Are you sick and tired of Scottie's carefully presented threads with detailed photographs of how to tackle any task and complete it with a first class engineering solution?
Me neither but here is a thread that is almost the complete opposite of Scottie's threads. It shows how I painted my car after the latest changes Chris has made.
First you need to gather all of the tools and materials required:
Masking tape - for taping plastic bags
Plastic bags - for masking the bodywork
Scalpel - For cutting up the bags
Heat Gun - For heating up the tape so it would unroll and stick - It was very cold in the garage
Axe - Well, it is always handy to have an axe there
Start taping the car up to cover anything you don't want to go red. Decide to turn on the patio heater - I mentioned it was cold. Always make sure you are painting in a proper well ventelated booth with no sources for dust or dirt.
It is important that all bright work is protected such as the beautiful new handles and the petrol filler cap. Paper plates are about the same size as fuel fillers.
The ambient temperature affects the paint characteristics so ensure your paint is warm, or at least liquid, before you start. I told you it was cold.
Before you start any of this make sure the entire car has been properly cleaned. Do not just plonk it in the garage after driving back from Dorchester on wet and muddy roads. You did read this step before you started didn't you? No? Oh well, you can either untape it all, take it outside and wash it properly or run a couple of baby wipes over it.
Here is the fully masked off car ready for painting. Please don't look where the side repeater used to be. Definitely nothing to look at there. We can always look at that bit later.
Mixing paint is a fine art requiring the exact proportions of paint and thinners. Remember that paint stored in nearly empty tins can evaporate slightly and that the ambient temperatures will affect the mix.
Adjusting for ambient temperature that looks about right for 'Bastard cold'
Stir well with an old hacksaw blade taking care not to spill it over the edge of the glass and all over your hands.
The first coat doesn't need to be thick but you should try for an even coverage. Well I tried... Notice the garage door is open now. I thought the 'Red Mist' meant getting angry, not getting painted. I can still taste the thinners now
You know that bit we didn't look at earlier? Perhaps we should have, it looks like someone forgot to spray it with any primer. Do you really need primer?
Yes
And here is the finished article. I will wait for the paint to bake under the patio heater for a bit and try to get some 'on the road' pictures tomorrow or Thursday depending on weather and work
