Hi Mark, glad your on the mend, it's hard to not go into the shed even when we're damaged . Years ago I pulled a tendon in my arm from repetition factory work but during the work cover time off I still went in the shed to clad the ceiling !!

If you do a bonnet to just skin it, it will become bigger, like wearing more jumpers, each layer makes it a few mm bigger. If the part your wanting is say , a modern stone guard inner arch cover, it doesn't matter as the size wouldn't be seen or affect the part and fitting.
Making a mold removes the outside size problems but can effect the inner if made to thick .

I'll never do a RS nosecone lol, I used to do them at Velo/quickco and hated them, just takes so long and frustrating... Gladly hand it to someone else to do.

Mk2 C pillar covers are different between 2dr and 4dr, as the 4dr ones sweep down around the door open shape. 2dr are basically straight . Also parcel shelf's are a different width, a 2dr one can be trimmed to fit 4dr but not the other way around .

Not much going on as I've been doing repairs on a friend's mk2 panelvan , leafs, cam belt, modify fuel tank to work better than the other mech done. Will be converting from normal dash to tacho rally pack and then install a new full length hood lining .
I'm between that I made the internals for my bonnet, once the hinge points and slam panel are all measured up to be in the correct place I'll be glueing them down.. not much time after work before sunset now so I'm choosing the jobs needed at the time .

Got the bonnet all joined together, I didn't remove it from the mold till it was fully dry.



Also started cleaning some parts for the nickel plater , here's a bucket of stuff going this week ..

Decided to modify the pedals to accept Focus ST sport pedals

Went to the nickel plater place today and he said in a very understanding way that I need to clean paint off the parts so they can get cracking, he said I can soak the parts in caustic acid to remove any hidden paint, oils, grease . His main reason is the EPA have threatened mortgage size fines for businesses that don't be environment friendly..
Sounds like a packet of rubbish to me, kind of like battery cars which are worse than petrol cars over given lifespan period .. Enough of rant. I'm currently resandblasting the parts I want coated and then dunk them in caustic for a day or two to strip them clean.
While on lunch break I was looking on auction sites and slammed a bid on a bunch of tools.... Ended up winning the auction and went to collect my $80 prize, what I got was about 30 new Repco spanners, 20 s/h spanners, various sockets, impact swivel sockets , pliers, new hammers, and 4x boxes of new impact sockets , etc etc





I will be getting back in action on the Escort soon to get the grafting going.

nice one Marty.
Thats where all my 10mm's went to!
 
So the guy used to work at Repco... :)

I'll be finishing off the roof lining on a mates panelvan this weekend, I'll take pics of how it's done so others can reference it for future, like the Deanos out there !

The recent cold/dark and very damp weather going on here is keeping me from motivation in the shed working on my mk1 after doing a full day on the panelvan..
But fear not,. Today at work the power went out (a truck hit a power pole) just on lunchtime and didn't come back on by the time the boss decided to call it a day just on 2pm . Even tho it was 9deg and blowing a gale I got some shed time in. I managed to steelo pad the underside floor down and give it a primer coat, next I was looking about scratching my chin at the next thing to do and decided to stone chip the inner wings and rear wheel tubs. Must say I had a fight with the splatter gun as it couldn't siphon the thick rubbery paint so I thinned it out about 10% , then the gun was bypassing air thru the trigger needle, that was a case of dry parts, O rings not working as intended so I gave them a light rp7, after things loosened up I gave it a good wipe down so not too contaminate and continued with splatter gunning the underside.





This is the common land out the back of my property,

More rain due this weekend..

Yes Marty the cold makes any spraying problematic.
I use the stone guard that comes in the tall 1L tins. You just attach (screw) the spray unit to the top.
There are a few brands of the stuff. I have done mainly boots, valance and sills. I really like it cause it hides imperfections and you can paint over with car body colour. Only thing I have noticed is cracking in the paint put on over the top and I assume its a different coefficient of expansion type of thing?

Hi Mark, I was using those exact ones in the pictures, sika chip 1ltr tubs and that spray gun for those tubs...
I hadn't used it for maybe 10yrs and it got all dry and clogged, it came good in the end tho 👍, thanks

houses by the water are worth much more Marty.
Where you happy with how the bonnet turned out?

Yeah the bonnet turned out fine, there's a few small squiggles in the gelcoat but nothing to panic over. The weight and strength is also good , 5kgs and I wasn't going for race car weight.

My parts that went off for anodizing should be ready by tomorrow, all parts are done in gold coating