MadaboutKitcars

Moving The Goal Posts:
The effort I put into sanding the area around the boot opening yesterday was pretty soul destroying.

As the original layer of etch primer really does not want to come off without a fight.

So last night I was seriously considering simply sanding down the top surface, rather than the whole lot.
( Figuring that most of the contamination from driving around would be absorbed by the outer surface. )

I woke up this morning with my hands slightly swollen and achy fingers, but then I saw the news.

That tower block is less that a mile from my mum's house and I dread to think what the final death toll will be.

When I stepped outside to start working on the car there was an acrid smell in the air that didn't bode well.

At which point the decision to be a bit more pragmatic about how much effort to put into prepping the car was an easy call.

I then had to test the stability of my block work when I realised I needed to remove the centre dash section again.
( As I forgot to tape up the holes from underneath when I removed the rear view mirror. )



The good news is that I was able to climb in and out without any issues.
( Well, apart from needing some steps to help me up that high. )

After spending a bit of time beard scratching I realised I couldn't seal off the cockpit fully.
( As I will need to climb in again to tackle the scuttle area over the dash. )

So I ended up with a mix of plastic sheeting and dust sheets.





Obviously, this is not ideal, but it certainly isn't the end of the world either.

There was only a little bit of sanding left to do on one side of this hump.



But everywhere else was just sanded down extensively, but not excessively.







Then everything was wiped down and a fresh coat of etch primer was applied.









End of Part 1…

Wednesday - Part 2:
I also did the return lip of both rear wheel arches.



The bonnet lip was also cleaned up and etch primed too.







Which means that this section of the scuttle and the wind deflector lip are the last areas that need to be prepared.



But the next job was to get the finishing putty out and turn the nice grey primer into a spotty mess.









Then, despite the fact most of this will be hidden beneath a rubber seal, I did the bonnet lip too.



The sunlight on the light grey primer makes it very hard to see pin holes.

Whereas, the BRG in the shade makes it very hard to see anything.

So it was only today that I spotted a couple of areas where the paint reacted that I missed completely yesterday.

They were sanded down and given a coat of high build primer.



So, with a bit of luck, the inside of the bonnet is finally ready for a final coat of BRG.



That that was all for today as I had to knock off early to meet a friend.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Timeline Observations:
The other day, Mister Towed pointed out that the 23rd June would mark 5 years since the kit arrived.

However, my donor Spitfire actually arrived on 22nd April 2012, so this project has already passed the 5 year mark.

Although, strictly speaking, I should get 8.5 months off my sentence for 'good behaviour' / being on the road.

My last drive around the block was 14th May, and I started the painting prep work a week earlier on the 7th May.

So even though I've not been at this prep work for 6 weeks yet, it does feel much, much longer.

Still, the weather forecast for the next few days looks good and I really hope this is enough to make a big difference.

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A Tale Of Two Cities:
Back in September last year, I posted this…



Well, I checked the distance today and my car is parked a mere 900m from Grenfell Tower.

Although it might as well be a different country altogether, as I doubt any Aston Martins were damaged by fire.

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The Long Good(ish) Thursday - Part 1:
It was another early start as I sanded down the scuttle and the wind deflector lip.

This actually required quite a lot of work to turn big undulations into smaller ones.







Then I sanded down all the finishing putty applied yesterday, starting with the bonnet lip.



Then followed by the rear end.



Driveway Sundial - Part 1 - 11.50am - Still in the shade.

Unfortunately, the wind was quite gusty at times which was turning the plastic sheet into a balloon / air bag.



So I had to switch to wrapping the dash and steering wheel in newspaper instead.



End of Part 1…

The Long Good(ish) Thursday - Part 2:
Then I got some etch primer on, which always makes things look better.









Driveway Sundial - Part 2 - 1.50pm - Mostly sunny, but with some shade.



It was so hot outside, I didn't have to wait long before I could get to work with the finishing putty.

Although, given the mix of raw fibreglass, fibreglass filler and normal filler, it is no wonder the surface is less than perfect.





Last night I dragged the Circus Tent out of the Summerhouse before I put the bonnet back in.



This is as far as I could get single handed.



But my wife was able to help me finish the job later on.



Note: We had to leave the tent unzipped, as it felt like the wind was going to take it.

End of Part 2…

The Long Good(ish) Thursday - Part 3:


Driveway Sundial - Part 3 - 5.15pm - Full sun.



Which made the sanding down of the finishing putty on the scuttle very hard work.



The heat was also a pain when it came to topping up the etch primer too.





I moved the bonnet into the tent and cleaned it with panel wipe.



Now, if I'd only stopped there, my day would have been good, without the 'ish'.

