Freespace Cockpit start

So Ive finially gotten around to starting the Freespace Cockpit.  Ive grabbed some sheet metal, some offcut MDF from work (they were throwing out like $300 bucks worth of offcut sheets) and some spade bits for my drill.

So after the plannin stages of what dials and buttons would go where, i got started marking and drilling the holes from my plans.  Ive marked out the targeting array of buttons (The biggsest set ill have) and got to it.  As the steel can be wobbly when pressed in the middle, ive planned to have MDF backing behind it to increase its rigidity.  Unfortunatly, i cant just put the buttons into the MDF as many of them have only a 3-4mm shank length.


Topside view of the targeting array, with a few buttons put into it.

Into the backing MDF i drilled holes larger than the steel, to provide wriggle room for getting wires in.


Top sheet folded up and away to show holes drilled into MDF.

I blame Mythbusters and James May

So, as is usually the case, I just had to do some trials before I got into the finishing of the black and the clear coats. I just had to test out a few automotive products I had to see what effect they came up with in comparison.
This came about as the rubbing compound I was told that was magic for the job was a complete disaster on its first run - it clogged stuff up, tore lint off the cloth, and just got so sticky and messy that I literally had to sand it out. I had a feeling i was 100% to blame however.

I drew up a nice little testing area complete with control and worked in some of the products. I figured out how to use the compound in the process and it come up superb. Its the second panel from the left, the one that looks like a frakking mirror.

Black coats

Well after another good weeks work I have nearly gotten to the end of the black coats. After a fair bit of painting and sanding and cutting through to the red I have actually come to the conclusion of doing multiple coats (3-4) before even attempting to remove orange peel. Its starting to look pretty good!





Unfortunately, there has been some fail crop up - lots of cracks like the ones below. After a lot of trying different things to remove it (and just having them re-appear when I re-painted), Ive narrowed it down to using a gloss paint. I have been using a flat black paint, but I ran out late one afternoon and decided to finish off with a black gloss I had (same brand/type/etc). I though id be able to paint over it OK, but those surfaces just cracked up. I lost nearly a frakking week trying to fix it - the only solution was to sand back to the red and start again.



Thankfully that has worked, and I'm back on track.

Tape down, operation black coat is a go

Well, finally I have cracked the sads with the red and have taped it to move onto the black coat. Eventually, I got into a loop of not being happy with the result, sanding more, sanding through to primer, repainting, etc. Its not all perfect, but Its going to be good enough to hit with rubbing compound after I pull up the tape. It was time to boot my OCD and just get on with it.




This is what I've come up with and have started painting with. Once the black is sprayed over that and sanded back to a flat sheen, I will pull up the blue painters tape, revealing the red below.

I have come across my arch-nemesis, water. One of the screws kept popping up through the red (below, screw removed) which I had to de-bog, rip the screw out, drill the hole out bigger and re-bog. There was no choice - covering it wasn't a option.



Also, I had some issues with swelling on some of the joints. I had gone back to primer on these bits but I though 'well, they wont be seen and will be painted black, and it hasn't cut through to the wood, so I can keep wetsanding'. Apparently this WAS NOT the case, and there has to have been a gap of some sort (even though these joints have been worked and re-worked more times that I care to remember). Thankfully, they have shrunk back after a day in the sun (The below pic is after shrinking - it was popped out about 5 times as much when it happened). I suspect a hit with a rough grit, re-prime well and continue painting will fix this up. Frustrating, yes, end of the world, hopefully not.