Paint dilemma

[Graham Thomson]

I have a very nice new bonnet for the truck. It is in great nick, no dints, no scratches, nowt. Problem is, the truck is shire blue in colour, and the new bonnet is a somewhat darker shade, sort of halfway between shire blue and navy blue.

I've got the spray paint and my last attempt at spraying (fibreglass bumpers on the moggy minor) was quite good really.

Do I paint, or do I have a very nice contrasty bonnet..............

[disco tony]

You sound quite confident, you already know the answer!, paint it!!

[wkw90]

Go on paint it

[western]

Paint it, otherwise the truck will looks like you couldn't be bothered to look after it.

[Graham Thomson]

ok ok paint it is!!!

[Graham Thomson]

ok, painted it, the colour looks great and the spraying is not too shabby either. Got two runs that need sanded before the final coat .

used two tins of paint, which is now bone dry. got one more tin in the locker (all ordered courtesy of nice paint link from this web site). going out after dinner to spray that too. Also to replace the lights on my trailer.

[Graham Thomson]

Ok, replaced the lights on the trailer with shiny new ones. Wires on first light - red, black, yellow and white. Wires on second light, red, brown, green and black. Hey ho . And shifting from a 3-buld arrangement to an indicator/standard stop lamp arrangement. A little educated guessing and all was well. nice new number plate on trailer, and the whole thing is now road-legal.

By the time I had finished the temperature in the garage was down to way below zero, decided not to put the final coat of paint on, freeze-dried coffee is ok, but freeze-dried shire-blue I'm not so sure about.

Now thawing with a mug of soup.

[western]

let the first coats have a few days to fully cure, then flat back & do the final finish coat of paint.

[Guest diesel_jim]

[Graham Thomson]

So I painted it.........

Three tins of paint............flatted between coats........and all was almost perfect ........until........

with 1/3 of the paint remaining in the last tin, it sputtered, spat globs of paint and ceased to spray . Swapped nozzles with the other can, no joy. The air was blue, and I don't mean shire blue !!!

So, on to the paint man, another 30 quids worth, some more wet and dry and went for one final coat. Carefully applied, even managed to have a little paint left over..........job done, tiptoed out of garage with a lingering over-the-shoulder look at the big shiny glossy-glossy-sheen-of-shire-blue reposing in the corner. All seemed almost perfect..........until........

I ventured back into the garage the following morning for a quick satisfied running-of-the-fingers-over-the-bonnet only to find............it had dried absolutely dull dull oh so dull matt blue. Couldn't believe it, kicked the dog and went to work . On reflection (and the bonnet wasn't doing much of that in its' matt state!), it must have been the cold.

Spent about 3 hours today with some Farecla G3 cream bringing the whole thing up to a very nice shine , using cloths, car buffer, and my fair (and now very sore!) hands.

As a amateur paint job, I'd score it about 8 out of 10, certainly good enough to go on the truck. She comes back from the garage on Tuesday, after lots of other bits have been done. Once I get the bonnet on, I'll do some nice pictures, for now though, it's some well-earned vodka and coke and some ibuprofen gel for the hands.

[Happyoldgit]

Don't drop it