12" Cab Diary Continued

[stevie]

Progress. This is the first cab to come off the CNC machine and it looks fine to me - thanks to Chimike's sterling drawing work. That's also the metal grille wot I made. Grilles are still a work in progress as I'm exploring more avenues thanks to some bright ideas from Luke.

It's going off tomorrow to Pete aka funkle. Unless he finds any serious shortcomings (unlikely), I'll be ordering the first batch next week.

Edited August 21, 2019 by stevie

[LukeFRC]

49 minutes ago, stevie said:

Progress. This is the first cab to come off the CNC machine and it looks fine to me - thanks to Chimike's sterling drawing work. That's also the metal grille wot I made. Grilles are still a work in progress as I'm exploring more avenues thanks to some bright ideas from Luke.

It's going off tomorrow to Pete aka funkle. Unless he finds any serious shortcomings (unlikely), I'll be ordering the first batch next week.

Nae pressure @funkle....

[stewblack]

So... Mr funkle... all eyes are on you. 

[funkle]

Lol. It appears so. I’ll do as much as I can this weekend. I have all the bits and bobs now, mostly, so we should be good. Stevie tells me the crossover is getting some work done, so I can build the cabinet up to the point where that needs put in. I’ll likely do everything up to the point where the top goes on; I want easy access to the insides for a while. 

[stevie]

I'm pleased I chose someone who knows how to work under pressure. 🙂

I've revised the crossover and am building it now. So it will probably be early next week before I can send it on.

I'm still working on the screws. It's a lot more complicated than I thought. I've ordered some samples so that I can direct everyone to the right (and cheapest) suppliers.

On the matter of painting the port tube.... I carried out an experiment using a typical blackboard paint (needed two coats), black car spray paint (cellulose), and the normal black Tuffcab paint. They all go on and  cover the white. I expect they will stay on but you can remove them easily by scratching with a fingernail. So, the adhesion isn't as good as a specialist plastic paint.

You can buy a small jar of Humbrol plastic enamel, which is supposed to work on PVC, for about £1.80 from your local model shop. That could be worth a try.

 

[stevie]

Anyway, I'd advise funkle to take all the time he needs. Take it slowly. There's no rush.

Do a dry assembly first to see how everything fits together. The panels will only fit one way but you do need to assemble in the right order. So follow the instructions on page 20 of the thread when you glue it together.

I'll be available by pm to answer any questions.

[funkle]

I’m on it Stevie. Thanks for all your work. I will document also in the separate thread I created already, so as to minimise clutter. 

Think I’ll just use Tuffcab for the port. It shouldn’t experience a lot of direct trauma, so it is probably good enough for the job. 

[LukeFRC]

Yeah don’t rush Funkle for our sake

[stevie]

16 hours ago, funkle said:

Think I’ll just use Tuffcab for the port. It shouldn’t experience a lot of direct trauma, so it is probably good enough for the job. 

If you have the normal Tuffcab, the black finish will be quite shiny and many not be a great look. It will depend on the grille you're using, of course, but the one I'm sending you is quite open.

I found a dark grey plastic primer in an aerosol from Euro Car Parts, which costs £2.99 delivered. Look for the product code OPT.DGPP300A on their website or try here: <https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/car-maintenance-accessories/paints-and-primers/primers/?OPT.DGPP300A&0&cc5_143>

I'm going to order some myself because I'm painting my cab dark grey and it should look good without a top coat. It should also provide a good surface for overpainting with the matt black paint you already have, Pete.

I'll add this to the Parts List when I get a minute.

[funkle]

Thanks @stevie. It appears Euro Car Parts can not deliver that spray primer - they won’t let me choose to have it delivered. However I’ll drop by a depot of theirs tomorrow and just get it over the counter. 

Edited August 22, 2019 by funkle

[LukeFRC]

24 minutes ago, funkle said:

Thanks @stevie. It appears Euro Car Parts can not deliver that spray primer - they won’t let me choose to have it delivered. However I’ll drop by a depot of theirs tomorrow and just get it over the counter. 

Surely a wee tin humbrol enamel would be simpler and easier?

[stevie]

That's odd - they accepted and confirmed my order for a can. Mind you, £2.99 delivered sounds ridiculously cheap.

[funkle]

1 minute ago, stevie said:

That's odd - they accepted and confirmed my order for a can. Mind you, £2.99 delivered sounds ridiculously cheap.

They say it's a 'dangerous item' for delivery, so I cannot complete the order. Weird. Hey ho.

