Great work as always. I have learned a lot from your thread on this car. So much in here to look at as I work on my 55. Your photography and technical presentation skills are superb as well. What camera are you using btw ?
THREE HANDS!!!!!! Robert has three hands! We all knew you are extremely talented, but your secret is out now.
Thanks for the comments guys... It's a Canon SX120is, going on about 5 or 6 years old now. I've had a few different cameras and the Canon seems to be more forgiving to the occasional concrete bounce..
every time I check this thread I feel like I'm going to school. Thank you for going into so much detail.
Thanks! More progress on the wagon, got some SPI epoxy sprayed, hopefully this will wet sand out and be ready for BC/CC.
Kyle learning the fine art of blocking.... While I was wet sanding some Harley parts... This SPI epoxy sure is nice sanding!
Thanks for the comments fellas! Well, we had gotten some more sanding done...... .....and since it was still early in the evening, mixed up some more epoxy....
Doesn't seem like much to show, we're still sanding away.... Got about half done with the tail gate and remembered we needed some holes drilled in the new skin for the emblem. Only issue was that I had done some spring cleaning earlier this year and the original skin with the hole pattern and location was now gone. So I sent an email to Mikey at The Stainless Shoppe, as he had an original, and he got me squared away... Thanks Mikey! I located the hole for the center alignment pin first, and planned on using some spotters for the remaining 4 holes... Some measurements were taken to insure the emblem was on straight, and then some "backstops" used. The spotters come in a set of various sizes, and typically you never find the exact size you need... These will go in some 10-24 threaded holes on the emblem. The closest size was the 1/8" spotters, so we'll need to adjust the fit.. A couple wraps of fineline tape and we now have a snug fit so the spotters don't fall out.. Then the emblem is located on the tail gate with the center alignment pin, then the back stops. The emblem is pressed onto the tail gate, and the spotters leave their mark on the epoxy paint finish.. Next, the studs are installed finger tight using sleeve retainer. This will hopefully keep them from spinning inward any further risking possible damage to the chrome bezel... The nuts that come with the emblem are the split thread variety, and I had some threaded ones left over from the Fairlane build, that also are slightly larger in diameter, which may help out as the emblem also serves as a lift handle.. Holes drilled and emblem fitted
Robert, Thank you for sharing your skills, methods and details in this thread. I have been following your 55 Chev thread for a while. Yesterday was a rain day and I clicked on your MP&C Shop Projects link to the Garage Journal. I am glad it rained & I had the time to read through all 68 pages. I could not stop & will have to go back to absorb more. I know what it takes to write good clear technical information and to photo journal the work. Your writing is disciplined & quality work that matches your craftsmanship. Thank you for sharing as it elevates everyone's knowledge. Glenn
Robert, Are you using just SPI epoxy for your filler primer or are you going to use a filler or urethane primer on top of the SPI ??
Thanks for the comments and likes fellas. Well for a tutorial, we may as well share the good with the bad.. I was blocking out the tailgate the other day and had a "halo" effect appear in the epoxy, shown below just to the right of the latch hole. This has a light skim of Evercoat 416 beneath the epoxy in that area. It was nice and flat while in bare metal, after spraying epoxy, after blocking the Evercoat/ before spraying the last coat of epoxy. I was baffled at what would cause such a nicely formed circle in the paint... Even scratched the area to see if there was any softness to the Evercoat, but no.. Here's the panel in bare steel before paint and after first coat of epoxy... No dings, or defects otherwise seen. I had posted a query on the SPI forum to see if anyone had ever run into this. I don't know why I didn't think of this first, but it was suggested to: 1) look inside 2) only time this type of defect had been seen was dropping screwdriver inside door and left similar mark on outside of door bottom after sanding. So in full investigative mode, I first measured the distance of the defect from the turn latch hole.. The Halo is approx. 3" away from the handle hole.. Measuring that distance on the inside shows.....oh wait....what's that bare metal? As soon as I saw this I realized there had only been one thing inside that could have caused it... the painting fixture we made.. This was made to hold the tail gate in correct alignment as on the car for painting. I had radiused the lower bar but failed to do so on the top one. A check of the skin with body sweeps shows that a #15 sweep is about correct, so it was used to verify some relief grinding on the top bar... As added insurance, some truck cap gasket seal was added to further isolate the issue on both top and bottom bar.... On a positive note, glad to find this issue in the primer stage...... But let's back up a second and look at this picture, it should have been my red flag. Where the second mark to the left in the picture was not as round, looking at it now does show a rather symmetrical device was causing this.. So please use my lesson in dumassery to prevent a similar occurrence. If you're making fixtures to hold body panels insure there are no pointed edges that may cause any outward dings.
Tonight's post offers some blocking pointers. We had already done a couple sessions of priming/blocking the door across to the quarter and to the fender, all installed on the car. After this, more primer and put a perimeter of tape on the door skin. Now block separately, and the tape allows you to block the door and keep off the edge to prevent losing your match to the fender/quarter. I don't stick with 45* angles, if you want to keep a long direction flat, you need the long block to better follow that direction. So change up to some sharper angles, about 30* off the long direction every now and then. Work one end to the other, consistent spacing, consistent angle, end to end. Then alternate to passes in the opposite direction. Once done, and the inner part is good and blocked, now remove the tape and GENTLY block to the edge, taking care to not pull down at the edge and round things back off again. Whatever hand is holding the block make sure it is minimal pressure and stays on the door skin. In other words, no pressure pulling down past the edge. One other point, to keep the inner end of the sanding block from sanding out all your hard work in the center of the door, put a wrap of tape around the end of the sanding block that is towards the center of the door. This helps that end to glide across the center of the door without cutting primer there. Now to show the importance of the long board.. We had done some blocking with the 27" AFS and seemed to have two high spots with a low in the middle of the door.. Note the high areas marked by the green tape... Now we can see that as the sander is moved to the left, the left portion of the AFS is over the high spot on the left, and a bit more movement and the right portion of the AFS will start dropping into the low void. Effectively, this is still cutting material out of the low, keeping it low. Looking at the next size up, a 36" AFS.... Here we can see this one does a much better job of spanning the high spots and staying up on top, for a more effective job of knocking down the highs and leaving the low in the center alone... After a few horizontal passes at slight angles, like so with the 36"....... We follow up with some vertical passes at slight angles with the 27".... all rods removed to better follow the contour. Then alternate back to the 36 and another horizontal session..
Damn. Thanks ! Just when you think yours is big enough .... someone else comes along and whips their's out. ha I never knew there was such a thing as a boogie board sized block sander. What happens if I pop in with my 3 footer ? You gonna' bust out a 48" version then ?
I think the 36 should take care of most anything you'd need. Although it does have quite a long roof........
Well, the shop truck has left the building.. Sold it today, now have a bit more breathing room in the shop.. .....and another dose of epoxy
Robert: Be careful , or you may accidently put finish paint on it!! lol At your current rate of perfection you should have this baby wrapped up by 2025 easy!!! As always excellent work my friend. Cannot believe you sold the truck , what are you going to do in your spare time?? Larry @ L&L Custom Performance
Incredible. Your skills are one thing, but your work ethic and generosity to us mere mortals says it all. Thank you.
If your new to Roberts magic check his thread on Garage Journal!! http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=182565 Pete