex paints of various colors. For the Canadian and European readers, that’s 236.6 ml (rounded up to the nearest tenth). The label read “Easy soap and water cleanup,” and “For indoor and outdoor applications.”
$3.98. Sounded perfect.
“Hey, Benjamin, which of these colors do you want for your fire truck?”
He pointed to Apple Red.
I wondered if the guy behind the counter had ever stepped out to explore his department. Could help him one day.
I saw a woman standing near the paint counter, sporting the Home Depot orange apron. Hoping she would have a clue, I approached her and held out the can. “Would this be safe for a kid’s toy?”
“Sure. What are you painting?”
“A wooden fire truck we just built.”
“Oh, you’re going to want primer for that red paint. Red’s notorious for being translucent. The light will hit that wood and reflect right back through the red.”
“So, I’ll still see the wood grain underneath?”
“Yes. Unless you prime it.”
I again held up the red paint. “Do you have primer in small cans like this?”
“Hmmm… no. But we might have it in spray paint.”
Dammit.
She led us back over there, but didn’t come up with anything labeled “primer.” Instead, she said, we could use black and then paint the red over it.
99 cents. Sounded perfect.
We got out of there for less than $10, which I thought was OK after falling for the oldest baiting ploy in capitalistic society — reel them in with something free, and then sell them something.
Back at the house, Ben played on the front porch while I sprayed the black. Later, I masked the “tires” and he put on a few brush strokes of red before I finished up. The next day, another coat of red and — presto! A kind of cool little toy fire truck.
The only thing I might do differently is bring the kit home and paint the “tires” and the axles before attaching them. The wheels don’t spin very smoothly with latex paint gumming up the works. Oh, and I’d leave off the flimsy, ugly roof.
Related links:
Disney paint colors by Behr
A cynical NPR story about these paints
Converber the free measurement unit conversion software.
As long as Ben likes it, lets not be TOO much of a perfectionist… *chuckling*
Came out nice though… I wonder how long he’ll play with it until he realizes it doesn’t make noise, or do anything cool that the store bought ones do!
Hey, how about some stickers on it! They didn’t offer any?
Dave - Don’t worry. There are a few drips here and there.
It’s cool that you brought up the plain toys vs. the more modern models. Much to our pleasure (and, I hope, thanks to our methods), most of Ben’s play is with toys that don’t make noise. He makes his own noises and makes up voices for dinosaurs, race cars, etc. (I think he gets that from me from when I read him stories). The few that do make their own noises are the ones he got tired of the fastest (or at least stopped bothering to press the noise-making buttons).
The did include some stickers with the truck kit, but they were pretty hokey and Benjamin didn’t seem interested in them.
Very cool on the button-less toys. We struggle with that ourselves. Friends and grandparents seem drawn to the noise-makers that remove the need for imagination. Moonshot and I gravitate toward wooden toys and puzzle type things. I’m glad to hear Ben is choosing the Light Side.
I love the picture of Ben painting. The toy will mean more to him since he made it himself. I remember I made a Sarlac Pit when I was in 1st grade. Carved out a funnel shape into a block of styrofoam I had found in the woods, spread glue all over the top and dumped sand on it. Then I roamed the woods and found cow and coyote teeth to stick in the funnel shape. It was gruesome and the sand made it a “outside toy”…but I was so proud of that thing.
That little truck is beautiful in it’s simplicity! And the best part, besides it being all full of Dad-love, is that when Ben’s grown up or just weary of playing with it, it’s going to look great on a book shelf and it will become a family heirloom and Ben’s kids will love it one day.
That’s so great that you took the time and interest to do this for and with Ben.
Moksha - That sounds like a wicked cool toy (or at least that’s what I would have called it back in the day).
Linda - Because of the gumminess of the wheel movement, it isn’t really a toy per se. It sits on his play table as part of his room’s transportation themed decor.
I loved doing this project. After all the work I do on computers, some manual labor and craftsmanship was fun!