MadaboutKitcars

Simples! You'd make good teacher, it came out very well. A lesson learnt.

Yep, good tutorial, will be making one of those myself. I used thin plastic sheet as a 'release agent' when I made my centre tunnel as I didn't have anything else to hand. That worked ok too.

Some more work in the circus tent tonight.....

The bonnet gap is looking good. I am pleased with the bonnet now, it took ages and lots of fiddling to get right, so it opened up fully, didn't hit the radiator when it was up (the bottom part swings underneath and hits otherwise), and it opened and closed easily and consistently!



I urge anyone else doing their own to spend some time here and prepare for it to take a few days on and off and trial and error. A tip - try and make the hinge points low down on the bonnet hoop so it reduces the amount of swing under at the bottom - unless of course you are going for a super thin radiator mounted higher up.

Another slight concern of mine over the last few weeks was that the bonnet profile was not exactly the same as the bulkhead and on the passenger it sat a little proud. I really wanted to avoid bonnet pins as such, but had resigned myself to fitting them to pull down the bonnet at that point.

However, last week I came across some locking bonnet pins and they were subtle enough to work on my car, so I ordered them and they arrived today.

I fitted the worse side up tonight and was really pleased with the result, and I am only going to fit one as the other side is okay.

It not only does the job of pulling down the bonnet in the right place, it acts as a lock for the bonnet so it is more secure - the car will live on the drive so any security is good!










Anyway, a really productive night and even the scoop is coming out better than I had hoped! Some more work to do on the scoop but I think I am on a roll!

where did you get the bonnet pins from, really like those

Ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/400291848891?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

They come with a large chrome washer for the top (as you can see in the picture on ebay) and a spreader plate underneath. I am not fitting the chrome plate on the top as it is a bit OTT for me, so I made sure I cut the hole snug so it fits nice and tight in the fibreglass.

Ta for that

With a nice weekend planned and the wife keen to get rid of the circus tent, she has decreed that the "clown" must work overtime!

So I went and bought all the primer and paint today and will aim to get it painted by Sunday evening!

So this evening I prepped up a last couple of bits and then blew on a few coats of filler primer.









It is now all one colour and I will spend tomorrow going over it with some fine filler (aka stopper) and then rubbing it all down with 320 grit wet and dry paper to get it ready for another few coats of primer.

On Sunday I aim to flatten the primer for the last time and then blast on the topcoats. I bought 5 litres of cellulose primer and 5l of paint, and when mixed 1:1 with thinners will give me 10 litres of each - I hope that will be enough!

Good luck Tony, hope it all goes well and I look forward to seeing it in colour.

Good luck! Knowing how many times I painted/flatted/painted mine I feel for you having to do that in one weekend. Fingers crossed for you matey!

The scoop looks good, all blended in. Good luck painting

It's looking very smart indeed. I'm mightily jealous of your progress.

Can't wait to see the colour on it. Nearly there with all the prep. Have you sprayed before? I see several have been home sprayed so am wondering how difficult it is as I have only used cans on small areas before. Is cellulose easily obtained still? Maybe you could post an idiots guide to spraying if you have time. Cheers

Hey Froggyman, I have sprayed a little before, but not a lot. It is something I normally leave to a paint shop, but I don't have the money for a £1500+ paint job, so I thought I would have a go myself!

I managed to get a coat of the colour on tonight, so that will dry off and I will wet sand that tomorrow before putting on more coats of colour.

Painting is relatively straight-forward, just very time consuming hence the cost... Youtube is great for learning the basics and then it is all about technique and practice and lots of patience (I lack the last one!)

I am lucky in that I have a compressor, spray gun, Dual-Action Sander and then it is just lots of filler, 60 and 180 grit sandpaper, 400, 600 and 1200 wet and dry paper, and then filler-primer and paint.

I will go through what I did step-by-step when I have finished and hopefully inspire you to have a go!

As a teaser, this is the first coat of colour, it is like a creamy-white, (BMW mini pepper white was the nearest).



I will take some more once all the colour is on tomorrow.