[converse320]

I've had good results with Zinser Allcoat paint on plastic before.  Its not textured, but would give a lowish sheen black finish on both wood cab and plastic tube.  A litre is about £17, which would obviously do a lot of tubes. 

 I'm still going to try dye plus a satin clearcoat for the cab.  I've had good results finishing kitchen worktops like this.

[stevie]

There's a new Parts List up on page one of this thread, which includes a revision and details of the screws you'll need.

 

[stevie]

3 hours ago, converse320 said:

I've had good results with Zinser Allcoat paint on plastic before.  Its not textured, but would give a lowish sheen black finish on both wood cab and plastic tube.  A litre is about £17, which would obviously do a lot of tubes. 

 I'm still going to try dye plus a satin clearcoat for the cab.  I've had good results finishing kitchen worktops like this.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you all come up with in terms of finish and appearance (although I expect most will be content with black).

[LukeFRC]

8 hours ago, converse320 said:

I'm still going to try dye plus a satin clearcoat for the cab.  I've had good results finishing kitchen worktops like this.

Sounds awesome - can’t wait to see it come along

@funkle is the build thread in the build forum or am I going blind?

[funkle]

It’s not in the build forum. Lol

It’s here:

I’m putting photos there now. 

@stevie has done an amazing job. I’m blown away how light it all is, and how well it fits together. I’m just about to try a dry fit. 

@LukeFRC your badges and labels are brilliant.  I love the design.

Did I say this kit is amazing?

Pete

Edited August 23, 2019 by funkle

[tauzero]

I've ordered the primer from Euro Car Parts for delivery as it's not in store locally - no problem. Also, if you order in the next couple of days, there's a discount code that lets you buy it for £2. Check the banner at the top of the web page, it's currently BANK70 but not sure if it'll change tomorrow or Monday.

[stevie]

Excellent! keep the tips coming.

[stevie]

My paint finally arrived! Unfortunately, I only managed to get back into my workshop yesterday to start painting. But here we are:

 

[funkle]

Nice! A great start.

Hard to photograph finishes, isn’t it? Lol  

 

[stevie]

Really hard. I took that photo in artificial light with a flash. It looks much better in real life than here. It needs a photo in daylight, which I'll try to do tomorrow.

[stevie]

As you can see, the Euro Car Parts plastic primer worked a treat on the port. Two coats - so I have plenty left. Shame I got some Tuff Cab over it but I'll fix that later.

The baffle took three coats of Tuff Cab applied thinly with a brush. I used some of the Everbuild wood filler to fill in dents, etc. and highly recommend it. You can even use if over the Tuff Cab paint if necessary.

I wanted a dark grey cab this time, but as Blue Aran didn't have any of the new 'pro' paint in stock in dark grey, I decided to order a litre of black and a litre of white. As luck would have it, a 50/50 mix gives you a nice dark grey, which makes mixing fairly easy. I used a 1-litre yogurt pot to create my custom colour. You have to use a spoon, by the way. The stuff won't pour.🤨

Should anyone want to make a custom colour, there are a few ways of doing it. You can add some normal domestic acrylic paint or undercoat - I tried that and it works fine. Or you can get some pigment from your local art shop and mix it in.

The new 'pro' paint doesn't seem very matt to me, although it is slightly less shiny that the original Tuff Cab. It also seems to take longer to dry, but that could be my imagination. I applied one coat with a 2" brush all over while I was painting the baffle and left it to dry. I then tackled one panel at a time, applying a thick coat with the brush all over the panel and then working it in with the foam roller. It only took light pressure with the roller to spread it evenly and create the 'spattered' pattern. There's no need to press hard. I applied two thick, rollered coats and reckon that will probably do. So, three coats in total.

A handy tip when painting is to drill the holes for the cabinet feet (make sure you leave space for the corners).  I know I should have photographed this, but please bear with me. Start painting with the cab upside down. Paint the bottom and just over the edges of the bottom. Then insert the screws. You can now turn the cab over and paint the rest of the cab without waiting for the bottom to dry. Just turn the cab round by grabbing the inside of the cab through the driver hole. When the paint takes two hours to dry, you'll be glad you did this.

Here's a photo of the top of the cab - not quite dry yet.

Edited September 6, 2019 by stevie
I can't believe I wrote 'panal'.

[stevie]

Here's a comparison of my new grey cab with my previous black one - both painted with Tuff Cab. It's actually slightly darker grey than this, but that's photos for you.