Seems to have gotten a bit dark around here lately?
Anyway, a bit of an update for those who are interested - I'm sure it won't impress some people, but I'm not doing anything which isn't reversible!
Part of the problem with buying a chromie is the chrome...I guess the plastic bumpers are easily repaired if damaged, but if the chrome gets damaged its not such an easy fix. There was a nasty enough dent, and a good bit of pitting on the rear bumper, so I made an executive decision to colour code it. Had it been in better condition I definitely would have reconsidered what I was about to do, but it wasn't - and the Tec 1 kit probably looks better with colour coded bumpers!
Here was the rear bumper as I got it:
A sanding disc with 80 grit paper on it had the desired effect
I laid down two coats of acid etch primer, lightly sanding between coats
Finished photos of the bumper are to come - turned out really well imo - four coats of colour wet sanded in between. The fly doing its kamikaze dive into the final coat was a bit of a pain, but such is life!
The tec 1 apron was originally dolphin grey - condition was quite good, with a few gashes out of it. Sanded it down to get as much of the paint off as possible, which was probably slight overkill.
Its since been primered - but there are LOADS of sanding marks. Spent quite a while re-sanding, and its alot better - but still have a good bit of sanding left. Have quickly realised that the painting
part is the easy bit.
So as you can see - when I got the car, the previous owner had started some work - I think this was done prior to Vinni getting it.
The primer wasn't covering up a multitude of sins thankfully, although I did do quite a bit of sanding on the offside rear arch to remove bubbled paint and a small bit of surface rust.
I ended up removing sections of the arch, just leaving solid metal - so you can see the inner arch in the picture above is missing a bit! I intended welding a new section of arch in myself, but I may just get a pro to do this bit.
Anyway - I digress. You may have noticed that all the work I've been doing is on the rear of the car. My idea is to work from the back of the car forwards, and there was really very little left to do at the back.
There was a small hole in the bottom of the valance. I filled it with isopon a few weeks back - leaving it to dry until I was ready to paint this section. After sanding down the valance I was delighted with the way it held up. The area filled is just left of centre in the photo below. I also sanded down the area as much as possible.
I did the same with the offside rear arch...
Once the sanding was done, I masked up above the valance. The idea was to paint the bottom area with stone guard paint - mask off the very bottom area to replicate the factory finish, and then respray the middle area.
Here is the rear after the first bit of stone guard went down.
And a bit more...
The bottom section masked off...
More primer down!
Before putting down more paint, I took the masking back a few millimetres. The reason for this is that I need the paint I lay down to overlap the primer, otherwise I'd get the telltale line in the finished result. Once the primer was dry I started putting down more Henna Red - I wasn't overly concerned with the finish, especially since the panel is going to be almost completely hidden behind the bumper. That said, I didn't want major runs in the paint, and its nicer to know that it'll be presentable if I ever decide to do away with the Tec 1 kit.
With the light fading, the photos aren't great - but you get the idea!!
The highlight of the day was getting the rear bumper mounted on the car. It still needs to be compounded, but the finish is quite good regardless - and the car hasn't had a bumper on it since I bought it.
Should get a bit more time on it tomorrow.