Colour underneath!

Next up, colour goes on the underside and engine bay…

Colour inside!

Annnd.. we have colour on the interior. We’re going for a solid (no clear coat) colour on the interior and underside, because expensive. Still- looking good!

Paint colour test- getting exciting now!

Here’s the Mini’s colour scheme, sprayed onto an old wing Sin had lying around (some kind of tractor, I think). Starting to get exciting now!

As we found at home, the green (BS4800 14C40 Conifer/Moss Green) changes colour quite a lot depending on lighting- inside, it looks more saturated (almost to a British Racing Green), while outside it’s more subdued, closer to BMC Almond Green.

Sin convinced us to tone down the white- the powder coated wheels and grille looked great on their own, but next to the green they’re a bit… white. Refrigerator white.  So we’ve gone for Old English White and it’s perfect.

Last minute setbacks.

More issues with the paint stripping- and, at this late stage, it’s a bit worrying. I’d improved* the bonnet fit by adding a bead to the leading edge. The bead was thin-wall tube, and during the paint stripping it somehow filled with caustic dipping solution, which wasn’t neutralised.

It’s only now, once primer is applied, that it’s started to bubble out. Typical. Though, to be fair, Murphy’s Law says that it should really only show up once the car’s painted and assembled- so I guess we’re kind of lucky here.

Anyway: out with the angle grinder. Yep, look at all that etched steel.

That’s not pretty.

 

Righto. Grind it back, clean it up, replace tube with steel wire. Not pictured: fill all gaps with epoxy.

*some people might not use the word “improved”, but it’s not their car.