1975 Atkinson restoration

Oilman
gudday m8

l@@kn good

We get all our stainless from here

Clikity ................................................................................................................................................. ClikClikClik

Cya

Rolled it out into the sun for the 1st time today and took a few snaps.

It's gunna be a shame to get it dirty

Top work


Paul

That's a beautiful thang!

Looks like a short wheel base model like that. You have reached the height of perfection! bloody well done fella.

Today I had the cab sandblasted. I was a bit worried as to how much damage it might cause, but the operator turned down the pressure and added water and it worked very well. An hours work saved days and days of sanding. Surprisingly it also looks like the cab has never been in an accident, with no repairs evident. I now have plenty of work ahead of me smoothing it out ready for paint late in the year.

Thats very interesting as I have never heard of sand blasting of fiberglass before

And now you have a real good surface to work with which I have been told is the most important thing in body work

Great stuff and thanks for sharing a great idea

Paul

Gunna B bettr than factory

Cya

I'm waiting now to have the same thing done to our tractor, "dustless sand blasting". My guy puts an additive into the water to slow down surface rust for a few days so that will give me time to get the primer on and then I can take my time in putting the colour on.

YES, surface preparation is the most important thing and after that is mixing your paint correctly. I don't know how I remembered but very late one night at the Club after way too many schooners a retired spray painter told me the correct mix with your paint to thinners. Using a 1" wide, flat stirring stick add the thinners a bit at a time and stir it in. Lift the stirring stick and once the paint has stopped running off the end count how drips you get after it stops running. You should aim for ten drops at the most and eight at the least. this has worked well for me so far.

At a guess, I think I have probably completed around 80 hours of bodywork on the cab with another 40 or so to go. Unfortunately I snapped off some of the bolts removing hinges and door catches. To fix, I had to cut the piece out of the cab, remove the steel plate and either replace with new or heat the bolts to remove and then fibreglass back in and finish. The example below is one of the hinges and once it was out I was able to remove the broken bolts and reuse the plate. I had tried to heat them before I cut it out but without luck. In hindsight I should have tried more heat beforehand and while it would have damaged the fibreglass I could have repaired it without the extra work of cutting it out.