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Fri 05 March 2004

Today was a GOOD day. We started by priming the internal surface of the push tubes. Firstly I used electrical tape to 'seal' the ends and the rivet holes at the open end.
We then mixed up some of the tin of etch primer 50/50 with thinners. This was done for two reasons:
a) reducing the surface tension of the paint helps the coverage / 'flowability' for the internal surfaces and
b) you will see why we needed thinned paint below.

Dad then poured paint in one end whilst I rotated the tube, then I did the same again whilst we poured it back out into the next pouring vessel. This worked really well and resulted in a thin smooth cover throughout the tube.
Then it was out in Sun Mark 4 to bake the paint.
The Pro-Seal was delivered!!!! I also got a few other bits including rivets and nuts & bolts.
The afternoon was a training session for me with the real spray-gun. This is a another new skill set for me. Dad setup the hardware during the morning and the primer (mixed for the push tubes) was then filtered for the spray gun.
Then I was let loose on the bench legs for practice. I have to say, given a choice 'next time' I would setup the spray-gun much earlier in the project. The rattle cans are convenient (particularly the lack of clean up) but the coat is much thinner (less weight) and I found easier to apply with the spray-gun. The spray gun turns the chore of priming into something I think I might quite enjoy......
The primed bench legs out in Sun Mark 4.

An early finish with visitors from the UK, out doing the social thing.


Carl Morgan