Alright, for those of you who are already tired of the mass hysteria and panic about the Corona Virus, and would like to get back to cars and G bodies, I would like to present an update.
Over the weekend I practiced some “social distancing” and “self quarantine” 😉 and got down to business. I masked up the trunk lid and laid down some more high build primer after hitting the bare metal spots with etch.
4 full wet coats went on the repaired areas and tail panel, and 2 over the whole thing. While that was drying, I uncovered the hood and masked it up as well. There is no body work to be done on the hood, just another application of primer so I saw no reason I couldn’t proceed with that as well.
This morning I mixed up 2 big batches of primer and laid it down on the hood.
Looks pretty good!
Since 24 hours had passed from priming the trunk, tonight I started blocking it out again. I first went after the tail panel as that’s where the majority of the repair bodywork was done...
...and was very pleased to find that it blocked out beautifully:
The area I was most concerned with though was this right front corner:
This is a difficult area to work, and I had concerns that I undercut it slightly when bodyworking it. My gut feeling was correct, as it technically blocked out but just barely:
I sanded through several layers of the primer and even burned through to the etch in 2 spots. I’m still not happy with this area, it needs more high build and more blocking yet to be perfect. I kind of suspected this area was gonna give me some grief and need more primer, hence my leaving it masked up for the time being.
From there I went on and proceeded to block out the rest of the trunk lid to see how it would fair as well. Not bad, definitely 100% better than it was...
...but it still ain’t quite there yet. There’s a couple of problem areas that still need attention, these should hopefully get taken care of with another round of priming and blocking. Here’s some closeups of what I mean:
A couple of burn-throughs of the layers of primer here...
...some still low spots and a really weak soft body line here:
...a small burn through on the peak above the trunk lock...
...another burn-through on the top of the right side body line at the back...
...and of course the troublesome right front corner and side:
The name of the game here is patience and perseverance. Virtues that most people don’t have when it comes to bodywork. The priming and blocking processes have to continue over and over and OVER again until it’s right or you settle for less than perfect. I’m not one to settle and am stubborn as all hell, so I’ll keep at it until it’s right.
Now that you see what goes into blocking out bodywork for paint, you can see why I say it’s either straight or it’s not. It’s got nothing to do with what color you’re gonna paint it, white, silver or fluorescent fuchsia. Yes, lighter colors will hide some imperfections, certainly more than darker colors, but if your work is straight it doesn’t much matter. It’ll look good no matter what.
Anyways, it looks like I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow night, more primer will fly and I guess more “social distancing” is still in my near future. 😂
Cheers friends, stay safe and be smart out there. “This too shall pass”.
D.
Over the weekend I practiced some “social distancing” and “self quarantine” 😉 and got down to business. I masked up the trunk lid and laid down some more high build primer after hitting the bare metal spots with etch.
4 full wet coats went on the repaired areas and tail panel, and 2 over the whole thing. While that was drying, I uncovered the hood and masked it up as well. There is no body work to be done on the hood, just another application of primer so I saw no reason I couldn’t proceed with that as well.
This morning I mixed up 2 big batches of primer and laid it down on the hood.
Looks pretty good!
Since 24 hours had passed from priming the trunk, tonight I started blocking it out again. I first went after the tail panel as that’s where the majority of the repair bodywork was done...
...and was very pleased to find that it blocked out beautifully:
The area I was most concerned with though was this right front corner:
This is a difficult area to work, and I had concerns that I undercut it slightly when bodyworking it. My gut feeling was correct, as it technically blocked out but just barely:
I sanded through several layers of the primer and even burned through to the etch in 2 spots. I’m still not happy with this area, it needs more high build and more blocking yet to be perfect. I kind of suspected this area was gonna give me some grief and need more primer, hence my leaving it masked up for the time being.
From there I went on and proceeded to block out the rest of the trunk lid to see how it would fair as well. Not bad, definitely 100% better than it was...
...but it still ain’t quite there yet. There’s a couple of problem areas that still need attention, these should hopefully get taken care of with another round of priming and blocking. Here’s some closeups of what I mean:
A couple of burn-throughs of the layers of primer here...
...some still low spots and a really weak soft body line here:
...a small burn through on the peak above the trunk lock...
...another burn-through on the top of the right side body line at the back...
...and of course the troublesome right front corner and side:
The name of the game here is patience and perseverance. Virtues that most people don’t have when it comes to bodywork. The priming and blocking processes have to continue over and over and OVER again until it’s right or you settle for less than perfect. I’m not one to settle and am stubborn as all hell, so I’ll keep at it until it’s right.
Now that you see what goes into blocking out bodywork for paint, you can see why I say it’s either straight or it’s not. It’s got nothing to do with what color you’re gonna paint it, white, silver or fluorescent fuchsia. Yes, lighter colors will hide some imperfections, certainly more than darker colors, but if your work is straight it doesn’t much matter. It’ll look good no matter what.
Anyways, it looks like I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow night, more primer will fly and I guess more “social distancing” is still in my near future. 😂
Cheers friends, stay safe and be smart out there. “This too shall pass”.
D.
