My major project!

[leeroy_25]

Hey guy\'s, Just a liitle something to wet your appetite for the weekend! Plus I don\'t think I will have time to post again tomorrow! As you can gather by the time.. (11.50pm) I had a long day on the car today!! The Cat is away so with the beast i\'ll play! Hoping to get a bit more done in the morning as well!
Anyway. I didn\'t quite get as far as I wanted to get today, mainly because getting the mesh fitted to the skirts and bumper was a bit more of a tricky job than I had anticipated! But I ddin\'t do to badly! Also the tube of sika flex I was using to stick the mesh decided to break half way through the job! which meant I had to scoop the stuff out with a knife which was very messy!

So first job was to flat and polish the bumper and then stick in the mesh.. then while this was drying polish the sides of the car so I could fit the bumper on.. then the next job was to flat and polish the side skirts and stick the mesh and then while that was drying polis the side sills and front wings ready for fitting the side skirts. I didn\'t quite make the last part! So here\'s how it looks currently.








I tell you what.. flatting and polising is a ball ache! My back and knees are killing me! Especially with the heat we had today! I reckon I lost at least a stone! Worth it though when you see the final results!

Hopefully I will have more done tomorrow and i\'ll post up the pictures when I can.

[Nik da Greek]

Not suprised you lost a bit of weight sweating into those slightly worrying gimping gloves reflected in the second pic! You\'ve betrayed your guilty secret there, dude!
 
Just kidding, it\'s looking fantastic mate. I wish I had one fraction of the skill, application and talent you\'ve shown in this thread so I could get mine sorted. Awesome work!

[ENVYD]

very nice mate!
 
must be killing you not been able to drive it for such a long time, will be worth it tho!
 
also very good finish you have there!

[S3TH]

I like this pic, you\'re really pleased with yourself And so u should be!

[interloper393]

so what grit wet n dry did u use to sand it bck? i tend to stick with 1200 lol then polish up we g3.. takes me about 2-3 hours per panel, and yeah its a mare of a job lol..
cn i ask what your method is? always keen to learn/try new tricks lol

[ENVYD]

so what grit wet n dry did u use to sand it bck? i tend to stick with 1200 lol then polish up we g3.. takes me about 2-3 hours per panel, and yeah its a mare of a job lol..
cn i ask what your method is? always keen to learn/try new tricks lol

 
2-3 hours per panel, wow! never tuck that long before, max 1 1/2 hours per panel for me i just use 1500-2000 then g3!
 
also any idea how much layers you got on? i know when i start at aston martin they use 350+ microns (in my mind its to much) and a normal car is from 70-150

[interloper393]

iv found the lower the grit the more machining you need to do or the finer the more sanding n less machining so its a catch 22 :S

[leeroy_25]

Hey Guy\'s,

Thanks again for the kind words! except you Nik!!! Aloe Vera gloves.. you can\'t beat them! Actually I only started using them recently as my hands were getting caned and that\'s what we use at work! Saves a few layer of skins and the finger prints come back a bit quicker!!

As for method.. I have flatted back with 1500grit then over again with 2000grit. I use a 3m Trizact compound and then gp over again with finesse-it. When it\'s all done I will carnuba butter it to perfection! Regarding paint thickness I don\'t know exactly how thick it is! How can you tell out of curiosity? I would give it two heavy lacquer coats so I have a good base to polish back.. I would say thicker gives a more glassy look with more depth. that\'s why astons and alike would say thicker that your normal car. I spent a day at the new rolls royce factory and they supposidly lacquer it. flat it back with 1500, lacquer it again, flat it again 2 or 3 times before final flat and polish to give the paint supreme depth!?

Anyhow, I will try and put up some more pictures later in the week of the little extra progress I made today.

[interloper393]

i used to alway sand between each coat, too ages tho lol so i just do coats after 30 mins of eachother

[Nik da Greek]

Hey Guy\'s,
 
Thanks again for the kind words! except you Nik!!! Aloe Vera gloves.. you can\'t beat them! Actually I only started using them recently as my hands were getting caned and that\'s what we use at work! Saves a few layer of skins and the finger prints come back a bit quicker!!
 
As for method.. I have flatted back with 1500grit then over again with 2000grit. I use a 3m Trizact compound and then gp over again with finesse-it. When it\'s all done I will carnuba butter it to perfection! Regarding paint thickness I don\'t know exactly how thick it is! How can you tell out of curiosity? I would give it two heavy lacquer coats so I have a good base to polish back.. I would say thicker gives a more glassy look with more depth. that\'s why astons and alike would say thicker that your normal car. I spent a day at the new rolls royce factory and they supposidly lacquer it. flat it back with 1500, lacquer it again, flat it again 2 or 3 times before final flat and polish to give the paint supreme depth!?
 
Anyhow, I will try and put up some more pictures later in the week of the little extra progress I made today.

 
Ooops, sorry! If you\'d said they were lubricated gimping gloves in the first place, I\'d have not bothered mentioning it lol! Should\'ve remembered to put one of these in , sorry, I was only kidding!
 
Probably one of these, too :Thumbs-up, cos I did say it looks fantastic, too, and complimented your skill and dedication! I couldn\'t believe how discouraged you were sounding a while back, when you thought there was no end in sight, I reckon most people would be pretty chuffed with themselves to have done the amount you have in so short a space of time. Like I said, I wish I had a fraction of the ability you\'ve shown, I wouldn\'t keep running out of talent and having to pay other people to do the work on mine.

[leeroy_25]

Okay chaps. Well, I have a spare couple of minutes! Here are the results of a couple of hours on Sunday morning.. Basically flatting and starting to poilsh the rear bumper, polishing of some of the front wings and then fitting of the side skirts! Hopefully when it\'s got the deep dish chrome rims fitted and the arches are filled it will look something like I planned! I think it\'s roughly going that way!




Aiming to get te back end all back together this coming weekend and the roof and rear all polished. then will look at flatting the doors and mirror removal ready for a quick blow over!

[Ricco_04]

That paintwork is looking the business! :cool

[rx7veilside]

looks very nice are the arches different..very nice job

[leeroy_25]

Yes the arches are different!! it\'s a burnout arch kit.. with c-west replica kit on the rest of it which has been tweaked to blend in with the burnout arches! Hopefully the end result will look right!? I wonder if maybe feed side skirts would have worked better? but I have what I have for now!

[interloper393]

i think your milking this project now just to have more pages than my thread lol