MadaboutKitcars

Point taken Gentlemen.

So, how hot do I need to get the panels if I'm going to make any bubbles rise through the surface? Will I need to keep the heat gun on the spot until the primer starts to blister?

I'm still wavering on this one - Mike says it's an essential step and he knows what he's talking about, but Phil went ahead and sprayed his two cars without heating the shells and clearly, as his cars have been on the road in all weathers for more than a year with no issues, he knows what he's talking about too.

I had a chat with Phil about it yesterday, and we've come to the conclusion that the runaway success of the Spyder and the (over?) expansion into the G46, Cordite and 550 projects led to some, ahem, quality control issues with the bodies made some time after I picked mine up in July 2011.

Having seen a few of the late mouldings on this forum, it looks like the gel coat is rather tenuously stuck to the fibreglass, as if flow coat was slapped on afterwards rather than gel coat put in the mould.

The early body shells that Phil and I got, however, appear to be of much better quality. The dark grey gel coat isn't just stuck to the fibreglass, it's integral to its structure. Perhaps that explains why Phil hasn't had any voids appear. Could it be that there just aren't any?

And finally, I've hacked and chopped bits out of my body shell all over the place. I've chopped up the flat dash moulding to reuse elsewhere and cut, shut and bonded in the 550 dash. I've ground out half a dozen 'star' cracks that I caused by being heavy handed with the shell while moving it about, and I've completely sanded the shine from the gel coat so the etch primer could key to it.

So far, I haven't found a single void. eep:

I hadn't heat-gunned my old car as I thought the same as you. I.e. having had it left outside for ages in the sun would show things up.

I can't remember any bubbles showing up on mine, but as Mike says, its a bit if luck-of-the-draw and if it is as quick and simple as WCA says in retrospect I would have probably have given it a go.

I just ran the heat gun over the panel at about the pace you would move a paint brush.

No need to hold it in one palce for long as the bubble show almost immediately.

If you get a bubble then hold it there a little longer to make sure it expands properly.

It really doesn't take long, about 1 hour to do the whole body shell. I suspect your early body shells were better because my G46 was really quite shoddy

I think youve hit the nail on the head T, if you were going to do the bubble test it should have been done pre priming, i think you risk damaging the current finish, maybe unintentionally if you start waving a heat gun iver the priner and filler now, move on and get the paint flowing!

Thanks V, that pretty much sums up my reluctance to start pointing a paint stripping gun at my primed body.

Right, I don't start work until 4pm today, so it's time to get on with the final few hours of sanding and filling.

I'll be painting without doing the void thing - any builders out there who haven't started priming their shells yet I'd recommend that you follow Mike's advice, especially if you have a late Sammio shell rather than an early Sammio or new and improved Ribble/Miglia version.

And if I get loads of blisters popping up in the sunshine then you can all tell me 'I told you so'.

So, that's another couple of hours spent smoothing down the little blobs of knifing putty.

I've found that there are a couple of areas, on the rear wings especially, where I've damaged/altered and repaired the body and I've left ripples and dints that I just don't have the skill (or patience) to get straight, so they'll have to stay.

There is a danger though, that the finished result is going to look like a 60 year old race car that's had a hard life on the track and been damaged and hastily repaired in the paddock occasionally in its past. hwell:

Hang on a minute...

Please dont take this the wrong way There are no patterns behind the quility, the problem gary had was the amount of people laying up the bodys.

It is still not too late to check even with the high build stage as you would only
be spot priming the damaged areas.

Anyway i will let the other experts guild you along i am out .

Thanks Mike, your input is always most welcome and I really mean that.

The discussion around the quality control issues with the later bodies wasn't meant to be a criticism at all, just an observation. I can't thank you and Gary enough for designing and producing the Spyder at the price you did, as, without a substantial cheque from Camelot, I'd probably never have fulfilled my long held ambition to build myself a car otherwise.

So thanks again for your input and I genuinely hope I haven't offended you.

Mate not at all, i realy want your car to come out as nice as phils and so on.

My point i was trying to get across is beleave me , i have seen several kit cars that have been r e sprayed after they are built, and yes you can say it was a possible darker colour adding to the heating from the sun . And this is not even the poor old sammios, even the top end kits we have had blisters appear .

Its your gamble me old mate , take care

Mr T - Any more progress to report?

As I'm pacing around my computer like an expected father.

Really looking forward to seeing some silver.

Good luck, Paul.

Hi Paul, family trip to London got in the way of car building over the last couple of days.

Bit of a long story, but we're going to Italy in August to visit the archaeological sites at Pompeii.

A few days after booking the tickets last year, the BM announced that it would be exhibiting some of the most iconic finds from Pompeii until September 2013, meaning they won't be there when we visit.

So all day yesterday was spent travelling on crowded trains and tubes and visiting the BM and Science Museums. Well worth the visit if you're a history buff like me though.

Anyway, today and tomorrow will be dedicated to getting on with the last few coats of primer, and, hopefully, half a dozen coats of silver cellulose...

Very good job mister towed, congratulation !

Thank you Sebastien, compliments mean so much more when the person giving them is a fellow Sammio builder!

I've managed to spray another two coats of high build primer today. I had hoped to flat the primer and get the first three coats of silver on, but the weather clouded over and threatened rain so I aborted that part of the plan.

Back to work tomorrow and praying for a couple of dry days next week when I'm working in the evenings...

Courage Mr Towed, courage..

I'm sure it'll be fine..

Hmm, didn't rain after all...

Mind you, I have found just two more bumps that need smoothing out on the bonnet before it starts to get its colour coats, so it's just as well I didn't rush into it...

Good morning mr towed , it will all be good in the end

got it towed.... thanks again

Good news Phil. Have you collected it yet? Will this one be finished this summer, or will household diy get in the way?

Final stage of prep today, wet sanding the primer -



Actually enjoying this bit, it's a lot less dusty and you can actually see a difference in the surface finish.

You've missed a bit.

I've missed a couple of bits. But I have a cunning plan...

Wherever there is a flaw in the top coat a decal shall cover it up.

Right, time to buy lots of big decals.

is that a void I see?

;-)

dont think so his trousers are hitched too high................

Are you happy with it T? or do you want to carry on prepping...

Looking good Mr T.