The actual time line was clean the scuttle, clean the bonnet, paint the scuttle, paint the bonnet.

Overall, the bonnet looks great.



But it was soul destroying to see that three areas reacted again.



It would be easier to understand it this problem was widespread, but most areas have no problems what so ever.

But in the great scheme of things, nobody died and it is only paint.

However, it was certainly a good excuse to call it a day.

So until next time, take care, Paul.

I would suggest you use a whole can of fly spray in the tent before you begin painting. Give it 5 minutes to work and clear and it should stop all the little buggers landing in the paint.
I gave the inside of mine a good spray of thinners before starting and I didn't get anything at all landing in the paint.

Are you sure you haven't been using the white spirit again!

Jag - I was going to follow your fly spray tip when I switched to doing the sunny side of the bonnet / boot lid.

I've also been a good boy lately and just used the panel wipe.

I've just come back from a visit to the tent and there has been no further paint reaction. < Touch Wood >

But it really doesn't make any sense to me, as all the other areas I treated in exactly* the same way are fine.

* I guess the key is that there must be something different about them, even if it is only something small, but I have no idea.

Anyway, this is another day, so I'll try to keep pushing forward.

Cheers, Paul.

After the effected areas are rubbed down, try some epoxy sealant on those problem areas. That should lock in any further contaminants or whatever is the cause.

Molleur - Thanks for the tip, although I didn't see it until after I'd had a go at fixing the problem.

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Slow Friday - Part 1:
I was feeling pretty drained this morning, so started off with some gentle woodwork…

As I never actually got around to adjusting my wooden tonneau cover since the steering wheel went in.





But, as I inch ever closer to paint, now was the time to sort these out.

Before:



After:



I then added some sections of foam seal that I will not be using for the bonnet lip.



So these should now keep the covers from sinking into the cockpit when it rains and avoid damaging the paint.



It then took me ages to apply some high build primer to the body shell.











The combination of hot weather outside and a painter tired on the inside made for a very messy finish.

But just seeing the body shell back in one colour, after all this effort, did seem like a big step forward.

End of Part 1…

Slow Friday - Part 2:
The rest of my car time was spent in the tent, which, although warm inside, was nicer that working in direct sunlight.

I started with the boot lid.



After an initial sanding, the lumps and bumps were showing up nicely.



After a bit more effort the whole surface was much smoother.



Unfortunately, it looks like some areas of high build primer were applied too thinly.



Which left me with a few batches to fix.



I also rubbed down the headlight rims too.



Finally, I sanded down the areas where the paint reacted on the inside of the bonnet.

But just to test things, I then added high build primer to one section, but painted BRG straight over the top of the other.



This was done in stages, as the high build primer was also used to cover the bare patches on the boot lid.



And the BRG was added to the headlight rims.



Which was a good enough point to stop for the night.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Looking good Paul, keep on keeping on!

Molleur – Cheers.

Despite the small paint reacting problems, it does feel like I‘ve now broken the back of this work.

Plus the fact the boot lid flatted back so well gives me some hope for the body shell.
( As the BRG should cover any minor imperfections in the surface. )

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But is it art?
I’ve definitely spent too long working in the sun recently.

Because, as I was messing up the high build primer on the body shell, I kept thinking about Mr T’s ‘dirty black’ TR8 example.



It was getting to the point where I was trying to work out what was the roughest finish I could get away with?

Thankfully, some time spent in the shade (and sanding the boot lid) brought me back to my basic plan of aiming for the best finish I can get.

However, last night, I did some searching on Google to see if there were any good examples of hand painted race cars.

Where this photo of Andy Warhol with a big brush in his hand caught my eye.



A bit more searching gave me his BMW M1 racing at Le Mans in 1979.



Before I ended up with this video clip combining his approach to car painting, some 24 hour racing and some art.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-B6tYPVDHQ

The key fact for me was that it took him just 24 minutes to paint the whole car!

Obviously, not giving a monkey’s uncle about the smoothness of the paint finish really helps to speed things up.

So perhaps I should have spent more time watching an artist at work, rather than a narrow boat painter.

Cheers, Paul.

Paul, yesterday I had the good fortune to meet a very nice chap who had completed his apprenticeship with Lotus back in the day.

In fact, he explained that he'd been recruited directly by the founder after Colin Chapman visited his school (where he wasn't doing very well), asked him some questions about a technical drawing for a scale model he was working on and offered him a place at Lotus.

His apprenticeship covered every aspect of car design, construction and finishing, including paint, and he'd gone on to work in the design department.

