1954 Ragtop Resto - The Journey

[lardawge]

[lardawge]

Quick update here. I don't have much to show in pictures; most of the work that I have done has been little odds and ends. I did some work on the rear end to get the rear fenders lined up accross the bottom. I also had to do some minor tweaking to the engine trays to get the engine tin to fit a little more in the middle.

I then spent more time on gaps and am now very close to handing this off to the painter. He is also going to do some finishing metal work, which scares the heck out of me given how much work I have had to correct that was done by both the previous painter as well as the metal shop. Case in point, I found a high spot in the engine bay just above the engine tray. On the outside, it was flat. I sanded off a quarter inch of filler to find a dent that they just went over with filler. Things like that have happened too many times to count... not kidding.

Anyway, I will update this thread with pictures from the paint shop as I get them. We are aiming to have it painted before December 26th (my b-day).
_________________
11/2/54 L227 Strato Silver L275 Light Beige Ragtop - Build Thread
1/7/55 L275 Light Beige - Build Thread
9/1/56 (57 model) L331 Horizon Blue

[lardawge]

I haven't updated in a while, so I figured I would add some things to show where I am with moving the project forward.

The car is at the paint shop. The final metal finishing has been completed and we are in the initial phase of rough body work. It is taking longer than expected/promised, but is moving forward. I am going to look at it tomorrow and give some feedback. I broke it down into milestones that basically withhold payment until I sign off on that phase. My guess, based on pictures, is that it is still pretty far from rough bodywork completion.

Here are pictures when it was epoxyed after metal. There is no filler at this point;

I am optimistic that we are going to get there. It is further than this as there has been panel-to-panel bodywork and other things that have happened since these pictures.

The work I have been doing is pulling all the parts together and painting the light beige interior parts like the steering wheel, column, shifter, etc. Although the exterior will be in base/clear, these parts are painted in single stage. I did that to show a slight difference in these items from the actual paint, given they would be painted separately at the factory. I did the paint for both the 54 and 55 for some of the parts.

The steering wheel was painted by Koch but was ivory so I changed the color.

I got some dirt nibs in the column and steering wheel, so I opted to color and polish. I was really happy with the results.

Link



Link


I have a very short list left to get completed so that I am ready to assemble. I am currently painting the seat frames and the last thing to paint will be the rims.
_________________
11/2/54 L227 Strato Silver L275 Light Beige Ragtop - Build Thread
1/7/55 L275 Light Beige - Build Thread
9/1/56 (57 model) L331 Horizon Blue

[Ted2]

Really nice.

May I ask what brand/type of paint you are using?

[lardawge]

[VW_Jimbo]

Nice update! It is good to see the body so close to perfection!
_________________
Jimbo

There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but all the time necessary the second time!

[Ted2]

Thanks for the paint info.
What is the color code?

[lardawge]

[kintail]

Excellent work!!! I can relate to painting the individual interior bits and also went single stage. Have just gone thru the seat frames and had done the steering wheel. But not satisfied with the steering wheel and sanding it down again for another go.

Looking forward to your updates on this as I am on the same journey, as well as a few others here!!!
_________________
Scott

August 1954 Beetle Canadian Deluxe

[lardawge]

[lardawge]

Quick little update. I have been heads down on painting seat frames. Specifically, the front ones. They are a pain to work with because of their awkward size. I have them in epoxy and need to build some sort of stand to elevate the bottoms so I can paint under and around. I plan on painting them like the factory did, only covering what will show and the rest will stay in primer.

In the meantime, I took a little detour. I wanted to test out my paint and clearcoat to make sure it will do what I expect it to. I am using SPI products for most everything except basecoat.

Epoxy - SPI
Sealer - SPI Epoxy with 30% SPI reducer
Basecoat - PPG Deltron with SPI Medium reducer
Clear - SPI Universal and SPI slow activator

I decided to paint the semaphores and the taillight housings. They are small enough that I can shoot them without much issue. I am using an Iwata LPH-80. I love this gun for small stuff.

I ended up shooting 3 coats of basecoat (I think I needed 4 and will use that for the main painting). I shot 4 coats of clear because it is such a small gun and I wanted enough build to cut and polish.

I have to say, it was fun for having never painted with base/clear before. I got a pool of clear on one semaphore and a one on a taillight edge. It wasn't quite a run, just before a run.

I was able to sand both of those issues out and they turned out pretty nice for a first run at it.

Shooting base coat

Clear going on

After they cured

Color sanded

Post polish

I also like that I have parts of this car I can look at and say, "I painted that".
_________________
11/2/54 L227 Strato Silver L275 Light Beige Ragtop - Build Thread
1/7/55 L275 Light Beige - Build Thread
9/1/56 (57 model) L331 Horizon Blue

[VW_Jimbo]

[lardawge]