markp wrote:Hi Steve

Bus is looking fab .... Hard going ant it all that filler work ..... but O so worth it in the end

Sorry to read about your I and its sound like it's now getting better ...slowly

I bet the sunlights a nasty annoying this at the moment ... bright light and all that

anyway keep pushing mate it's getting there and it will very quickly change from nearly ready for paint too READY FOR PAINT you watch and see

I us my eye problem to my advantage can do the following as its risky with only one working eye

Cant do list

go food shopping
do the washing
unload the dish washer
make tea
smile at claire's mum ( only joking on that one Sue is lovely )
hoover
dust
iron
fold clothes

But what I've excelled at are the following

BBQ's
curry making
intake of beer
intake of beer
intake of beer
keeping Gerry clean
acting a fool

lol ...... keep going steve your doing a grand job mate and its looking mighty fine


Over and Out

Mark

Thanks Mark, I knew you, of all people, would understand
It's early days yet but I think it's stabilised but will take a while for the blood to dissipate.

I daren't cut the grass now either!

Off to block now, daren't weld just yet

Steve

markp wrote:
Hi Steve

I bet the sunlights a nasty annoying this at the moment ... bright light and all that

Mark

It's the light from the PC screen that's the worst, but I must do the blog so…..

Evening all

Another day done and it's been mostly filled with ……………..filler I'm determined to move the project forward this weekend though

Tonight I came in for a beer looking like a snowman This is what I've done today…..

I started with this.



It's had a little more in the low areas and I've got to flat it back and then we'll put another very fine coat over it to finish off

I took the worst off and then gave it a guide coat



and then blocked for a while until I'd got it feeling pretty flat. There's another final coat going on but this is it in spirit wipe now, which is, apparently, how it will look in paint



next I moved on to the other dogleg, the o/s and tried to replicate what I had done with Gary on the n/s. I thought this photo was in focus…...



Gary had showed me a tip with adjoining panels of slavering the filler over the joint (scraping in with the edge of the spreader before it goes hard ) in order to get the levels between the panels correct. It's a good tip and I've used it a few times now. I used a bit of abranet on a spreader to clean out the joint properly afterwards



I laid on a bit of filler in the dog leg return to tidy that up a bit



and then returned to the other side, there being several areas of filler going off at different times. I wasn't happy with how the lower part of the dogleg sat in relation with the sill…… it seemed to kick out a little,



but if I just bent it, then it would kink so I made up a little tool to "tweak" the return - not wanting to use mole grips as the inside is all painted and finished. By tweaking the return I could bash the dog leg in a bit without it buckling



This was it all after the "first pass" of filler



but I knew that Gary wouldn't pass it so re-slavered it ( is that a word) at the same time letting it run over to the "B" post and it's all starting to look rather good I'm getting the hang of this now



I let the filler run out along the sill so that I could lose the difference - the sill is pretty much perfect and doesn't need filling - but the alignment needs a little bit. Whether I coat the whole sill or not depends on how it looks, or what Gary decides but I figured that I could lose the difference in a few inches or so, but if I need to take some filler all the way along it's no big deal as I LOVE blocking……. not



I even made myself a medium sized block out of some MDF



Next I moved back to the n/s rear panel. I'd got this panel looking fairly good a while ago, but when I attempted to do the rear upper corner, I'd cut into it and stuffed it up again, So I re-slavered it, this time with Topstop Gold and did it again. It's now looking good in the spirit wipe, although difficult to photograph as it's constantly drying up



I've been instructed to cover it up with Duct tape next time to prevent me "scuffing it up" - I think that's what he said so that's another tip I've learnt and duly passed on.

I've been doing other little bits with left over filler, but the bigger panels are fast approaching. I keep thinking of what MarkP said earlier in this thread that soon, "nearly ready for paint" would become "ready for paint" and I can see what he's getting at………..but there's a helluva lot more blocking to do before then :



I had an email from Paul at Harry Harpics today which went thus…..

One question: do you have a breather box fitted to the vehicle, or are you planning to get one? AS the rocker blue]covers have vents in them, as does the oil filler, and these will need to go somewhere to vent crankcase pressure.

then I remembered that I had a bag of bits that came with the engine and what's more, I was able to find it



and that's what he needs, so happy days

and that's it. Just got to do it all again tomorrow but bit by bit, it's getting there

Cheers,

Steve

Had my fix. ... Cheers
G

Nice work again Steve and fair play for updating even though the glare hurts your eyes. Cheers.

You move quickly with the filler by the way! Paint time soon I feel!!!

I for one cannot wait to see the acid etch primer high build primer and into the final colour stage.

Stop reading your posts. .
Get on with the blocking.

Your eye suffers if you keep reading

Hope it does not hurt too much.

G

Eye up!

Blocking hell…… I'm beginning to appreciate the "Rat Look"

Would it be that wrong to give it a nice all over coat of Gravitex? Or perhaps Sandtex in a green camouflage pattern…..

Anyway…..here's today's update.

