Top half of rear quarter now something like,  bottom half got its first fill.

Made a start taping up the underside to keep it free from over spray too.

About a third of it done today - hopefully get the rest done tomorrow.  

More stuff has been happening - the underside has been taped up as far as the front footwells now, and some epoxy primer has been splashed around - offside rear quarter got a bit more rubbing before the primer went on.

The rear end got a bit of filler, a good rub up, and it too got a coat of primer.

These panels are by no means ready to paint yet, but are a lot closer to that than they were before - particularly so the rear quarter.    

Managed to get a good few hours on this yesterday. The nearside rear quarter got skimmed and rubbed several times until it was good enough to be hit with some epoxy primer.

Really pleased how well this side has come out so far, just a small amount of fettling required before its ready to paint.

I've taped up as much of the underside as I can for now - I need to cobble together some sort of dolly to make the shell mobile before I can finish that off.

More stuff has been occurring - the offside rear quarter got a bit of fettling, some blocking, and another coat of epoxy primer.

Its pretty reasonable now, but theres still a couple of areas needing a little finessing before I can call it ready.

The front wings have both been blocked again, they can now go in the "paint bloke" pile.

This weekend saw the rear end skimmed, rubbed and primed again. 

Pitted areas now unable to be seen. 

Nearside rear quarter was guide coated and blocked again.

Then after a few small fills were applied, a third coat of primer went on.

Ill leave the back end and rear quarters for a couple of weeks before blocking them again, and get on with the sills in the mean time. 

😎 

Nearside sill + wheel arch areas got some attention over the last weekend. It's been filled, rubbed and primed twice. The pattern part sills used are not very good pressings - this became apparent once fettling began!

 

 

One more fill/rub/prime cycle should see it ready to paint, but I'm gonna get the offside to the same stage first. 

Time was short today for one reason or another, but got a bit of filler, a bit of a rub, and some epoxy primer on the offside sill.

Should hopefully repeat the exercise over the course of the week.  

My poor old Mum lost a battle with cancer a couple of weeks ago, so I've been busy elsewhere, but I'm back on this again now. 

The offside sill and door shut areas have recieved some more attention.

Much filling, blocking and rubbing was needed to fettle the poor quality pressing of the replacement sill, but it's very close to where I want it to be now.

The whole offside was then guide coated and blocked/rubbed in preparation for its last layer of epoxy primer.

Afore mentioned layer was then applied.

This side just needs a final block/rub up and it's ready for the paint bloke. 

Got a fair few hours in on this over the last weekend - the whole nearside was blocked and sanded in preparation for its last coat of epoxy primer. 

Primer then applied. 

Got most of the offside blocked/sanded ready for the paint bloke too, seen here part way through. 

Once the rest of this side is sanded, and then the nearside has been done too, theres just the rear panel to finish before I can tackle the engine bay and front panels. 

I hope to have the dolly fabricated before working on the front of the shell - should hopefully all be on it's way to the paint bloke in the next few weeks. 

Edited 6 June, 20215 yr by sleag40

Offside was finished off today.

The nearside was given its final rub up as far as the rear quarter.

The dolly has been fabricated,  just need to shorten the uprights a little, then bolt the wheels on and the shell will be mobile.  

Nearside rear quarter finished off this week.

Identified some low spots in the rear valance, they were given a thin skim of fine filler.

Then rubbed and primed again.

The dolly was shortened and bolted on today, surprisingly it fitted absolutely perfectly - wasn't expecting that!

After that was done, good tidy up and vacuum session happened - it was incredibly dusty in the shed.

Once that was done, I continued taping up the inner front wings in preparation for fettling up the front end. Just got to give the rear panel its final block/rub and I can switch ends.  

Managed to get a couple of hours on this the other day to get the back end rubbed out.

Just got the top edge adjacent to the boot seal to do, then with a bit of luck this weekend I'll be getting stuck in to fettling the front end up to the same stage as the rest.  

Edited 23 June, 20215 yr by sleag40

A refreshing change of scenery today -

Front panels got a few skims of filler here and there to tidy up some of the welds, then it all got a good rub in preparation for another coat of epoxy primer. 

I thought it was probably a good idea to finish masking off the inner wings before throwing any paint about -

 

This used up my available time, so I'll have to get stuck in on my way home from work in the coming week.

Edited 23 June, 20215 yr by sleag40

This week's evenings didn't go as planned. I did get a second coat of epoxy primer on there on Tuesday.

 

 

 

The Mrs' car then disgraced itself and took up the rest of the evenings to fix. Should get a decent bit of time on it tomorrow to block and rub though - the slam panel is especially fiddly to do properly,  I expect it to eat up a lot of the weekend too.

Got a grey primer guide coat on there and began rubbing on Friday afternoon. Began with the fiddly slam panel.

 

 

 

This was as far as I got on friday afternoon,  but I managed to finish it off today.

 

 

Seen here not long before finishing it off.

Should get another coat of epoxy primer on there tomorrow, and once it's been rubbed again, I can get stuck in to the last area for paint preparation - the engine bay.  

Got another coat on this and rubbed it back during the week.

Finished rubbing on Friday.

Another bit ready for the paint bloke. 

Before getting stuck in to the engine bay, I thought I'd better try fitting the doors to make sure the arches line up right. The nearside was spot on, but the offside  was a bit off.

It looks like I put the arch profile a little low at the front of the quarter panel. It was only 2 or 3 mm out, but it would have bugged the hell out of me if I didn't correct it, so that's what I did next.

The front of the arch was re-shaped with a little filler, then blocked into the correct shape.

When satisfied it all lined up, I splashed a bit of grey primer on it while I get round to re epoxying the quarter panel.

Back to the engine bay next.

Been doing a bit of rubbing in here on the way home from work.

Extremely bored of paint preparation now - fortunately it should be ready to go over to the paint bloke by the end of the month. 🙂

After more than enough rubbing, it was all thoroughly cleaned and masked up.

And after another coat of epoxy primer.

 

After taking care of some chores, I still had enough time left to re do the offside rear quarter after it was fettled.

Back to rubbing again tomorrow.

Rear quarter was rubbed out at the weekend, then plonked the door on today to have a weigh up.

It's a lot better, but not quite 100%. I may have another little fettle at some point time permitting. 

The nearside is pretty much spot on.

Very pleased with this side.

After playing with doors + umming and ahhing for a while, I got a bit of guide coat on in the engine bay, then made a start on rubbing it again.

It's been a bit warmer than is comfortable in the shed of late, but I still managed to get a bit of rubbing done. The offside is mostly done.

Got started with the nearside turret, and ran out of time.

Should get back on it over the next weekend.  

First job of the day, the heater blower/ scuttle area was cleaned up. After all the muck was removed, it looked fresh, so this area will be masked off and left as is.

Nearside of engine bay now rubbed out. 

Just the bottom half of the bulkhead left to rub now.

Should get that finished up one evening in the week.  

It's going to be such a nice feeling when she comes back and she is all blue again!

Last week I have mostly been taking the shine off the bits that are still blue. Still got a lot of rubbing to do, but the end is in sight. Today I also dug out the build plate and riveted it back on to the slam panel so it can be painted as it was originally. 

 

 

Been grabbing the odd hour on this here and there this week, the c-pillars and offside are pretty much done, this picture was taken after making a start on the nearside.

The roof was also finished up this week.

I finished up the a-pillars and scuttle today, but I'll be giving everything another going over at some point ready for the paint bloke later this week

 (fingers crossed!)  

It's the first time this has been out of the shed for nearly 3 years.

Time for a good sort out now theres plenty of space.

Looking forward to some serious blueness in the not too distant future.