'55 International Metal/Body/Paint Work

[El Campo]

Beautiful!! Thats fine anyways as I am still building up the chassis. Have all the parts for it and am about 60 percent done. Plus I am mocking up everything including wiring prior to doing paint and body. Keep me in mind and when I get closer I will let you know how it is going. Haha heres a teaser of my own and the bottom of the cab is as solid as what you see! And coming from South Texas Gulf Coast I know the meaning of rust probably better than anyone on this whole forum LOL!!Glad to hear you are staying busy though, would be a shame to have talent go to waste.

[Frizzle Fry]

Your sheetmetal work is top notch.
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[CURSED GEARS]

You Sir, are a metal working God. I keep trying to learn all that stuff, and I love watching someone who knows what their doing. Keep up the good work.

[65Pickup]

Again thanks for the detailed instruction and insight. Wonderful that your willing to take the time to teach.

[plainred65]

I'm really missing seeing progress on this thread!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Your sheetmetal work is top notch.
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Originally Posted by CURSED GEARS

You Sir, are a metal working God. I keep trying to learn all that stuff, and I love watching someone who knows what their doing. Keep up the good work.

Originally Posted by 65Pickup

Again thanks for the detailed instruction and insight. Wonderful that your willing to take the time to teach.

Originally Posted by plainred65

I'm really missing seeing progress on this thread!

Thanks a ton guys, I've been busy on it gettin the front clip finished and many of the small parts detailed. I've got about 200 of the most recent pics uploading to photobucket right now so I'll be able to catch the thread up soon.

Here's a sneak peek of one of the hinges, headlight bezel/grill, and the ash tray. The hinges and ashtray are probably my favorite things about the truck.








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[plainred65]

I can see why you love the ashtray, how cool is that!

[theastronaut]

After all the bodywork was done I sprayed everything that was going to be painted red with tinted PPG K93. Tinting the primer helps the base coat cover much quicker, and rock chips won't show up as bad.

[theastronaut]

Then I guidecoated the K93 and wetsanded everything with 280 grit to knock down the orange peel. I've found that starting with 280 grit really flattens the primer quickly, then I re-guidecoat and wetsand with 500 to get the primer smooth enough to paint. I let everything sit out in the sun for a couple days when possible after sanding with 280 to help it cure quicker, then sand with 500 right be painting.

[theastronaut]

There were many smaller parts that I prepped and painted as well.

The dash panel and radio delete plate were stripped and primed with PPG DPLF and K36, then painted the original tan color.








It was wetsanded and buffed, then reassembled. The Sharpie marks are to show areas that needed more attention, or to show how much I've sanded an edge so I don't burn through.









The glovebox latch needed detailing so it was cleaned and the stainless parts buffed before installing it.

[plainred65]

Looking good! The gaps all look nice and tight, I'm sure much better than when it was new. Has the owner been checking in? If so I'm sure he's getting excited.

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by plainred65

Looking good! The gaps all look nice and tight, I'm sure much better than when it was new. Has the owner been checking in? If so I'm sure he's getting excited.

Thanks! He lives in Washington state but flies out every 2-3 months to work on the truck and check in with us. I also send him a ton of detailed pictures regularly so he always knows where we're at on it. I've taken over 1000 pics of the project so far and I've just started on the bed this week.

I'm having a ton of trouble with Photobucket not wanting to upload the last album from facebook. I've tried four times to get the rest of the pics uploaded without luck. First it wouldn't automaticly resize the pics so I deleted it and started over. Now it only uploads half and still won't resize all of them. I'll post an update once I get that straightened out.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Wow, beautiful. He's going to be getting back a show winning truck.

[duallyjams]

Great build but then again all of your build are. I hate to back up on your thread but , you have a lot of metal work on this build , just wondering how much time is spent on this , I know you can't go back on the whole thread so just use the grill as a example to give us a idea of time it took to do the metal work.
Off topic but I know you like VW this is from a show today

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Wow, beautiful. He's going to be getting back a show winning truck.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by duallyjams

Great build but then again all of your build are. I hate to back up on your thread but , you have a lot of metal work on this build , just wondering how much time is spent on this , I know you can't go back on the whole thread so just use the grill as a example to give us a idea of time it took to do the metal work.
Off topic but I know you like VW this is from a show today
Attachment 1004444

Thanks James, and neat pic!

The grill was already blasted and primed with PPG PGLF when I started so my time doesn't include that. For metalwork I have 18.5 hours in it, 19.25 hours in bodywork/priming/blocking, and 11.50 in painting/wetsanding/buffing. Total of 49.25 hours in the grill to take it from start to painted and wetsanded/buffed.

I've got a total of 611.50 hours into it so far with everything finished and delivered back to the owner except the bed, rear fenders, tailgate, and wheels. They brought the bed over last Monday so I've started the metalwork on it, and we bought a Mittler Bros bead roller this week to build some of the bed panels from scratch. If you thought the rest of the parts were rough, wait til you see the bed.

