Some more parts

Most of the parts I ordered arrived during the week, but this weekend was set aside for painting, so I haven’t had a chance to do anything with them yet. That should happen sometime next week (during the week, hopefully).

The panel beater claimed to have started my bulkhead this weekend, so I will hopefully have it back for next weekend. I’m not sure if I want to paint the bulkhead next week, or buff and polish all the parts I painted this week (see below).

Painted small bits

This took a surprisingly long time, so I didn’t get anything else done this weekend. Still, it’s a big milestone, having the first parts painted the colour of the rest of the car! These aren’t quite done yet, since they still need to be buffed, have swirl remover applied, and polished.

Those steps aren’t strictly necessary for these panels since they don’t go in visible places, but that’s the point of the test run - to make sure my process and setup is good, without risking damage to something highly visible.

The first photo below is after etch primer has been applied. The second photo is an overall view after the colour and clear have been applied, and the final photo is the closest I could get to how the colour really looks.

Panels after etch primer

Panels after colour and clear

How the colour really looks

Again, in the hope it’ll be useful to someone, here’s an obsessively detailed list of steps. I have it broken down like this so I can follow it without having to think too much, allowing me to concentrate on painting technique and the job at hand. The summary is three coats of etch primer, three coats of colour, and four coats of clear.

  1. Paint stripper
  2. Sand (240G)
  3. Apply De-ox-it
  4. Wax and grease remover
  5. Mix etch primer (50/50 multi-purpose thinner)
  6. Spray etch primer
  7. Wait 10 minutes
  8. Trace coat
  9. Sand (240G)
  10. Spray etch primer
  11. Wait 10 minutes
  12. Trace coat
  13. Sand (240G)
  14. Spray etch primer
  15. Leave overnight
  16. Trace coat
  17. Sand (400G wet)
  18. Trace coat
  19. Sand (800G wet)
  20. Dry panel
  21. Wax and grease remover
  22. Mix acrylic (60/40 acrylic thinner/acrylic)
  23. Filter acrylic
  24. Tack rag
  25. Spray acrylic
  26. Wait 10 minutes
  27. Spray acrylic
  28. Wait 10 minutes
  29. Spray acrylic
  30. Wait 10 minutes
  31. Mix clear (50/50 acrylic thinner/clear)
  32. Filter clear
  33. Spray clear (quick)
  34. Wait 10 minutes
  35. Spray clear (slightly quick)
  36. Wait 10 minutes
  37. Spray clear (normal speed)
  38. Wait 10 minutes
  39. Spray clear (normal speed)