BSA 3 wheeler rebuild carried over from introduction section

They say the devil is in the detail, and at the end of the day what people see is the paint finish if there are imperfections you can be sure someone will take great pleasure in pointing them out to you, no matter how much work work has taken place to get the car from a pile of scrap bits to a complete running car. So although it is a boring job getting the panels correct it is very critical part of any restoration and your hard work is much appreciated.  WELL DONE THAT MAN

Paint then ! On with with the first colour which is a mid grey 



Temperatures in this weather are very important - I'm using a slow hardener which will allow the paint  to flow out before curing (using a medium to faster hardener would create problems with the finish) 





Top sections of the bonnet have been refitted 



Along with the offside door - I still need to fit the nearside door - I need these panels fitted in order to apply the next colour but more about the colourways tomorrow 

Me gets the feeling there is a cunning plan afoot

First job was to fit the nearside door & adjust the door stops / catches etc 



Then some selective wet flatting prior to some selective polishing 



So why am I being selective then - well some areas are getting another coat of paint so its pointless polishing those areas but they will require keying back to accept the paint 



So I worked my way around the car 



Upper bonnet panels only got half flatted & polished too 



Now what's he up to 



This is just a guide line for the 2 tone paint scheme that starts out from the front of the bonnet 



Travels across the bulkhead & door 



Then sweeps down the rear wing - now before you question the scheme lets look at what the factory did way back in 1934 



Exactly what I'm doing - this for the era was one very fancy paint job - 2 tone cars were pretty standard which tended to be a body colour with black wings - but this scheme was very advanced 



Once I had the profile of the line set up - I then need to ensure that I replicate it for the nearside - so establish some paper patterns which I can simply reverse to transfer the profile to the nearside 



So everything on the top side of the line or that is covered with the paper pattern is painted a different colour on both sides 



Having established the profile line I then removed the patterns & tape but not before temporarily marking the line 



Next job is prepare the upper sections for the second colour - more tomorrow 

Curve ball....!!

As you all know I am useless at posting pictures, but it seems to have been a BSA thing to 2 tone there cars in this fashion. Here is an original black and white picture of a BSA Scout with the same sort of treatment. I have a picture somewhere of about 20 cars outside the factory 3 and 4 wheeler all done like this. Someone  at the factory must have got very good and quick at masking as they all look identical, if I can find the picture I will try to post it. They were quite a progressive company for the late 20's early 30's even there cars at the Earls court motor show were painted 2 tone purple, that must have turned a few heads as most other cars of that period were probably black.

Here you go

I had to be elsewhere this morning so I have only had this afternoon on the car 



Templates laid to the nearside to enable me to mark a profile guideline for the next colourway 



Then wet flatted the upper panel sections with P600's 



But avoiding going right up to the profile edge 



Along the colour profile edge the keying up is undertaken with a fine scotchbrite pad - this then allows easy polishing of the keying overlap 



Bonnet panels keyed up 



Along with the side panels & doors 



Boot lid prep completed 



And the sanding on the front wings also completed 



Then mounted to the panel stands to allow both the top & underside to be painted together 



Profile templates refitted 



At which point Sid called in to undertake his quality checks 





Profile masking line applied 



Should you ever have to undertake a 2 tone profile its critical that you use the correct masking tape - use a ordinary masking tape and the paint will creep under the edge of it leaving you with a blurred / uneven edge - its needs to be a fine line tape that's produced for this type of work that will leave a crisp neat line between the colours 



I also check that the measurements are equal on both sides of the car when positioning the templates - a cloth / dressmakers tape is a pretty handy thing for doing this with 



Its good practice to undertake the profile line masking a panel at a time and to leave a good tape overlap which can then be turned into the aperture edge or to the underside of the panel 



That's both sides now completed & ready for the masking 



I shall leave the doors fitted but paint them whilst they held open to allow access to the aperture / flange edges 







But I shall be removing the bonnet panels and placing them to the panel stands for paint in order to allow access to the panel edges 



Second colour goes on in the morning 

Just been scrolling through the updates! That is lush! Love the colour! Good work!