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Yes you're right Ed, at least I know what I've done wrong and how to sort it.
And I've sprayed the front twice with good results so another coat can only improve things as you say.,
Scottie, I used Farecla G3 cutting compound applied with a cheap random orbital polisher on the bigger, flat panels, but by hand in the concave curves using 'waffle' sponges -
I followed that up with Farecla finishing liquid, then a final hand polish with Auto Glym Super Resin Polish.
The patina effect is mostly down to my amateur spraying - there are areas on some of the concave curves where I ended up with a slightly rough finish, not so much orange peel but more a sort of weather worn appearance.
Those areas have cut back to look more like age-old sun faded paint than a bad spray job, and because the finish is metallic, the surface still shines in the sun. The only people who I've heard comment on those areas, and there have been three or four, have all reached the same conclusion - that it's a sixty year old paint job that's holding up rather well.
When I've looked closely at old race cars at some of the events I've been to since finishing the car, only the recently restored ones have a 'better' paint finish than I achieved with zero skill and a cheap gun. The original, unrestored cars tend to be painted rather less well than I managed on my first attempt.
One thing that has cropped up recently though: I used the G3 compound as it was, straight out of the tube. While watching a 'car sos' (or similar programme) recently, they used G3 to cut back a paint finish and kept adding loads of water sprayed on the surface as they went. I might try that next time I spray a car to see if it ends up any shinier.
Anyway, what are you doing sitting here reading this? Off to the MOT shop with you, post-haste!
Scottie, i know this will be virtually impossible for you....but....
the best thing you can do now is leave your car out in the sun for a couple of days, to allow everything to cure....then come back to it, sand again, and another couple of coats..... You are totally right, and i can't stress enough, that everything primer-wise needs to fully cure before painting.....
The biggest thing i learned from learning to paint, to doing it as a job, is patience.....
That being said, i'm hugely impressed with the finish, and your car will look very trick indeed....
Oh, yeah, as already mentioned, once painted, leave it be for a fair while (a few days at least...) for everything to cure, and 'sink', then if you want, sand with maybe 1500 grit, then 2000 grit wet n dry, with warm soapy water, polish with G3, and again, use plenty of water, with a polishing machine, then a finer polish, with a softer polishing head, then wax, then stand back and admire....
And a final tip... If you do use a polishing machine with some speed to it, don't stay in one spot too long....the heat build up when polishing fibreglass doesn't dissipate so much as steel, so could overheat and 'melt' the paint.... Keep the polisher moving and keep applying fresh compound...and keep it wet...!
Hope this little rant helps...and really look foreward to seeing the finished result... All the best, Ollie.
Mr Towed and Ollie, thank you for your in- detail helpful advice, its always welcome, I do try to learn from my mistakes, but the one thing which always lets me down is my lack of patience, and that is usually made up for by endless determination to get it right in the end.
If I had more patience, I would have been driving my car weeks ago.............
I have spent the morning flatting the front end for the third time, and put the top coat back on it. It looks okay, and has improved, but there are still imperfections, but to be honest, I've really had enough of paintwork and prep, so it will stay like it is.
Providing it is not viewed from about 2 feet away, the unsatisfactory bits do not show, and it looks okay from 5 feet or more.
With my extra experience lately gained, I got a bit cocky, and reduced the gun pressure by 10 psi and thinned the paint a bit more, and it worked, the paint went on smoother with less spatter, and flowed out quicker.
We live and learn.....
If I ever get to any shows with it, the punters can amuse themselves by playing "spot the f**k up".
Looking good scottie, cant wait to see it all put back together. When you take it to shows just put a rope around it 2 feet away and no 1 will spot the 'fuck ups' (as you say). it does look well on the pics. Well done
My aim today was to get some of the bits back on the car and sort the exhaust out finally.
I managed to make some vibration deadening pads out of car tyres, which I shaped to about 3 or 4 mm thick and put it between the chassis and the exhaust, where I had bolted it up tight to.
They are a mix of rubber and fabric layers which ought to be quite robust
under compression.
There was some slight vibration before, and this should help a bit. Very fiddly job, which took ages to do, but when I came to put the mirror mountings back on the car, I REALLY found out what the word "fiddly" meant!!
It took me over two hours just to get the nuts on the back of the bolts as the space to work in is so restricted.
In the end I did it using a combination of tweezers, a tiny magnet on a stick, and sticky tape.
It took me a while to figure out I had to put them in place before any of the interior trim panels go back in, as there would be no access otherwise.
WCA I have an update on the head light cowls you asked for.
I filled and sanded mine a wee bit, then got peed off with the whole thing and painted the cowls mat black. They look quite nice, so I think on a dark coloured car, like yours or mine, mat black is the answer. ( Because it does not reflect the crappy finish!)
Car looks very nice Scottie,every day it looks better........
Are you gonna paint the rivets which the exhaustcover is mounted?
They look a little bit misplaced now being ally colour........
Mick, you sent me that before, and I put it on my watch list, but I've been so busy I missed it twice!
Patience ( I don't have any) is a good thing, and the seller has dropped the price by a pound, so I'll see about it this time round!
Well, the cheshire cat phase never lasted long, as disaster has struck in a big way.
When I came to drive the car back to the tent last night, I noticed there had been an electrical short among all the spaghetti wires hanging about under the dash.
I usually hit the cut off switch, but for once did not, big mistake.
I managed to start and drive the car into the tent, thinking I'll sort this out in the morning.
On closer inspection its much worse than I thought, it looks like some of the earth wires in the loom have shorted and got so hot as to melt some of the loom together in a melted black twisted mess.
Chris has kindly offered to send me a Spitfire loom, but as yet I am still working to strip the out binding off the loom to see what the damage is, and if anything can be salvaged.
Auf wedersein Stoneleigh yet again.
I will post when I have more details , boo hoo. :-(