And yes, you can still get cellulose but you have to go to a proper paint supplier - I toyed with ordering from the web, but opted to go for a local supplier here. I have probably spent around £350 on materials (sandpaper, filler, primer, paint, thinners etc), and about 2 weeks evenings and weekends prepping on and off with a few hours here and there. The bonnet took a while to get right and I made a scoop in that time as well!

Even the scoop came out okay...

couple more pictures of it so far...












This is just the first coat, so it will get shinier.

My humps, my humps, my lovely lady bumps..sorry, those twin humps distract me from your nice finish!

Looking great.

This sanding malarky - I too have an air compressor so can get a sanding head for it but does it work on all the curves and bits around the hump or is that all by hand?

I was thinking I would do the basic paint prep and then get the paint shop to do thee last bit of prep and final coat to keep costs down but having seen how good yours is I am not so sure now.

looking good so far Tony ...nice to see a non red/green one !

I know the professionals go on about random orbit blah blah, but i found that a black and decker mouse palm sander was the ideal size for the majority of it and then finished off by hand. But as Tony has already said, a lot of it comes down to practice and technique and learning as you go!

Lovely colour and already looking like it's got a deep shine to it. What colour's the interior going to be?

I too could do with as much advice as possible on surface prep and spraying as I've never sprayed anything before and will be having a go at mine myself.

Agreed. You'll just have to wait a little while longer to see one in silver...

while I am waiting for the spot filler to dry...

If you are thinking of doing your own paint job then get one of these (mine was £15 from ebay)



and then buy some 60 grit and 180 grit sandpaper on a roll like this...



The 60 grit is to quickly shape the filler and the 180 is to flatten before priming.

The flexible (they can't spell in the advert!) sander is bloody marvellous for the Sammio as it follows the curves. I also found an array fo small wooden blocks, plastic water pipes etc come in handy for wrapping sandpaper round to get in the corners etc.

Also buy some "glazing putty" (aka Spot filler, knifing putty etc) that can be used over the primer and also on the topcoat as you will find lots of little bits where the paint has got chipped, damaged etc.

I am really pleased with mine, apart from the dips in the bonnet where the moulding "ripples" still show, but I can live with that as I am not rubbing it all down and filling again!

Anyway, I am going to go back in the circus tent and wet sand the last few bits ready for the next few coats of paint. I am well chuffed the way it is progressing and looking forward to fitting my interior next weekend! (fingers crossed the painting carries on going well!)

The interior is going to be predominantly black (for practical reasons) and with a hint of cream! The wheels will also be shot blasted and painted black...

Nice. I looked at buying a BMW mini a few years back when I opted out of a company car scheme. That would have been pepper white with the black and white leather 'Orca' interior. My boss said I couldn't have a three door car though Shame he wasn't a bit more flexable (sic).



Not too sure about the black wheels though. Still, each to their own.

Looks a bit too "in yer face" that interior for me!
Mine will be black and a bit of cream on the centre tunnel and the inside of the door pockets! I am not trying to make it look like a whale - after all it's a spyder, not a G46!

Spent the morning putting the finishing touches to the bodywork and got to the point of 'bugger-it-i-will-put-the-topcoat-on-now-anyway!' I have just blasted a couple of coats on, and will watch the F1 before tack ragging it and putting on the last few coats tonight.

The sun comes round to the front of house in the afternoon to warm the 'big-top' up nicely, so I can get away with a wetter mix to get it really shiny! (and lots of drips I bet!!)

Well, I have finished for today!

Overall not a bad day, got all the colour on but had a couple of runs to sort out before the final topcoat.

Was putting the last coat on when a gust of win blew in the front of the circus tent and touched the wing! Bloody annoying as I will have to rub it down and recoat tomorrow probably unless it dries off enough by tonight!

Anyway, here's how it is looking. I must admit I am chuffed to have made it to paint, and so it is just the lights, interior and engine to get sorted, and I am good to go!

Mulberry/DaveCymru, watch out, I'm not far behind! C'mon the rest of you!















Can't wait to get it out in the sunshine now!