Previously I took care of a number of basic car building issues that had to be accomplished before I could get serious about assembling this ride. With those things out of the way it is time to complete the painting process and begin the final build up. I’ll st art by getting some color on the front sheet metal pieces.

The front end appears to consist of two fenders, a hood, and a grille. But when you break the front end sheet metal section of this car down into individual pieces it actually consists of ten p art s; the hood, both fenders, two fender skirts, an upper radiator shield, a lower radiator shield, two side shields for the radiator, and a grille assembly. Luckily, the hood is the only p art of this section that will require more than a single color.

That means I can give the remaining nine p art s a coat of sealer, three coats of under base black, three coats of purple, and three coats of clear then install them on the car. The hood will get a single coat of clear, after which I’ll install it and complete the graphics work began earlier.

Here you can see I’ve already painted the fenders, skirts, and other pieces, an d h ave mounted them on the car. That puts me in position to mount the hood and complete the graphics work by laying out the tape lines for the two graphics colors, red and light purple.

If you look close you can see I’ve already lightly sanded the entire hood. That lets me apply the graphic colors and go straight to the clear coats.

To lay out the graphic lines I prefer using 3M Fine Line Tape (Eastwood # 37165 (1/8)) and # 37166 (1/4). This tape gives me the perfect edge I need when separating colors. Masking tape, the stuff I use to mask off cars to prevent over spray (Eastwood # 34243), just can’t compete when it comes to leaving perfect edges.

Here’s a tip to getting the tape lines straight. Stick the end of tape to the end of the panel and gently unroll the tape along the length of the panel taking care not to allow the tape to touch the panel. Once you have reached the other end of the panel pull the tape taunt, be careful that you don’t stretch the tape, then allow the tape to lay down on the panel st art ing at the point f art hest away from you. Pin stripers use this same technique to insure their stripes are perfectly straight.

At the front of the hood I decided to turn the stripes downward and bring them to a point.

Next I mask off the hood and spray on the two colors. Notice that I didn’t bother to remove the hood before applying these colors. Base colors don’t tend to over spray like clear coats. Once these colors are dry enough for the hood to be safely handled, in about two hours, I’ll finish removing the striping tape then take the hood back to the booth for more coats of clear. Once that is done I’ll call the painting portion of this project done.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109