Saturday, July 30, 2011

More nose, a little buffing

Before getting to this week's work, I want to share a nice YouTube video I picked up on Twitter via @classicheroes. It captures the classy side of the coupe beautifully.

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I got started today with that blob of filler in the center grill opening. A while back I bought a new rotary file bit to use in the die grinder, because the shop's is worn out. Today was my first time using it. Worked great on those concave curves. I had some work to do to center the downward pointing dip. I wanted to take more off on the RH side but am down to bare metal, so I have to extend the LH section downward to balance it. I also noticed a low spot on the LH side, on the forward facing section bordering the grill opening. For these places I decided to switch to TECHNIFILL, because the amount to fill is small and I could do more than one cycle today.

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While working here I noticed that I had lost some of the indent where the upper panel joins the front panel. I decided to see if I could re-create it, but I ran into metal right below the primer, so I'll just leave it alone. This area is covered by the trim strip.

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While the filler set I decided to experiment with cleaning up the grill, with the help of my Makita buffer. I started with the compound I got for cleaning up the Lotus after I repaired the scratched paint, Meguire Fine Cut Cleaner . When that did not work a miracle I tried Griot's Mag Wheel polish, the stuff I used to polish the carbs on the Lotus. This is a more traditional metal polish, the kind that stinks and needs a good stir before using. Again, no miracles. I decided to bring all that stuff home and work on it by hand after dinner, while watching TV.

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Back to the nose. After a round of sanding I could see I was getting close, but I needed a little more thickness in a couple places. I added another layer and called it a day.

posted from Bloggeroid

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