Lottie, a 79 full restoration Part 1/2/3/4/5

friend once said i don t care if i get a run in me paint , cause then ye know ye have plenty of paint on

 

Looking good

 

Splendid mate!

 

Thanks folks for your support. Finally gone blue on Sat when conditions were just right for spraying. Had the big reveal today with loads of masking finally peeled off and pleased that the dividing line looks crisp and straight. There are a few little bits to touch/blow in like inside the gills and some bits around door jambs. Piccies:



sorry a bit out of focus! and front:

 

Looks like a nice finish @martinvention did you use cellulose in the end?

 

Sweet

 

Beautiful job fella. You must be pleased as punch!


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MAGICCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

 

Looks lovely, good work
A.

 

Martin how did you end up masking the bulge line? Did you paint past it in white then mask carefully for blue?


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Hi Cockers, Yes cellulose it is, Lechler Nitron from Express paints. I plan to leave it alone for a while, whilst I assemble some of the running gear/brake lines then the glass and doors and at that point do some cutting back to get an even shine all over.

 

Hi James, I used plastic 'fine line tape' and spent some time getting it straight with all doors fitted then removed the doors and sprayed the pastel white top. After 2 days I removed the masking and found the white cellulose gave a crisp edge. Then I masked over the white so that I could just see an even hint of white below the tape. As cellulose is solvent based rather than a fully cured plastic coat I was concerned that the blue might leach into the white but all was well and I seem to have the 2 colours nicely butted up to each other, but there is a hint of a burr if you rub a finger across the joint and I expect that will flat well with a bit of cutting compound when I cut back. Are you going 2 tone with Iris?

 

Yeap the same colour split for us!


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Looks fantastic! I’d been looking at express paints so I’ll check out the Nitron paint. Don’t feel as nervous about spraying mine in celly now

 

To be completely candid Cockers I had my reservations with all the conflicting comments; cellulose Vs 2K Vs water based not to mention primers and primer fillers and too many layers Vs too few. I am still not entirely sure of the bonding process between the different paint types, I am guessing cellulose sticks to etch primer mechanically and its top coat chemically. However the properties of Epoxy primer have swayed me to use it as a primer sealer as I have not bare metalled all the van and I have found cellulose sticks to it extremely well when the epoxy is flatted with 800 wet and dry. I hope you get good results but I do believe you need good temp and low humidity, so unless you have access to a proper stray booth its best done in Summer.

 

@martinvention dont worry, I’ve no intentions of spraying until next summer anyway! Couldn’t find that Lechler nitron on express paints website, do you have a link?

 

Hi Cockers, Its on the Automotive/classic colours tab @ http://www.express-paints.co.uk/mixed-cellulose-colour/ not specifically labeled Lechler-Nitron on the website.
They are very helpful and have a very swift delivery service.

 

I suspected that was the one mate, thanks for clarifying!

 

Had some time off from Lottie to sort out my apple harvest and make some juice, not a good year, so no cider.
Back to the fray and the cellulose has toughened up a bit and I can do one final tip to fit some of the under gear. I have modified my crude wooden supports so that there are diagonal struts through the cab and rear window to vertical faces on the opposite side. This way when the van is rotated just over the tipping point there is no contact with external paint.


Easy now to install cables, new kunifer brake lines, pedals, steering box replenished with new OEP 90, and the central heater duct. For the latter I found some lightweight stainless steel flue pipe to fit inside the insulated cardboard tube. The original tube was badly crushed and whilst my new tube is very slightly smaller in diameter I figure that the airflow will be better due to the lack of corrugations and in any case the diameter of the casing in front of the middle x bar is even smaller. I have fitted double wall corrugated insulation over the SS tube and reinstalled the original jackets over the Y piece and front casing and then wrapped both in heavy aluminium tape normally used for boiler flues. I will monitor in due course to see how durable this option is.



I also took the time to take lots of measurements and make some templates for belly pans, which I hope to cast in GRP. I have already fitted captive nuts to my inner sills for pans, when I fitted the sills a couple of years ago.
The final job was to transfer my wheels to new positions under the central chassis so that I can now remove the tipping frames and fit the front beam and rear suspension.