Sunday, November 17, 2019

Out Of The Paint Shop

WELL.....since I had some pretty light spots in a few places on the body, I quickly masked off the windows and shot some more white paint on it. Turns out the paint on the body was pretty thin all over, and you could see the consequences of my quick-and-dirty masking job from the outside.

--sigh--

Mask the windows off again, head to the hobby shop for some more paint, and come home and spray the inside again.

And since this paint will drive you out of a building, I opened up the garage doors and side door, put my big exhaust fan in the side door, and painted the body in front of the fan, drawing away the nasty vapors.

It's still not up to my quality standards, but considering it's the first one I've done in 30 years, I'm pronouncing it "Plenty Good Enough", and moving on. I know the next bodies I do up for this chassis will look much better, and it's gonna get banged up on the track, and I wanna take it to the track and drive it!

This thing is really SHINY when you peel off the protective film.



I've got a bunch of questions concerning ride height and a few other things, so that's why I'm anxious to get to the track.

Now I have to carefully trim and apply the decals/stickers. These are the sticky-backed, printed-on-clear-film type, so you have to trim them from the sheet, leaving only a small clear border around them. At least they go on from the outside!

I have numerous photos of the original car in competition, and one of the "tribute" cars on the track, so at least I know where all the little stickers go.



And since I was in a painting kind of mood, I took my prepped set of rims and sprayed them silver, and mounted the tires on them. I still have to glue them to the rims, and I'll do that tomorrow.



You can only buy the current spec series legal rim from one supplier, and they come in either black or white. White makes it look like a toy, and I'm so over the black wheel thing, so you can either find some "vintage" NOS wheels in "Matte Chrome" (looks like brushed aluminum, goes for big $$), or paint your own. A $6 can of paint beats a $60 spend on eBay hands down on this build, so I painted them. Hey, it's not going to Pebble Beach or The Quail, you know?

So I should have this thing finished enough by Monday night to take it to the track Tuesday afternoon (cue the Moodies...) for the Tech Inspection, and to buy a transponder and get it registered. Maybe I'll even have time for a few laps.....

10 comments:

  1. Flashback to Cub Scouts and Pinewood Derby. My kid took the block of wood, put the four tires on the corners and that was it. Came in third.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I built several Pinewood Derby cars with my son. They also had a rubber-band powered airplane/rocket competition we built several for.

      Good times, and I remember seeing cars like you described. One kid's "block car" was overweight, so they just sawed off enough until it passed!

      Delete
  2. This is turning into a pretty involved little hobby but it sure looks like fun. How come I haven't seen the giant magnifying glass that I KNOW has to be around there somewhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HAH! I have one of those boom-mounted round lights with a BIG magnifying lens in the middle.

      In fact, I have three of them. My eyesight just isn't what it used to be.....

      Delete
  3. Very clean, very nice. Good job DRJIM!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not up to my usual standards, but it'll work.

      I never was very good with body and paintwork....

      Delete
  4. Yes, looking good. And keep those magnifying glasses away from this unit, as the guys using those are just looking for mistakes. I've got no use for 'judges,' and I chase them away from my cars with sharp sticks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How long will that paint job last once you get it on the track? It looks good enough for practical use. Your Engineer is showing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The paint is on the inside of a clear Lexan body shell, so it's pretty well protected. The bodies get scuffed up and possibly cracked, but the paint stays intact if it's the right type of paint, and properly applied.

      And it's really nasty paint; very aromatic, and if I have to paint anything else I'll be getting out my respirator that I use when I spray "real car" paint.

      Delete
  6. Thanks, Fredd.

    The track I'll be running it at doesn't give out awards for being pretty, just low lap times.

    Tech Inspection is to make sure you're legal as far as ride height, motor, electronic speed control, wheels/tires, and body. It's a fairly restrictive class to run in. The point of it being a slower class with much more emphasis on driving skill and close competition than the latest and greatest Big Buck hardware.

    ReplyDelete

Keep it civil, please....

Gloomy, Gritty, Grey Day

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