The Snowball Saga - '68 Standard Revitalization Project by Blitz

By diyauto
( 4 )

6 minute(s) of a 767 minute read

9-30-2021

So all along I've used one wheel as my "test wheel" to try out painting techniques before doing the other 3. So far it's worked out perfectly and I haven't changed anything. But the silver portion is the most complex part, and things are definitely going to change this time.

For my first attempt, I thought I would try the "paint everything and wipe away the excess later" technique. This general idea worked out great on things like the taillight grilles, so I had a little experience with it. So I made a masking device for the outer rim, cleaned and prepped the painted areas, and wiped some chrome polish (nevr-dull) onto the chrome in an effort to not let the paint stick well to those areas.

Then I followed the instructions on the can - VHT recommends 2 light coats followed by 1 medium coat. Either I wasn't light enough on the trigger, or 3 coats is just too much, because this ended up pretty thick. You can see one initial attempt at wiping away the paint while it was still wet.

I dipped a cloth in paint thinner and tried removing most of the excess while it was still soft. It was tough going at first, but eventually got easier.

I stopped at the above picture, thinking that I might be able to refine the edge better when it had a chance to dry more. So I put it aside and started plotting how to do things differently.

I didn't love this wipe-off technique. It was kind of a pain, and I wasn't liking the edges I was getting. Part of that is probably the paint being too thick, so I'll try to address that next time. But also I wanted to try to better replicate what the factory did.

I kind of rejected the most obvious solution of just using masking tape, as the lines would be too crisp and I didn't want to scratch the chrome with a razor blade while trimming tape. Also it's a lot of work do to that to every wheel. So I figured the best way to replicate what the factory did would be to make stencils of some kind. There's no magic way to do this, as far as I know, so I just took some parchment paper from the kitchen and made a rough outline to start with (using a different wheel of course).

Once I cut that out and got it pretty close, I transferred the shape to poster board and cut it out, then further refined it with scissors until I was pretty happy with it. Folded in half to get it more symmetrical.

Then I used a junk vinyl LP as a template to cut out a circle, about the right size to mask most of the wheel center.

This led to what I'll call the "Mk. I" stencils.

It wasn't until I made a full set of 5 of these that I realized the openings were a bit too big. The reality is that they need to be a little smaller, because the paint overspray is going to get under the edges. However, there was a benefit to cutting out these "actual size" pieces... coming in next post.

Now that I had these little "positive" pieces, they could help me out on the first wheel. I used them to refine the tricky outer edges. Also I upgraded my wiping juice to acetone.

Definitely not perfect, but much closer to how it's supposed to look. After much painstaking wiping, I could call this first wheel "as done as it's gonna get". Here's a comparison with the original silver (left) and new silver (right). The new silver is a bit brighter.

Here's a shot in the sun. You can still tell some of the edges are a little wonky, but I can't complain too much, it looks pretty nice.

Finally, here's a look at the Mk. II Stencils that I just finished up last night. You can tell that the side edges are in further, and the bottom edge lines up better. The top could still come down a bit, but it's pretty easy to wipe that area with acetone to remove extra paint, and I'm not super stoked about making a third set.



Comments

So nice in honor of your grandparents.

Posted by Diggymart on 1/3/20 @ 8:04:16 PM

Wow...the detail! Thanks for sharing!!

Posted by Diggymart on 12/10/18 @ 8:29:16 PM