Foot, ankle, skirt painting done!

Last week was dedicated to painting the feet, ankles and the skirt.  We had sunny days and low humidity...which all changed starting Friday.  Its very muggy this weekend.  In short, I am glad I took advantage of those sunny days !

Now I could start to slowly piece together the foot pieces...

Foot details are installed, the top piece, sides and half-moon...

Then I removed the painter's tape on the shoulder horseshoes and installed the detail pieces on those.

 

Work begins on the rear skins

With the paint work drying, I had time to start working on the rear skins.

The skins are two layers, an outer skins and inner skin  Since none of the panels or doors will open, I have sealed them in with JB Weld on the inner skin.  Tonight I worked on outer skin.

A hacksaw is all I need to use to remove the laser-cut panels.  They leave just enough material un-cut to hold the skin pieces together.

A few simple cuts and the rear panel is out.  This is going to eventually piece a removable panel to access R2's insides.

Label the pieces!  This way, when it is time to bond them back together, you have some clues to remind you what went where!

The panels that are completely removed and not needed are pretty easy to remove with a sharp chisel.  Just apply some pressure on the tab that holds it in place and off they come!

 Next up is to remove he inner pieces from the top piece and tall doors.

 Next time I'll work on doing a lot of filing, smoothing down all those tabs that held all the pieces in place.

 

Sanding between final coat of paint

Today it was time to use some 600 grit sandpaper and sand what I painted yesterday.  From my experience with spray paint, after you get a few coats on that no longer look opaque, its time to sand it.  I notice the paint looks "bumpy", just how it dries from those earlier coats

Time to get to work..

After each piece had been sanded smooth, it was time to clean off all that paint dust with a clean cloth.  Once each and every piece had been cleaned up, the final coat of white goes on

I was going thru my parts pile and found the center foot half moons that go on the center foot.  I also decided to paint the metal plate that sits behind the utility arms white.  They got a wipe down in acetone, primed and painted up too...

This will get to dry for 24 hours or more!
 

Prime and paint the aluminum skirt, slabs and battery boxes

Today it was time to clean, prime and paint the aluminum skirt, the slabs that attach to it, and the battery boxes.  I had already primed the battery boxes two years ago but they were pretty dusty from being in storage.  

First some cleaning of all the pieces...

I use an old screen for cleaning/drying pieces...the screen allows for excellent air flow.

These are the aluminum slabs.  Aluminum naturally clouds when not protected.  We'll clean it up.

This set of battery boxes has a removable back panel.  We'll have to prime and paint the screw heads too

Etching primer applied...

I forgot I needed to prime the center foot side plates...I cleaned and added those to he to do list

Primed the slabs, making sure to get the front, sides, top and bottom.  The backside will not be seen and don't need paint

And on goes the Rustoleum Satin White

Tomorrow I will do some light sanding with 600 and 800 grit to smooth the finish.  If needed, another light coat of white.  Why no clear enamel?  As I learned with the previous R2, if I need to patch a ding or dent, its just a blast of white paint away.  

In the next few days, it will be time to get the rear skins started...

 

Skirt primed and painted

Today I continued the momentum from yesterday with more painting!

For the shoulder horseshoes, feet and ankles, it was a second coat.  

The next piece to get cleaned up with acetone was the aluminum skirt piece, which mounts to the bottom of R2's body.

Ready, set...go!

All cleaned up...I let it dry for 30 minutes in the warm sunshine

As with the other metal pieces, two light coats of DupliColor Etching Primer, then a coat of Rustoleum Satin White.

 

Paint day for the feet, ankles and shoulder horseshoes

I haven't done a lot of work on R2 #2 in months and with R2 #1 apart, awaiting the resources to repair & upgrade the frame, it decided to get back on track.

R2 #2 has been happily parked in the living room for months, probably wondering what its fate is going to be...."donor" to get my original R2 back together....or continue on the path I intended, being the "Uber", improved version.

Over the past few weeks, I've dismantled R2 #2 in preparation for a nice stretch of weather.  With a week of 80 degree weather on hand, today I dug out the feet, ankles and shoulder horseshoes.

The feet were primed when they first arrived a while back.  Since they are steel, they needed to be rust proofed/primed!  The bottoms have some wear which, after cleaned with acetone, needs to be touched up with more etching primer.

 
The process is going to be really simply:

1)  Clean each piece by wiping it down with acetone
2)  Once dry, prime with DupliColor Etching Primer
3)  Paint with multiple coats of Rustelum Satin White

I have everything lined up...I also have some black primer I was considering using on the inside of the feet, if I felt they needed it.

The inside of the shoulder horseshoes do not get paint.  Some painters tape and trimmed with a razor makes this quick work.  Then, wipe down and clean with acetone

Protect those pretty bushings with painters tape!

Foot detail pieces and side plate

Outer ankles and center ankle ready for cleaning

 A faded t-shirt became the donor for wipe down cloth and away we went.  Please be sure to do this outside with plenty of ventilation for your project.

Knowing how the inside of the foot takes a lot of chips and nicks from the drive system, I went good and heavy with the primer.

And...sometimes you go TOO heavy and wind up with a dribble...which, when dry in 30 minutes, while be sanded smooth with some 320 and 400 grit and primed again

First coat of Rustoleum Satin White drying.  This will get some sanding tomorrow with 400 grit to smooth it out

Tomorrow we'll crack open another can of white spray paint and get a second coat on these pieces.  Depending on the result, perhaps a third....we'll see!

Pocket Vent installed

A few weeks back the pocket vents arrived and it was time to install it.

Usually, most parts built from the R2 Builders blueprints slip right in.  But for some reason, this piece was too big for the opening in the skin.

I'll be honest...that sort of thing annoys me.  The fix is to remove some material from the inner skin.  Since the skins have already been painted and bonded together, its very tricky to do this without damaging what you have already worked on.

The next step was to put some protective Blue Painter's Tape to the edges of the skin, so that the debris flying off the Dremel did not damage the paint.

With the area marked off, it was time to slowly...and awkwardly...cut this out.

First we put the THIN cutting disc on the Dremel...

 And despite that looking really scary ...its on the line and what isn't precisely cut can be filed off.

The part comes with a back plate and when screwed into the front piece, they work like a clamp to pull and hold the piece snug...

And now the final results...til paint!