Just sprayed another coat of Laminex on my plug last night. Finished up at 11pm. Came in this morning to see this:




and this...



Looks like I am about 1 week away from spraying it a final time, then block sanding and buffing out to high gloss.

I can't count the hours any more....

Moulding will be entertaining mate

That's freekin gorg!!! Yummy!

Outstanding workmanship that man

ATB Dan.

nice ... doesn't even cover it

Why thank you kind sirs.

It's almost criminal how much that thing has been sanded.

But it wasn't until I finally hired an expert to assist me that the ripples finally came out of it. Turns out that I was using the wrong long-board whilst sanding. And what I had been doing was creating new hi-lo spots every time I worked on the car! I got so frustrated after a year of that bullshit, that I broke down and hired the man to help. Best money I ever spent.

I want to be able to pull a part out of my molds and put it straight on the car with just the gel-coat finish. No finish work. So we are aiming for perfection.

[Edited on 1/15/06 by sgraber]

which longboard were you using ? , a stiff sander is the best .

ive never had a problem , with sanding like that .

Flat board with gritty stuff glued on is better than DA

You are getting into my territory now, don't touch it with a DA or you will get more ripples than a car from Ripplesville, Ripples County, USA!

Block it out dry and give it a final coat od BLACK 2K solid to show up any imperfections.

PS How are you going to make the reveals on the opening sections?

Better to paint the car than go for a gel finish...well i think so anyway as it will tend to "look" plastic

The original "long board" I was using was too soft. The one that fixed my problem was a longer wider and stiffer one with a good grip. I used 80grit sticky-back paper.

The DA was a terrible idea and ruined every place I used it.

I agree that painted is better than gel for the final finish, but getting it out of the mold in a close to perfect finish is much easier to prep for paint in any case.

We are blocking it out this week, prepping for one final coat of Laminex and spraying it again by the weekend. Then we will block it out, wet sand to 600grit and polish it out to a gloss.

The openings in the sides will be a 2 part mold. I will actually have more bodywork to do as I will pull a mold off the outer rear fender, then cut away the plug bodywork from that area, finish the intake into the engine compartment and pull a mold of that section. later the 2 pieces of the mold will be joined together so as to create a complete side with the intake functional.

What is this terrible DA?

Cheers

Fred WB

Dual action sander alright for furniture restoration.

So two whole months after I said "1 week" I can finally say that I previously lied! It will NOW be one week to the start of molds, and that process will likely take the better part of 1-1/2 months to complete.

But it is really looking YUMMY now - Here it is at 1000 grit. Going all the way out to 1,500grit and then buff... DAMN this is a lot of work! But it'll be perfect.







[Edited on 3/14/06 by sgraber]

Much respect Steve,

Had a plan to build my own middy at one point - it was only the bodywork that put me off.

Chris

Looks absolutely stunning Steve...

Should be a fantastic looking car when your done!

Keep up the great work and keep sharing the results too.

Chris.

Really, really like it Steve- well done for all the hard work!

I'd missed this post altgether, was just wondering last night that I hadn't seen a post from you for awhile!

Cheers,
James

Thank you all. I haven't been posting much lately due to the amount of time I've spent over at the car. Besides, with the bodywork, the camera won't show any noticeable changes for months and months.... Then one day: Presto-change-O! Progress!

Glad you like it. It would suck to spend this many hours on something that people hate! HAHAHAHAHA ha.... ha.

What a stunning finish, respect for the amount of work you have put into this project!

Starting to take a real shine now that it's on its 5th coat of wax. Should be done waxing today and moving on to the gates. You can see many more photos in my image galleries HERE

It is looking fabulous Steve!
I can't wait to see the fist body made.

Good luck,
Terry