In the workshop at present

[Grumpy Northener]

Then a all day marathon flatting / blocking back session of the polyester on the shell, seam sealer applied as required - plan is to get the shell sprayed with epoxy primer this morning and then whilst it is curing make a start on flatting / blocking back the polyester on the loose panels - my arm / shoulder already aches just thinking about it

[Grumpy Northener]

Plan failed on Weds to get the shell in to epoxy primer, I instead I concentrated on getting all the loose panels flatted / blocked back - 4 wings, 4 doors, boot, bonnet & front panel - fortunately I have a dustless abrasive system for the DA sander and the hand blocks otherwise the workshop would have looked like an explosion in a flour mill ! Once completed I sealed all lapped edges with a fine seam sealer

[Grumpy Northener]

Progress today was thwarted with disaster Got the bodyshell and several panels into epoxy primer / guide coat only for one of the unpainted panels (bootlid) to fall off it's stand when the airline got tangled with the base the stand - in falling off it damaged the lower edge of the bootlid - that would not have too bad in itself had the said panel not clipped the rear wing on the stand next to it - said wing being covered in wet primer and landed face down - damage to the rear wing is just within the primer and I sanded it back before packing in for the day - it just needs a recoat of primer - boot lid required some hammer & dolly treatment to the corner - refitted it to the shell to ensure that fitting & panel gap were still ok - I applied a skim of filler before finishing up - I suppose it could have been a lot worse

[Grumpy Northener]

Ho and the paint / thinners / lacquer / activator for the bodyshell, interior & underbody got delivered - all £610's worth of it

[Grumpy Northener]

Sorted the reprofiling on the bootlid first and this is now ready for a further application of polyester which I will do this morning - then spent the rest of the day wet flatting the bodyshell - very boring, tedious, repetitive (I would drive myself mad if the radio was not on in the background) and time consuming BUT hugely satisfying to get to this stage

[Grumpy Northener]

The final paint is going to have be completed in several stages due to complexity of the bodyshell & panels so current plan is:

Stage 1 - Do the engine bay including the outer edges of the inner wings where the front wings fasten on, leading edges of the front wings where all fastenings are visible and the door aperture edge - the boot space can be done at the same time and probably the underside of the bonnet

Stage 2 - With the front wings bolted back on and aligned (critical point here is that the wing fastenings are exposed upon opening the bonnet and are painted in the body colour so they can be put into colour at the same time as the front wings - most would just paint the wings off the shell in one hit then fasten the wings on and touch the heads in on the fastenings with a brush - has you may have guessed it would not pass rank inspection with my OCD status) - so with the engine bay / boot space masked up I would get the front wings, roof, rear shrouds and the rear panel painted possibly along with the outer face of the bonnet

Stage 3 - Would see the 4 doors & the back wings done probably along with the boot lid, plus there are several smaller parts such as the boot & bonnet hinges and the rear lamp housings along with the front panel

Stages 4 & 5 - The dash panel along with a load of metal trims for the interior need painting white and the chassis / undersides need a coat of satin black

So over the next few posts you should be able to smell the paint vapours / fumes when viewing the thread

Once wet flatted there were several very minor areas that required the slightest wipe of stopper into them - I shall flat them back this morning and spot prime the effected areas

[Grumpy Northener]

A few days ago I was asked a question about the amount of polyester filler used on the restoration - I have a few that have seen the images on other forums and I get the general impression that they take quite a dim view of the restoration when they view it covered in filler to large areas of the vehicle / panels - so firstly I always get my panels to within a 3mm - 5mm tolerance of the original profile before filling and therefore what is applied is a skim, secondly the car has had a life - it's 67 years old and on its original panels which have seen a previous poor restoration and extensive repair since.

So to answer the question - how much filler well 16KG (8 x 2KG tins) Now before we all fall off our chairs - I run a very efficient dustless abrasive system for the DA, flat bed and hand block sanding - New filter bag in the hover before I started on the reprofiling and the full one after (note the £1 coin on the floor for scale reference) weight of the full hover bag = 10KG - add to this another 1KG of filler dust that was swept up from the fine / detail hand sanding and the total amount of filler used in the restoration = 5KG - still sounds a lot but 20 panels into the amount of filler = 250 gram average per panel - for which I would never loose sleep over - I am all for no filler at all in a restoration / paint job but being realistic the only way you going to achieve this is by fitting all new body panels which are not available in the first place.

[suffolkpete]

To all those armchair critics, visit the NEC Restoration Show at the end of the month and see Chris at work on the Jowett stand. I wish I had a tenth of his skill and patience.

[TerryG]

I'm definitely not a critic but I'll be there to see (and probably hear if past years are anything to go by) on the Sunday

[suffolkpete]

You, and anybody else, are welcome to drop by at the Matra stand for a chat when you've finished drooling over Jowetts. I'll be there for the whole three days (at the Matra stand not the Jowett, tempting though the prospect is).