Well... moving from the video, I'll post up pics of the forward movement, as well as a little bitch-fest I am going to go off on for a bit...
Panels are progressing nicely! Not the clossy mirror smooth finish I want, but that will be after I clear it a few times... WOO HOO!!
the ripples will go away after I clear and sand it.
Now... I Have been trying for the last 2 MONTHS to get my frame parts to a specialized painter in the Dallas area. I am not going to even do them justice by posting up their lame ass site, or their lame ass business name. Just suffice it to say that if you are in the Dallas area, and you start talking to Phil from the Colony, hang up and walk away. You will save yourself a buttload of misery. This job is not hard. Ive already done a ton of work to make it easy. But, I guess there just was not enough $$$ at the end of this rainbow. Bunghole stopped returning my calls. Kept trying to reach him to setup a meeting where he would just *look* at my frame pieces.... never even got that far. emails unanswered, phone calls unanswered.... very unprofessional. Phil, I hope I catch your paint equipment on liquidation, because there is *NO* way you can run a business and stay in business operating like that. VERY un-professional. I could have sent a ton of advertisement your way. Possible new avenues of income... but you had to screw it up, and throw off my build. Fine.....
So, I started looking for other options, but everywhere I went, the costs were more than I was wanting to bear, and the finish was "a special order" or something like that. Essentially, I came to the realization that "it's up to me"... so, I took a few days off earlier this week (Mon/Tues) and drove to talk to a my last few possibilities. That drive it home for me, and I went to work on the frame on Tuesday afternoon/night. Popped the remaining rivets, and decided on how I wanted to do my frame.
I shot a test piece just to see how the colors would lay after multiple color coats and a couple of clear coats.
Please pay no mind to the specs of dust on the top, this was a POC piece to see how the colors would work... I liked... it is a metalflake/sparkle base, with a tranparent top color coat. Duplicolor Metalcast. I shot this stuff on blingGreen, but the frame was not disassmbled, and it was one coat of green. I've learned a bit since then, so I'm trying to make this one a bit more durable and glossy...
That lat pic kinda captures the sparkle below the paint... looks mighty fine... :mrgreen:
So I finish popping the rivets out of my frame:
String them up like they are in a meat market... hehehe... "Now serving number 2!" LOL!
Hit them with self etching primer:
Then the Metalcast flake basecoat:
You can see a bit of the shimmer of hte silver in that last shot...
And started mowing through the frame pieces with my cans of blue Duplicolor Metalcast (love this stuff!):
I ran out of paint... but I can buy more, and recoat in a few days after this has cured. After I get a few more color coats on these parts, they will get clear coats. Prolly 3-4 coats. I really like how the little drive cage came out, and hopefully I can produce a whole case like that. I am also contemplating putting some designs on the frame to make the paint job a bit more than just a color job.
Stay tuned on that.
Also, I worked out a problem that was with my beautiful NV78's. The water block acrylics were accidentally cut to duplicate. When you are running a SLI setup, and passing the water between the two cards, you need to have alternating inlets to accomidate the pass-between barbs. I worked with Danger Den (class act that company, they made a fan out of me!) to get another acrylic top cut out. It is now installed, and leak tested. All good.
That said, I have a space NV78 UV blue acrylic top if anyone has an NV78 water block and are looking for a way to spruce it up!
More as I craft. Sorry for the pause in updates. I had hoped to come in with a screaming "bang" if I could have had the frame painted how I wanted... but now... well, it's time for plan B, no... Plan C... nope.... D! Yep! Plan D!
Chin up! Let the jouney begin, cuz it is about to get hectic!
