norms 55 chevy pu build

[washington blue]

Finally, after hammer and dolly stuff, and applying, then sanding over and over and over I've gone over it from front bumper to rear bumper. 150 hours worth, Sanding bondo is done. Hi build primer is next.
The roof looks white but it's mostly green, the led lights are reflecting off it and the dust on it.

[washington blue]

Sprayed a little primer today. Now I'll see just how bad my body work is, lol.

[dsraven]

you know what I do, come the filler stage, is apply, sand, etc. then, before i shoot primer, i place a shop light at one end of the project and then wipe the part down with a really wet rag of wax and grease remover. then stand at the end opposite the shop light and check the reflections in the still gleaming wet surface. it's a great "tell" to see if there are low spots, wavy spots, ripples etc. then apply more filler as required or, if it's all down to the small stuff, apply the high build and use the guide coat theory.

[washington blue]

Thanks, that's a good idea. Sprayed the cab today.

[dsraven]

looking good (well, the truck anyway. lol).
I have a supplied air mask as well, along with the little compressor. works well. I have a dedicated air line from the compressor to the mask so it only gets used for the breathing air. I now some guys who just use their regular shop air line but it may contain anything that came from the shop compressor, oils, rust, moisture, mold etc etc, so i don't recommend that. I put mine outside on the up wind side of the shop and close the door against the hose so as little fumes go that way as possible. I am thinking of putting it in the attic of the shop with a drop hose to a quick connect near the work bench but that is gonna take a bit of time so will see what gets done when I get back home again. it's great to see your progress coming along so well. i wished mine were that far ahead but there is so much other "life" stuff that happens along the way. mine is a frame swap and many other body mods so it takes time to figure it all out as i go.
keep on posting and for sure keep doing stuff as safe as you can.

[washington blue]

You and I think very much alike. I use the "little compressor' as well. I have an exhaust fan you can see in the pictures below the pink insulation. That fan sucks the fumes out and the main part of my shop is fume free. Just the small paint room smells. I set the compressor outside at the other end of my shop from the little paint room and exhaust fan. I really like the fresh breeze on my face.

[dsraven]

be careful with the suction style fan set up because the paint fumes are flammable, plus the paint dries on the fan blades. as a firefighter we blew air into the building, called ventilation, to get rid of the toxic fumes and combustible gasses found in smoke. we would put the fan back from the door opening and then check around the door to ensure there was a full coverage of air blowing in. I understand, this is a paint booth so different but just a heads up.
in my last garage shop, years ago, i would build a 2x4 frame to fit the width of the gareage big door and staple the hanging style furnace filters to that for full coverage, then set it in the garage door openng and let the door down on it. spray that with water mist and then staple some more of those filters over the shop windows at the other end of the garage from the big doors. a fan set up outside blowing air in the windows seems to give an ample ventilation profile to clear the fumes.
do you have a tear away film for your mask face shield? i was having trouble sourcing one for mine last time so I used saran wrap. it actually worked pretty well if you are carfeul installing it so no wrinkles, haha

[washington blue]

My exhaust fan is a belt driven fan, the electric motor is not in the air flow and cannot get shop dirt or overspray mist on it, so there are no electrical spark or dirty motor shorting out worries. The electric motor is outside the building, protected by a separate roof to keep the elements from weathering it and the belt.
This way, no matter how dirty it might get inside the shop from grinding, welding, torching, painting or whatever, the motor and belt are outside and clean. I've seen guys use house fans and even a bin fan to exhaust fumes and it makes me nervous. I've also seen guys use nothing and that's worse, imo.
I've been wondering about the saran wrap working, I saw a guy use it when spray foaming my basement and it has me curious. I have replaceable films from "Hobbyair", the company I got the setup from, but they are not perfect.

[dsraven]

good plan with the fan.
the saran wrap works pretty well if you have the time to put it on with no bubbles. the problem can be if you happen to get some spray blow back while painting. it takes a minute to get the saran on plus you already have gloves etc on so you gotta strip that off, apply the saran, then gear back up again. if you had a heper nearby it would be simpler but not by much. I find it great for spraying primer and if you gotta stop mid application, well, it's just primer. when I spray the paint I try really hard not to get overspray on the saran and then change the saran between coats each time when there is a bit of time.

[washington blue]

Got the cab and 4 fenders blocked and found a few flaws, mostly just small stuff a speck or two of spot putty fixed. Re primed those things today, funny how much nicer they look after one blocking, and then a respray.

[dsraven]

you sure you got enough dust on the floor? mine always looks like a bomb went off when I'm sanding.
nice work. keep the pics coming.

[washington blue]

Lol, everything I touch has a layer of dust. Pretty sure 50% of what I put on this metal does not stay there.

[Jason 56]

Looking good! I felt like %80+ what I applied to my sheet metal got sanded off and thrown in the trash. lol. Any ideas on color?

[washington blue]

In 2005, 06, and 07 Corvette had what they called "LeMans Blue". I'm leaning towards that.

[washington blue]

Not much new going on. I've gone over the stuff in the picture 3 times and I think that stuff is ready for wet sanding. Now I think I can move to other pieces. Got to figgure out how to spray and sand the doors, I like to lay them flat to sand and I don't want to scratch them while they are laying down for sanding both sides.

[washington blue]

Sanding, sanding, sanding. I think the letters on the endgate say "Chev sore back and fingers rolet". lol

[washington blue]

The endgate has turned out really well considering it hauled cattle (one at a time) and scrap iron and anything they needed hauled. And somebody backed into something somewhat smashing it and bowing it. Of course it has several days of work in it.

[dsraven]

looks good. lots of work, I know.
what I use for sanding the small sppts is a plain old office eraser. woeks pretty well and you can get really soft bendy ones or fairly stiff ones, different sizes available too. works really well for wet sanding. easier on the fingers than holding the sandpaper only

[dsraven]

sorry, forgot to edit te fat finger spelling mistakes

[washington blue]

Office eraser, what a good idea, thanks for it. My index fingers are like raw meat.

[dsraven]

no problem, Ii suffered with the sore hands too.
if you are block sanding high build for the super smooth look you probably wanna find the longest and least flexible one that will fit your space. I find they work well on the small spots where a regular sized block is too big but you also don't wanna take the hide off your fingers. they also work really well for reconditioning plastic headlights that have gone yellow or look like wax paper. on those I wet sand using a spray bottle of lightly soapy water and/or a bucket of the same. start with a 600 grit and work my way up to 2500 grit then polish with plastX. use the paper with a lrft to right motion for one grit and an up and down motion for the next., wet sand. when starting sand with the lower grit until the water coming off is white, not yellow, then go to the next grit and change the water

[washington blue]

Still priming and sanding. After the hood and box sides are done, I have about 20 small things left like the ashtray and garnish moldings, etc.

[dsraven]

looks like you will be spraying paint soon. do you have a color picked out? mettalic or solid color? base clear?

[washington blue]

I don't know about soon, lol. I''m sloooow. I still have to wet sand everything, probably screw that up somehow per usual. It's going to be some darker shade of metalic blue, every time I see a neat blue car/truck going down the street I like it and think that might be it, lol. Yeah, base clear. Then I'll have to cut and buff that, be 2029 by the time I'm done, lol.

[dsraven]

get'er done before you gotta pull the engine and install a motor. haha
I like the blue that toyota has used for a few years. not really dark but not too light either.
I had a 63 that was dark blue. looked nice but I spent a lot of time cleaning, it shows every bit of dust.