The Issues
Unfortunately, the photos are quite flattering as I’ve been having numerous problems with the paint.
I’ve since discovered this came down to two factors:
- The temperature outdoors, as we’ve just had our hottest June day in over 40 years!
- Brush operator error, as I kept putting on the paint too thickly.
This resulted in both small scale ripples…
And major scaling, which was pretty soul destroying to see happen.
Still, the good news is that all the problems can be sanded back and repainted.
You can see some of my patchwork repairs on this photo of the hood.
( Plus the reflection in the hood bulge made me smile too. )
Eventually both the body shell and hood will get a fresh top coat of BRG to unify the finish.
Sorry to hear about your paint challenges. I understand how soul crushing it can be after all of your hard work, but as you said, sand it back to primer and give it a couple more coats.
I didn't catch it earlier, you are applying with a brush?! Wow! some of those panels look fantastic. I'm impressed.
That is going to be an Iconic British Sports Car! TOO COOL! :grin2:
The idea of painting the car with a brush started when someone give me a link to this YouTube video.
Initially, I started watching this and thought what on earth is this old bloke doing?
But within seconds of seeing him start to put the ‘dry’ brush into use my jaw dropped.
Since then, I watched a number of clips and these included people using a “two brush” technique:
- One wet to apply the paint.
- One dry to ‘lay off’/smooth out the paint before it started to dry.
Obviously, trying to replicate the skills of a master craftsman is a bit harder than it looks.
But my real problem was the heat, which peaked at 34 C / 93 F, as there was no time to ‘work’ the paint at all.
( So the second, dry, brush didn’t get used as it just made a mess. )
Still, it was definitely a good idea in theory, as the smoothness of the finish on the hood bulge almost defied belief.
Other areas, such as the aero humps, just required a very gentle flatting back with 400 grit to achieve a smooth finish.
( Which was my basic plan for the whole car, flat/cut/polish. )
Unfortunately, other areas were clearly a lot rougher.
To make matters worse, as I tried to achieve a flat surface on the areas with too much paint…
I rubbed straight through the areas that didn’t have enough paint applied.
( Although this photo also included areas I had to repair after the paint reacted. )
Despite the painting frustrations, I am looking forward to getting the car back on the road.
I have certainly resigned myself to living with whatever standard of paint finish I manage to achieve.
Given the Frankenstein nature of my build and the fact it is meant to be an old race car, a few paint scars seem appropriate.
And there are plenty of ‘real’ racing cars that look pretty good despite their lack of a shiny paint job.
Getting There – Part 1
Progress has been very slow since my last update due to a combination of ‘real’ work & weather.
So one day I just had to take a chance:
- I got up before dawn.
- Added an extra coat of yellow to the nose at first light.
- Then left the front end of the car uncovered all day while I went to work.
Thankfully, it didn’t rain and although it was dark when I got home, I could just pull the covers back on.
On other days, I’ve been going around trying to fix various problems with the BRG.
( Mainly areas where the sanding down had exposed the primer underneath. )
Here are just a few examples to get the general idea.
Which, obviously, lead to yet more rounds of flatting back.
I then reached the point where ‘enough was enough’, as I was way past diminishing returns now.
The harsh fact is that painting outside is not easy in the Autumn/Fall.
But, more importantly, I don’t need a perfect finish anyway and faults in the paint are OK.
As I’ve never wanted to build to a ‘Concours d'elegance’ standard and the ‘lived in’ ex-racer look works for me.
With the difficult decision to stop fixing problems made, I could start the final cycle of work…
Peeling off all the tape from the bonnet nose started well enough.
But I was left some sticky residue and paint ‘bleeds’ to deal with in some areas.
It took quite a bit of effort to clean everything up, but it was well worth the effort.
One Step Back, But More Steps Forward
It was already getting dark by the time I had finished the polishing the car in my last update.
So I was really looking forward to seeing the paint in daylight.
Unfortunately, when I removed the covers I found a 'tiger stripe' effect all over the place.
This was so hard to take, that I spent some time just wandering around the car in a bit of a daze, absolutely gutted. :sad:
This was early on Saturday morning.
But it was late Sunday afternoon before I found a pool of water in one corner of the passenger floor.
( From a leak in the car cover. )
Absolutely no idea how long that has been there, as it was hidden by the dust sheets covering the seats.
But the combination of rain outside and standing water inside has caused ‘damp’ under the covers messing up the paint/polish.
Despite this HUGE set back, I decided to dust myself down and push forward to get the car back on the road.
( I will come back to fixing the paint/polish problem another day. )
There were lots of little jobs to do, including treating the leather hood straps.
Fitting the gas cap.
All the holes in the bodywork needed to be drilled/cleaned where they had been part filled with paint.
Funny now little things like finally removing the newspaper from the dash lifted my spirits.
Hood straps and Union Jack badges.
Hood locks.
Rear number plate light, number plate & fog light/reflectors.