Fast-forward forty-five years or so and (amongst other things) he now restores classic cars, both for himself and commission work for wealthy customers. He's a real stickler for originality where possible and really knows his stuff.

We chatted about all things cars for about an hour even though he was only here to pick up an engine I'd sold on ebay. He took a look round my Spyder and asked me how I'd painted it. I explained that I'd bought a cheap compressor and gun plus five litres of silver cellulose, read some 'how to's' on the internet and just gunned it on with no previous experience. I said that I was happy with the results even though it clearly isn't a perfect finish.

His response was to say that it looks period correct and that too many people obsess about getting a perfect, glossy paint finish on their classic cars as they were never painted that well in the first place and a 'too good' finish can ruin the look of a classic car.

As an example, he cited a commission customer who was shocked when told that his very valuable 1930's racing car was going to be brush painted with coach enamel rather than sprayed, but was delighted with the result once it had been flatted back as it just looked right.

Interestingly, he also said that the Lotus apprentices were required to paint two cars during their training - one black and one silver. The black one would show up any flaws in the prep while the silver one would show up any issues with gun control (perhaps they could do with a few more silver cars in America?). Given the finish I achieved on my first attempt I must be a natural with a spray gun!

One last tip I picked up that's applicable to your project is how he goes about brush-painting cars, and I believe it's a very similar approach to your roller painted barge clip - a coat painted on horizontally, followed by a coat painted on vertically then flat the whole lot back until it has a deep shine that looks nothing like modern two-pack and everything like a decades old classic should look.

Love Andy Warhol's harlequin Beemer though, mostly because it exposes the Art world as susceptible to The Emperor's New Clothes syndrome - Warhol painted it so it's art and worth millions, if a bunch of teenagers had done that to an M1 it'd be vandalism...

Mr T - Sounds like you met a like minded soul, with a great history, so thanks for sharing.

I actually read your reply just before I headed out for the day and it really lifted my spirits.

There is certainly no danger of me ended up with a "too good" finish, as Jeff H I ain't.

But I do take comfort from the fact that any paint job is going to look better than the grey primer.

Plus almost anyone who had asked "What colour is it going to be?" was pleased with my BRG reply.

So the sooner I get some paint on and get back on the road the better!

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Watching Paint Dry:
Started the morning by inspecting the mess I had made of the high build primer on the body shell.

Although, as the paint layers get shinier, it is getting harder to get any decent photos.

But you can see the big long runs of paint on the side of the cockpit here.



My trusty scraper was to hand...



So I used that on the runs, which resulted in less damage to the surrounding area compared to sanding them down.



It was only at this point that I got the sandpaper out to smooth off the edges.



After tackling the worst areas on the body shell, it was all wiped down.

I then switched to the tent and was very happy to see how shiny the areas I topped up with high build primer were.

This is the reflection of the view out of the tent window.



I then did some initial sanding down of the boot lid.



Before heading back outside to apply the second coat of high build primer to the body shell.
( If you look closely, you can just about see me hanging out of the window to take the photo. )



Shortly after this I was able to watch a WWII Spitfire fly directly over my patio on its way back from 'Trooping the colour'.

It was just a shame I didn't have my camera to hand, as I had a great view.

Then it was back to the tent, where I decided that I should finish the underside of the boot lid first.





I did get a small paint reaction on one of the aero hump faces, but it is not the end of the world.

Then I really hope this is the last time I will need to work on the inside surface of the bonnet.



At which point, all the big pieces were now drying, so this has turned into a half day for me.

However, it is probably worth listing where I am with this work:

Boot Lid
- Underside - Small fix required.
- Sunny side - Ready for BRG.

Bonnet
- Underside - Done.
- Sunny side - Needs 2nd coat of high build primer.

Body Shell
- Sunny side - Flat back primer and then ready for BRG,
- Underside - Still need need to fix some damage to the boot floor.

I'm currently planning a full day off tomorrow for Father's Day.
( Although my family may have other ideas about that, so we'll see. )

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Saturday Supplement:
The sun beating down on my driveway helped bake the high build primer that I applied in the morning.

So I thought I would sneak in a quick session to make a start on flatting it back.

As before, the first few passes with the long board showed which areas needed most work.



But just as I was getting started, my wife and daughter returned from the shops with an impulse buy…

A small inflatable swimming pool.



Unfortunately, it did not come inflated, so I had to spend absolutely ages 'huffing and puffing' to blow it up.

After that, I only had the strength left to do a bit more sanding, but the surface does get smoother quickly.



I then made a quick long board pass around most of the body shell before calling it a night.





But I can see several hours work ahead of me to get the whole surface to a reasonable level.

Cheers, Paul.

