Bondo Sand Repeat

Back months ago, I said something like "you're never really ready for paint", and that's because we generally get in our own way. Today's meandering post is about how I am refusing to accept the prep and start shooting primer. Of course, the temperatures running below the recommended by the paint manufacturer isn't helping.

For those of you in the US, today is Election Day. While so many are focused on the Presidential race, there are many races and measures on the ballot that could impact your life more directly. I hope you took the time to vote, and are here reading this as an escape from election coverage. I know I look at my cars as an opportunity for respite, away from the challenges of every day life (or political bs). This blog is absolutely a part of that, and I'll leave it at that.

Bondo Zed

I had a whole post not too long ago about how I thought I was done with the body work on Zed only to do some more. Well, since then, I just can't let it go. I keep finding little things, and I can't let them go. So, I whip up another batch, apply, sand and recheck. I have lost track of how many cycles I have done, but I would like to think that I'm learning along the way. Since I don't know how well the hi-build primer is going to fix things, I may be overdoing things. Regardless, one of my motivators is my color choice for the finished product.

Color Thinking

I spent a few hours looking at pictures of 280ZX's, trying to land on a color. I entered the search with something in mind, but I wanted to see what these cars looked like in a finished state. I also recognized that the darker the paint color, and the higher the gloss, the more imperfections in the paint prep are visible. So, if you go with a dark dark black with a super high gloss so you could, potentially, see a clear reflection from feet away. The prep work needs to be perfect for a color and finish like that. At the other end of that spectrum, if you paint a low-sheen white or off-white, the little misses are not as obvious. I have found a dirty white car looks cleaner than a dirty black car too, but I digress. So, if your vehicle looks good in white or cream or light yellow and it's your first paint job (or you don't have a lot of time), the minor things may not be nearly as visible if you go with one of those colors. So, what do I mean by "minor things"?

Minor Misses

all cars look good in red

The kinds of things I am finding during these last rounds with the Zed are varied. One example is larger, but very shallow indentations in an otherwise straight panel. For example, on the hood, there are multiple little sags in the metal that look almost like they appeared because a child sat on the hood and it depressed a little bit. If the hood was painted flat black, would it show? Probably not too much, but I have done my best to minimize those shallow sags. I have also found very small, but deep chips in the steel. They almost look like someone took a jeweler's screwdriver and stabbed the panel. Multiple times. These could have been filled by the hi-build 2k primer, but I fixed them with bondo instead just to be sure.

Ultimately, panel by panel, I would feel like the panel was done, so I would wipe it down with a towel. Then, I would go over it lightly with 400 grit to get the metal and the patches all the same degree of smooth, at the level pre-described by the paint manufacturer. Last, I would hold it up to the light at various angles, slide my bare hands over the entire panel, both quickly and super slow.. seeking something that felt wrong. Piece by piece I would accept a panel and set it aside. First, it was the 2 doors, then a fender, then the hood and finally that last fender. Ironically, the first area that I accepted was the main shell (rear quarters and tin top).

Zed Color

Eastwood intermix gray

All this time, I'm thinking about what color I want to shoot Zed. When C was doing the work, he was thinking flat-black. While I agree that some cars, possibly even a 280ZX, look great in flat black. I'm not sure I want to go that way for the entire car. Like I indicated above, I looked at lots of pictures, and, while there are lots of colors of 280ZX's out there, only a small handful of colors really look good. Of course, this is totally my opinion, and the shortlist is basically the color list that pretty much every car looks good in: Red, Dark Blue, Silver, Dark Gray and Black. Zed was silver when we got him, Flash is silver and KLack is silver, so pretty much silver is out. I intend to paint the lower 2/3 of Hapy a dark blue so that's out. High gloss black would show too many imperfections and it is well documented (though I can't find a link) that red cars are pulled over most often, so that leaves Dark Gray. This is sort of a compromise between Black and Silver, both of which look really good on a 280ZX. 

Eastwood 9mm Gray

So, I take this idea to my resident style expert (Boo) who suggested that maybe a metallic flake would look better. We are looking at Eastwood's 9mm Gunmetal Gray Metallic -or- their GearHead Gray Intermix. We are going to need 2 gallons anyway, since I will be shooting inside the hood, some interior spots that don't get covered with plastic, etc. So, the cost ends up being about the same. Based on the photos, I tend to agree with her. The metallic flake looks like it creates more depth, and may be a little darker. What is hard to tell is which one will be more forgiving of my prep work. The picture on the right here is of a BMW 5-series shot with the Eastwood 9mm Gray. The owner had not yet color sanded nor clear-coated it, so it is a very honest image of what it looks like fresh from the gun. It looks a lot like the graphite metallic gray color I have seen on a 2019 or 2020 Mercedes.

I guess that's it for today. The primer shipping fiasco has finally come to a conclusion, with it's arrival during the cold snap. We are not expecting weather to be accommodating to spraying paint for much longer. So, while I may be ready for shooting primer, I may not actually have an opportunity to shoot it unless I figure out how to put sides and a non-flame heat source inside the car ports. Before then, I still have to metal etch the bare steel, wipe the whole thing down with degreaser and mineral sprits and, of course, complete the masking. So, there is still plenty to do before I'm ready to actually put primer in a gun and start shooting. Honestly, it could be Spring before priming actually happens.

Thanks, as always, for following along-