Gallery: Thailand's blinged out tourist buses

In Thailand bling is in. Even the country’s coach owners are ordering lavish custom paint jobs on their tourist buses, before finishing them off with rows of floodlights, shiny reflectors and external speakers that turn some into large, colorful, mobile discotheques.

The town of Bang Len in the central Thailand province of Nakhon Pathom, about 50 kilometers west of Bangkok, is one of two coach-building centers in the country, with dozens of large and small factories turning out tourist coaches in response to the country’s burgeoning demand. The majority of Bang Len’s bus building companies trace their origins and links back to one family, with all members using the “Meeseang” (Have Light) name, followed by additional family identifying words tacked on the end.

A motocross theme by coach building company Crazy Bus Thailand.

While fairly plain paintwork might have been the order of the day a few years ago, the anti-minimalism trend that started about a decade ago has grown to spur a whole sub-industry -- that of teams of talented airbrush artists blinging-up tourist coaches.

There are some 10 full-time airbrush teams made up of about 40 people in total working around Bang Len, the majority of whom move from factory to factory depending on demand.

Khun Somchao Taveesabchai (Toan), has been applying custom artwork to the sides of buses for about 10 years, and claims to be the first person in Thailand to have started using adhesive templates produced by plotter printers to mask areas being painted. Before that, everything was done freehand, making it considerably more difficult to produce geometrically perfect and intricate designs, he says.

Blinged up: The completed side of a bus that is being given a Santa Claus Christmas theme.

Khun Toan said it takes him and his team of two assistants about four days to design a bus layout and apply the stickers, and another seven to 10 days to airbrush. Concentrating primarily on color-rich, complex fantasy themes often incorporating Korean and Japanese manga and anime characters, Toan says a design could cost an owner between 40,000 and 70,000 baht (about US$US1,270 to US$2,223), depending on the complexity.

“In the past we used to be able to complete four or five buses a month, but the designs are much more complex now. I’m constantly trying to add more depth and complexity to the designs, while the owners keep demanding more and more artistry too," he says.

At Mee Saeng Bus Body Co., a member of the family that founded the city’s coach-building industry, 42-year-old Khun Krisanapong Sathasooth (Shane) says he and his team of four painters complete over 100 buses a year, the majority of which are coaches built at the factory. Shane says while some people opt for a slick paint job to cover up an aging coach, preparation costs of about 90,000 baht on top of the 30,000 to 45,000 baht fee for the airbrushing, mean the process is generally carried out as part of a total coach upgrade, rather than to camouflage defects.

With 10 years of experience applying custom paint finishes to coaches, Shane says he can tell which team in the area has painted a bus by looking at the artwork, irrespective of the “tag” many of the freelance teams are starting to apply at the bottom rear of the buses they airbrush.

Coaches in varying stages of assembly.

Shane says it takes about five to six years to teach people the intricacies of airbrushing buses, though once the skill is learned, the artist can earn quite good money compared to the minimum wage they get paid for painting cars in panel shops.

Though Thailand’s tourism industry has suffered setbacks as the result of political protests for the last two years, Vanna Khitrungruang, manager of Mee Saeng Bus Body Co., says demand for new coaches has remained consistent over the past two years. "Every coach we build has custom airbrushing. I can’t remember anyone ordering a bus with a plain finish.”

Both artists say customers generally have a preconceived idea of what they want painted on their coaches, with the Internet providing ready access to popular fantasy designs and characters from around the world, as well as detailed artwork of characters from the Disney, Marvel Comics and DreamWorks animation stable if extra inspiration is required.

Head airbrush artist and designer Krisanapong Sathasooth (Shane) has been decorating buses for 10 years.

The bare skeletons of bus frames wait to be completed.

Head airbrush artist and designer Krisanapong Sathasooth (Shane) passes some paint to one of his apprentices.

The inside door panels of buses are acrylic, which requires reverse airbrushing.

Shane paints an island onto the side of a Thai bus.

Stenciled up: Artists will now airbrush a Japanese manga design onto this Thai bus.

A Thai bus that has just had Japanese manga artwork airbrushed onto its sides.

A partially airbrushed bus.

On the other side, the main character on this fantasy-themed bus is already complete.

Somchai Taveesabchai (Toon) says he is the first person in Thailand to adopt stencils for airbrushing.

Fine droplets of paint spray from the nozzle of Toon's airbrush.

Blinged to the max. This Thai tourist coach has all the trimmings.

After each color is applied the stencils are removed.

A fantasy theme airbrushed on a Thai bus.

Toon and Suai in front of a sample of their Japanese anime work.

Shades of Cinderella. Is that Prince Charming on the side of this Thai bus?

A bus building and painting yard in Bang Len, Nakhon Pathom.

John Le Fevre is an Australian national with more than 20 years' experience as a journalist, photographer, videographer and copy editor.

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