[theastronaut]

Here's the process of restoring the ash tray.

Torn down, ready for bead blasting.



I worked up from 400 grit to remove the scratches from the lid.



After buffing and filling in the lettered area with charcoal paint. I wasn't sure of the original color so I just picked one that complemented the red and tan.




The knob was lightly bead blasted for better adhesion, sprayed with an adhesion promoter, then shot with a few coats of high build.






Then wetsanded and painted with base/clear.






The main shell was bodyworked and painted, then wetsanded an buffed.








Inner tray (along with the door latches) blasted an painted.




And reassembled, that's the heater switch panel in the background.

[theastronaut]

More hinge work.

They were blasted, then shot with PPG DPLF. I let that dry for a day then scuffed them and shot a couple coats of Slick Sand on them.




Blocked with 120/180.




Shot with tinted K93 and wetsanded.






Shot with base/clear.








Beginning to carefully reassemble them with new hinge pins and bronze thrust bushings.

[theastronaut]

The cab and body parts were blocked with 220 (wet) to knock the orange peel flat very quickly, then guidecoated and wet blocked with 500 right before painting.

[theastronaut]

After wetsanding I wash the sanding sludge off and check the reflection in the panels for ripples, waves, drag marks, distortion around body lines, or any other imperfections. Once they check out OK they're ready for paint.

[theastronaut]

I didn't have room to paint everything at once so I did everything separately, starting with outside of the cab. I'm not good at painting, so don't study these pics too hard! You'll see how bad the orange peel is in the wetsanding/buffing pics later.

[theastronaut]

The interior and inside of the doors were shot with flattened clear for a matte finish.

[dean jendro]

Really looking good, John. Can't wait to see it back on the frame!

[theastronaut]

Originally Posted by dean jendro

Really looking good, John. Can't wait to see it back on the frame!

Thanks!


At this point with the cab and doors painted, I started wetsanding and buffing the paint. I like to "bodywork" the orange peel out of the clear just, much like blocking primer flat. This leaves the panels dead flat and the seams are smooth and very defined/detailed with no orange peel.


I start with a Sharpie marker on all edges and bodylines. Most people will tell you not to sand or buff anywhere near edges/lines or you'll cut through. Well, this leaves you with areas that are slick as glass, and areas around the seams/edges that still have orange peel. This technique only applies if you do the underlaying bodywork with the same block sanding style I've used during the whole bodywork process or you'll cut through the high/low spots of the paint when blocking the clear down. If your edges and bodylines aren't straight, the block will cut the high spots in a hurry.


I very lightly block the surface with 1000 grit to show the imperfections, then mark them with the marker. By marking the edges and trash/imperfections with a sharpie, you can see exactly how much you're cutting so you cut just enough to level the surface and keep from sanding through the clear.




Then use a zig-zag pattern to cover the whole shape of the seam.






I sand the flatter part of the body line first sanding at an angle to the bodyline, taking care not to sand in straight lines. Sanding in line with the crease/bodyline will leave "drag" marks in the same shape as the block. I sand just enough to take the top of the sharpie off of the flat section, and leave a slight amount of marker showing in the creases. It's easy to burn through on edges with 1000 grit so I leave some sharpie marks showing, I'll save getting it completely smooth for the 2000 grit step.




Once the flat section is sanded, I masked it off and sanded the rounded part. This keeps from sanding the edge further or slipping and digging into the flat part.




This is the little bit of sharpie showing after the 1000 grit step which will be sanded off in the 2000 grit step. You can see the "X" pattern I used when sanding, so there's no drag marks or distortion from the edge of the sanding block.



Once everything was blocked with 1000 grit I use dry guidecoat made from ground up charcoal sticks (art store) to coat the entire surface. This lets me wetsand with 2000 grit just enough to get the 1000 grit scratches out without taking more clear off than necessary.




After guidecoating and sanding with 2000/2500 using the same masking technique show above. At this point the panel had a slight sheen and is ready for buffing.




And after buffing. I hold the buffer so the pad is spinning "off" the edges and isn't cutting into the edge. That keeps the edges from burning. On body lines, I like to used buffing pads that have a pointed edge, and sand in-line with the crease.

The body lines and edges look as good as the flat parts of the panels this way, and the whole panel is evenly flat- no orange peel spots anywhere. Sanding with 1000 grit gets the paint dead flat, and once it's brought back with 2000/2500 and buffing, the surface of the paint seemingly disappears and all you see is the reflections. Done right with no drag marks, stray scratches, or buffer marks your eyes have a hard time finding and focusing on the surface of the paint!

[theastronaut]

After wetsanding and buffing the cab using the same process.

[theastronaut]

A few more.