O/s dog leg return tidied up



I checked out the rear o/s panel and waistline with spirit wipe - that's a great tip, and if it looks ok in spirit wipe it's only going to improve with a couple of coats of high build - and I'm happy with the panel - I didn't scuff this side as much as the other - but I found a small dent in the waistline so I fixed that



The waistline the other side was a bit ripply so I put a fine coat of filler over the lot and proceeded to work at it between other jobs



The n/s rear corner was next up. I've spent ages getting the panel next to it looking good, and already scuffed it last time when doing the rear corner so this is Gary's "tip of the day" DUCT TAPE



First a good slavering of Topstop Gold _ I now prefer this to the Fantastic as it gives a better finish and can be spirit wiped without it soaking in. I bet all the Pro's reading this are having a right good chuckle but I am getting better at spreading filler



While that was going off I spirit wiped the top section of there rear door and found a couple of small imperfections to sort out



I did a first pass with some coarse Abranet - I knew it was coarse as it kept swearing at me and then put a guide coat on.



The last time I tried this panel I used a long block but despite my best endeavours ended up with several flat areas rather than a "flowing curve" so this time I used a short block and also wrapped some Abranet round a spreader which meant I could bend it to the contour

I've got it feeling pretty good now, but I'll put another very fine finishing coat on tomorrow to see if I can get it RIGHT the idea being not to rub through the filler at all





I finished of the long side waist band and it looks good in spirit - ripple free



It won't be long before I can try some of those fancy-smancy reflected photos that I've seen others on here do

That's it for today. Eye slightly better. Checkup in two weeks.

Cheers,

Steve

Awesome work Steve, you seem to be back in the flow now.

Always hard getting motivated again especially when you can't see!

Every bit you do is one step closer.....

See you soon

Coops wrote:Awesome work Steve, you seem to be back in the flow now.

Always hard getting motivated again especially when you can't see!

Every bit you do is one step closer.....

See you soon

Thanks Mike.

Just came in from the cave and found your post. Always good for morale to have posts on my thread

I look like a snowman again Shower beckons. Update to follow…..

Evening all

So, the end of another long and extended week. Mary's mum's been with us for a spell but yesterday the wind was in the right direction and she flew home. I escaped relatively unscathed…………. apart from the "eye of newt" bit……...

Gary's been and gone again and the money I've invested in him for a couple of days is really starting to pay dividends. Not only have I had a couple of day's work from a fella at the top of his game, but I've been able to work with him and LEARN

I always reckon in life that we can do more or less anything, it's just that, most of the time, we don't know how. My filler work is definitely improving and having Gary's input has given me the confidence to take on jobs that just a few weeks ago would have been beyond me

Today I've spent quite a lot of time gently caressing Rusty's rear end and, having become fairly intimate with all his curves, I can understand why most buses have female names

First up was to ladle the final layer of filler onto the o/s "upstairs" I was particularly proud of the spreading here



I've now gained the confidence to tackle the cargo doors, so with some left over filler, a little "fillip" to start me off



and then I went for it, big style



always wear a glove on your spreader hand and clean the spreader as you go (another great tip) They get better with use. The gloves work inside out the next time and then you don't get bits of dried filler in your new wet filler



I knocked the door into shape but it needed a little more through the middle. Once I'm happy it's more or less there I'll cover the entire door with a very thin layer to finish off



Meanwhile I got to waist level This area had a nasty little dent that I've knocked out



and then I bare metalled the "downstairs" Upstairs is now pretty good and after a little rub with Abranet 180 it's feeling very nice



bits of leftover filler in the worst spots



and I finished by getting a good coat over the lower "rump" and ran out of filler



So that was another day in the resto. Some big panels looming though…….

Cheers,

Steve

Steve
As always excellent work...I only wish I had the skills you are learning and yet again exhibiting...
All looking to be coming along well!
Hope the eye is feeling a little better..

I am very bad with eyes...UGGGH>>>>
I worked in Body assembly and had too many visits myself..
Yuk...
still got a few scars...but avoided anything major...
A "female friend" tore her retiba because she had a sneezing bout!

So you never know...!

I even hate going to the optician because he/she always says...
Oh yes...let me see Ah yes damage to the...

Yuk..

Oh and is the colour choice all decided?

P.S. markp used to be my daily fix...Now it is rusty n you...and the pleasure in helping just a little where I can....

G
G

Wow you work fast Steve!! Bounding through the bodywork!! So, will you be in colour before the weather turns? When are you aiming for??

Nice work Steve. I didn't enjoy that stage of the resto at all, and mine isn't perfect in some areas, whereas with your dedication and patience I think your going to have a first class paint job....and then spend the next 6 month being terrified of scratching it whilst putting it back together....I've got got my first chip on mine putting the door tops on!

So the gaffa tape goes on top of the masking tape to protect the masking tape from scuffing as you get the next door panel done?

clymoj wrote:So the gaffa tape goes on top of the masking tape to protect the masking tape from scuffing as you get the next door panel done?

The masking tape was my idea

I thought it might not leave as much sticky residue to remove as the duct tape would. I'll let you know when I remove it, but it has prevented me from scuffing a finished panel

jonthebuilder wrote:Nice work Steve. I didn't enjoy that stage of the resto at all, and mine isn't perfect in some areas, whereas with your dedication and patience I think your going to have a first class paint job....and then spend the next 6 month being terrified of scratching it whilst putting it back together....I've got got my first chip on mine putting the door tops on!

I'm not going to actually use it so it won't get scratched Hell, I might not even finish it It will sit in the garage so I can show it to all my friends……….. ok……... my friend