My Dad is a patient guy. He'd have to be to bring 10 kids into the world
(most of them boys) and not take any of them back out. I bet I could count
the times I remember him losing his temper on one hand. One of those times
comes to mind tonight though.
One of the vehicles in our stable was a VW 411 Fastback. Probably a
collectable today, but back then it was just transportation, and not very
good transportation at that. Dad had spent the weekend doing something to
it... I can't remember the particulars, but it wouldn't have been the first
weekend or late night spent under that car.
Anyway, it died at the gas station the next day and Dad just lost it. He
didn't cuss or swear, he just beat the living bergeebers out of the rear
passenger door. Worked real hard at kicking a hole right though it. I
stood by in slack jawed fascination watching the display and once the storm
had passed, made some brilliant comment like "You dented the door pretty
bad there Dad." He just smiled and said "Yes, and I feel a lot better too."
Well, tonight this project pushed me to the same point. The difference
with the Carryall is it IS a CLASSIC and I couldn't bring myself to wail on
it. Although I had a wide selection of heavy, blunt objects at my disposal
which would have worked even better than Dad's big work boots.
If you remember, I put down an expensive, two part, self etching primer as
a first coat. It went on just fine. Very nice, good paint, friendly,
forgiving paint, great start. Then, having used my Gillespie primer
(another easy to use product) to shoot all the un-bolted parts, I had to
find an automotive primer for a second primer coat.
I almost bought rattle can primer. Home Depot sells a very nice spray can
primer. Goes on smooth, covers well, I could have probably done the entire
second coat with 12 cans. I was also pressed for time, I considered just
skipping a second primer coat and shooting the color coat right over the
self etching primer. But NO, I had to do it RIGHT, I had to have an
AUTOMOTIVE primer. I made calls, I drove long distances, I fought traffic
on some of the busiest freeways on earth, I persevered and found automotive
primer. Cool.
But, we all know it SUCKED. Wether it was air pressure levels, reducer
ratio or type, moisture in the gun, wrong tip on the gun, my inexperience,
or whatever, the first run of this stuff was a nightmare. I should have
just stopped until I got it sorted out. Buy hey, primer can be sanded,
RIGHT! Oh yes, it can be sanded. And sand I did, lots and lots of
sanding.... very smooth and silky...
But despite the nice feel of the sanded primer it had a mortal flaw, little
pits. I saw them, but I couldn't really feel them, so I hopped the next
primer coat would fill them in... it didn't, but they didn't look bad, had
to have the light just right to even see them... and flat paint is so
forgiving... I'd just sand it some more and the color coat will look
fine. Well, It DOESN'T!
I had hoped what I was seeing was just over-spray. But, tonight when I
wiped the over-spay off I saw my sea-O-pits. That's when I stated looking
for something to hit the damn thing with. Fortunately that idea passed
without being acted on and I contend myself with firing up the ol' right
angle grinder with gray deburring wheel attached, and stripping paint back
down to bare metal.
That lasted for about 20 minutes and wasn't going very fast. I realized
that the self etching base coat was fine and that if I found a sanding
block and coarse paper I could save that coat at least. So I manually went
after it until my arm gave out at about 12:30 am.
Looking things over more rationally I see the problem is mostly confined to
the Passenger side, from the fire-wall to the end of the middle
window. There are spot problems on the driver's side, but no single, large
area. The dark olive drab highlights the pits as I sand into the light
gray primer coats, so I know I get them out.
@$@%^ &*&(^()_)(@#%!!!!
Chris Davis
MVPA# 20000
Lake Forest, CA
'42 WC53 Carryall
'66 M274A2 Mule
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:34 PDT