Art and craft episode pt 1

 So, I'm resigned to getting a man in to sort the electrics, or the non starting at least.

Back on with other things, not neccasarily in the order I did them, but I'll try.

The rear cant rail and cover. Which I don't have !! Never had one, never seen, one can't afford a repro one (They are not very good anyway being a bit flimsy and cheap looking, supposedly) and second hand ones are extortionate.

So, having a naked rear cant rail I did some lateral thinking, in fact lots of weird and off centre thinking.

The result being I thought it would be a doddle to make a fibre glass mould "in-situ". So after watching a few boaty type vids on Youtube and already having most of the stuff off I went.

Its a pity the glass fibre didn't. Went off, that is. This is why !

First I covered the cant rail in cling film, not easy. Modern cling film is not like the old clingy stuff I remember. Anyways, the big tub of resin already mixed with glass fibre strands was a dogs dick to apply. It kept falling off, the cling film kept falling off and I kept falling off . Not good at all so I left it a day or too to go off only partially covered.

 Crap.............. it was literally dropping off as I was shutting up shop ( I mean putting the covers over as I don't have a garage.........yet ! )

So on to plan B.

Use Aluminium baking foil !!  Dead easy to apply and shape and glass fibre won't stick to Aluminium. Dead right, It didn't adhere at all. Even worse result than the clingfilm. What a mess !! 

It was then I discovered my error/s

1/. Don't use resin containing pre mixed fibres

2/. When using resin, mix with a hardener/ catalyst first

So on to plan C

So what can that be ?

It took about 3 weeks to come up with the idea but.........................ping, a lightbulb moment !

Paper-mache !

I covered the cant rail in a light coating of vaseline, applied 1layer of newspaper strips approx 3" x 1"  and applied with what I thought was PVA glue and left it about a week. It looked ok, but had a kind of wooly look with many strips not fully adhered to each other. So a trip to the craft shop for proper PVA glue which cost £2.99, and repeated the process with a ratio of 2:1 water and PVA, result ! Another 2 layers over the next few days with some stratecically placed magnets, clothes pegs and steel rule to keep it in place and bingo, a week later it had set hard and shapely.

It came off without too much faffing with only one area weak.

The plan next is to trim true to shape and fibre glass over this with proper resin and catalyst and real fibre glass matting. Sand, smooth and trial fit next. Thats not done yet though, I got sidetracked.

Up next up is to fibreglass and fit and cover with nice new cream  vinyl. More to come, at some point on this subject.

So more on the diversion. The door and rear seat cappings.

I've had these skulking around the shed in some dark and distant corner, constantly getting the way and hidden in the bowels of all manner of MG stuff. One is damaged too. Its been broken ever since I took it off years ago, right at its weakest point, the thinnest area of the curve. The front drivers and passengers door cappings are fine if a little dirty. 

So I decided to " rescue" the rear broken capping ( held in one piece by the vinyl and upper piping strip ).           

However when extracting from the shed the other one broke in two places. The cappings are made from very coarse MDF and look like they have rotted from the inside out, likely from the poor rear quarterlight seal.

I had the Idea that I could screw a re-enforcing plate behind each fracture after rebating it an good to go after a good clean and polish.

No. Wrong. Very wrong. The plate would not help. The MDF was too rotten, even to accept a liberal dousing of resin ( with catalyst ) and several woodscrews. I had the smart idea to clamp it to a straight edge, let it cure and onwards and upwards. It did not work. The MDF had to go. Fortunately the one with only one fracture could serve as a template and some wood found behind the shed witch was only 1mm thinner.

New skills to master........wood shaping.

And here are the tools I used, with the exception of the jigsaw. 

The wood was part of a dismantled pallet as I had to remove several recessed nails. Also some edges are a little damaged from rot but I'm planning to fill these area with body filler after a pathetic attempt to use yet again resin and filler.

That has yet to be done but they have shaped nicely.

I have also purchased a large roll of black vinyl from AS supplies for about £14.00 delivered because I'm also going to remove the dash top and recover it in said vinyl together with new hardboard door panels.

I'm sure I'll use it on loads of other tatty pieces too.

The dash top looked good when I renewed the hardboard backing last year and stuck back before the windscreen went in.

But the efforts of sorting out the wiring and steel dash installation have taken their toll. The crash pad still looks tatty/ dirty but another harsh scrub should see it looking better.

More very soon.