Back for another visit... back to another not-done-as-much-as-I'd-hoped... The roof and A- and C-pillars have been painted and lacquered, and just need rubbing down and polishing. The rest has had one coat of base colour, and that's it.
This time, at least, there was a very specific reason, beyond it just being more work than he had anticipated. So, I was treated to a lengthy story - what follows is a well-distilled version.
When I last went, on Thursday last week, he did mention that he had ordered a service kit for his spray gun, and wanted to service the gun before he started spraying. However, he finished the masking, service kit hadn't turned up. He called DeVilbiss, maker of quality spray guns, who said they hadn't sent the service kit yet because they didn't have all the parts - including the bit that was most needed - and moreover they didn't even know when they'd get them in. Damn.
So Ray gets on with his un-serviced gun, hoping it'll still do the job. But he gets just one coat of base colour on, and it starts sputtering. Somehow, he still manages to finish the roof and A- and C-pillars, and get some lacquer on that bit, but can get no further.
So Ray then called up DeVilbiss again, and said OK, can I just buy a complete new gun (which go for about £500, compared to the service kit for around £200). Not money he wanted to pay, but he did want to finish the job. Can't even do that, it seems. Stocks of the existing design have been run down, in anticipation of the release of a new model - that was due last March. Except it's now been postponed to December. Meanwhile, no spray guns on the shelf.
So Ray calls a mate of his, who agrees to lend him a gun, although it's filthy. No worries, Ray strips it down, cleans it, but when it goes back together it's leaking air out of the spray nozzle, not ideal.
Meanwhile, DeVilbiss call him back and say they've found another gun that's new, been sitting on the shelves for about 4 years, and they can do him a deal on that if it's any good to him. So they ship it out to him, same day. Problem is, the spray tip is a 1.2, and Ray normally uses a 1.3 or 1.4. The 1.2 causes a finer spray, which starts drying as it flies through the air, so it doesn't properly wet the surface. Ray uses it on another white door that he needs to get done, to try it out, but isn't happy to use it on my car.
However, he can do a bit of mix-and-match - take the 1.3 spray tip off the gun he borrowed from a mate, and put it on the new gun he got from DeVilbiss. However, he doesn't want to do this until DeVilbiss confirm what sort of a deal they can do him on the gun, because he doesn't want to mess around with a gun he hasn't committed to purchasing. So that's where it was when I left him, waiting on a call from DeVilbiss, hoping he can get this gun at a reasonable price and then get on with finishing my car.
When he does, he'll have to re-do the masking. Again. If he's not perfectly happy with the finish on the roof, he'll sand that back and re-do that with the rest of the car. The coat of colour he's already put on will have to be rubbed down anyway. But before he starts on the bodyshell he'll try it out on one of the smaller separate bits - bumpers, boot lid, spoiler, spats, headlamp pods.
So, any chance of attending the show at Naseby is out of the window. And I doubt I'll get the car back next week either. The saga continues...
Meanwhile, do enjoy these shots of my shiny A- and C-pillars, along with part-prepped wing mirrors (did he forget about these, they seem a bit behind!), and other parts still sitting in rubbed-down primer
