April 24, 2005

Today, I thought I’d get the glovebox attached to the panel and get it primed, once and for all. So, I that’s what I did. First, I removed the glovebox door from the hinge mechanism so I could rivet in the hinge. I made up the spacers needed to go around the perifery to make up for the hinge along the bottom, and the corner stops for the door at the top.

Here, I riveted on the spring holders for the door. Next up is the glovebox… Ooooooh.

So, here it is cleco’d. I put tape on the inside first before riveting it together in order to mask off the inside of the glovebox. Then, I stuck a piece of plastic bag to the tape from the outside to cover the sticky. It’s an AOPA bag from Sun n’ Fun!

Here it is in the paint booth, riveted together…

OK, my next task after riveting this thing together was the worst bit. I spent forever trying different settings on the paint gun to eliminate orange peel. I was having a hell of a time. I thought I’d about got it sorted after painting a gazillion bits and using up a ton of primer so I set to it. Well, it came out crap. I’m really disappointed with my paint spraying ability. I don’t know if it’s me, the gun, the paint, or what, but it just ain’t happening for me at all. After all that time, the whole panel looks like sh!t (excuse my French, but I’m pretty peeved that this hasn’t turned out right.) So, once this has cured, I’m back to some wet sanding. Then, I think I’ll take the damn thing to a pro to do. “Here’s the panel, here’s the paint, can you please paint it for me without any of that bloody orange peel stuff?”

As you can see from the pic, I really, really messed this up. I’m getting all angry even writing about it. AAAAARGH!