Mate, whatever the frustrations you have with the painting it is all better than undercoating the whole of the upstairs skirting, doors and architrave with the full knowedge that the only way forward is to do the top coat.

good job paul the end is not far now ....and you will have a super hand made car ..that will be the envy of some... and will stop the rest in there tracks for years to come ...as you drive about as you no they point... smile...wave...and you see some go wow....and all built by you ...a great job

Paul,
Again loving the pics. Painting your car is looking like running a marathon. We all know you have get and go to finish though. And when you finish you will have a BRG PB !

Dave

Ssssssh, everyone else is still asleep in my house, so I am typing this as quietly as I can…

Barber – I am sure my car would look much better if I could just stop wielding the brush like I am doing DIY!

Phil9 - Thanks for reminding me that the reward will be worth the effort.

DaveP – Cheers and if this job was a running race then I am definitely on the home stretch now.

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Technical Hitch:
I forgot to mention one small fly in the ointment that I discovered yesterday...

I had my big tape measure out and there is certainly enough room on the drive for the Circus Tent to fit over the car.

BUT…

There wouldn’t be enough room to open the front door of the porch to get into the house!

So it looks like I will be painting the body shell al fresco after all.

Cheers, Paul.

Keep up the good work Paul I'll be finished before you know it.

Deggsy - Thanks, I am really hoping the car will be in BRG by the end of this week.

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Fathers Day:
I might have used a bit of poetic licence to describe the inflatable as a "swimming" pool.

However, after a nice family pub lunch, it was perfect for seating on a chair with your toes in the water.



Fun for all the family.



I hope to be back later on with a car update, cheers, Paul.

Mixed Monday - Part 1:
This turned into a bit of a stop/start kind of day with other odd jobs / chores taking up time too.

Anyway, the first job of the day was to find a way to support the bonnet.

So I dug out my workmate & some plywood.



Plus some cardboard and an old chair.





Threw a dust sheet over the top...



Et voila!



Note: The tent is open, because despite the fact this was only 8.20am, it was already like an oven in there.

The nose of the bonnet had been hacked about due to being stood on end to paint the inside.

Plus I'd banged the bonnet about a few times moving it in and out of the Summerhouse.





Then, while the driveway still had some shade, I carried on sanding down the body shell.



Having made just enough room to work in by moving the bins about.



By 2.20pm the body shell was literally too hot to touch!



So I had to stop sanding outside and switch to sanding in the tent instead.

I tidied up the bonnet nose.



Plus various other rough patches around the bonnet.



End of Part 1&#8230;

Mixed Monday - Part 2:
I also sanded down both aero hump faces on the boot lid, where the paint reacted.



Then I remembered the 'spacer' used to hold the rear view mirror aero screen in place.



This needed a slight trim at each end and the black paint removed.



Before it could be given a coat of etch primer.



I then used some high build primer over the sanded down areas of the bonnet…





Some more 'bald' patches on the sunny side of the boot lid.



Plus both the faces.



Finally, I had also a few bald patches on the body shell.



So they were all given a high build primer 'top up' too.





So I am now just waiting for the paint to fully dry before I can put the covers back on for the night.

To be honest, today was just too hot for the effort required to sand things down, as I've been sweating buckets all day.

In fact, I am now seriously considering painting the car in the dark, when the temperature is just in the high 60s / low 70s.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Close, But No Cigar…
The good news is that I finished sanding the rest of the body shell this morning.





The bad news is that I ended up with a collection of new 'bald' patches.





So there was another round of high build primer top ups.





I'll leave that to fully dry overnight and start applying the BRG tomorrow morning.

While the high build primer was out, the bonnet got its second and final coat.



So I can start sanding that down tomorrow.

The bracket for the rear view mirror wind deflector also got a coat of high build primer.



Then I turned the boot lid from grey...



To Deep Brunswick Green.



Where I got it right, the surface is really good 'straight out of the brush'.



But I am still getting very small areas with an adverse reaction.



Now I know the top coat is supposed to be applied as a single thick coat.

But I think I will try to apply it as two thinner coats when I start on the body shell tomorrow to see if that helps.

It looks like I will be back to 'real work' from next Monday, so I just have to get on with it really.

The only silver lining to this cloud is that the bad spots are a tiny percentage of the overall surface area.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Well done Paul
It is a hard task - and this heat multiplies that tenfold
I have seen the car in the flesh and I can tell how much work you have put into achieving the level of finish.

Its the preparation that makes or breaks the paint job - and you will be very happy when its all cut and polished.

Then comes the yellow nose and the roundels - your almost finished.

Hopefully I will be able to help with the second Swordfish movie.
Maybe a trip to Norfolk?