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Maybe they have a paint drying oven at the hot rod shop you can put it in and see if it drys fast enough to avoid the runs?

if this doesn't work i have my own oven...called 108 degree texas heat.....in a garage...with heaters going. should beable to get it pretty damn hot in there. ;0) obviously while i'm home and watching for fire.

with the heaters going...should suck the humidity right out of the air too.

the trunk lid is looking okay today...no more runs.

i'm thinking about testing with some etching stain high gloss sealer for the top coat instead of paying 1500 for automotive clear.

this stuff is only 100 a gallon and ready to go. its also oil/gas resistant and blocks UV.

gonna test it on the inner door first to see what happens. this way if I don't like it it wont matter.

Gloss sealer went on well and dried fast. I can mark it with my fingernail still. Gonna wait 24 hours before testing fingernail again. If it marks ill go with the auto paint.

not digging the gloss sealer. goes on too thin and i can't really spray it, pretty goey stuff.

i did figure out that cooler temps seem to set the linseed WAY faster. its just too humid here and the linseed takes forever to set. i had the trunk out in the sun and the linseed just kept trying to seperate into runs over and over. so i brought it inside. smoothed it out...and BAM it hardened right up in about 2 hours.

so from now on i'm going to bring the parts inside to set. seems it likes 75 degrees and little humidity.

i put the fuel door in the freezer to see what happens. this is my test piece for the hotrod shop. trying to see if colder makes it harden faster.

you can see the trunk lid is pretty smooth now and i love the patina under that shine.

the hood is next...starting cleaning it up. you can see that steel wool and murphy's oil soap works wonders on surface rusticles and dirt and grease.

not sure what that 325 number means on the hood.....but that is part of exactly why i'm preserving all this as it is.

the under side of the hood will get a coat of herculiner....screw the hood pad....see several people have trouble keeping it in place because of heat. so herculiner will be a great replacement and permanent.

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The amount of gloss is surprising. After it hardens and sits for a few days does going out into the sun again change anything?

i believe the only thing you may notice is it will probably get sticky to your hand a bit more then when it is colder. i can run my hand all over the first fender i did now and it wont grab, but when i took it in the car to the hotrod shop it got a bit grabby again. over the rusty parts it doesn't seem to matter either way, but over the paint it does.

the trunk lid is very tacky right now, but wont leave a finger print anymore. i'll leave it inside for a few weeks.

the whole point of putting automotive clear on it is to preserve the linseed.

linseed preserves the rust and patina....and the clear preserves the linseed and make for a waxable surface.

Hank, I used some foil-faced bubble-type insulation material on the underside of the hood of my 55 Clipper. I bought the material from Lowe's. I cut three pieces to size, cemented them together and glued them on the hood. I used 3M spray adhesive to cement the pieces together and to stick them to the hood. The spray adhesive worked well keeping the pieces together, but it did not work on securing the insulation pad to the hood. I then used 3M trim adhesive and it has stayed. I made the pad out of three layers to give the thick pad look that was originally there. Oh yes, I painted the exposed side of the pad black. I like the look and it insulates very well. Affordable too. This job is described in my project blog. Something to consider. I like your decision to go with the different exterior look. It should be a striking Clipper.

(o{}o)

I am really liking what you are doing and how it is turning out. Also like the creative problem solving when things didn't turn out as expected. Did have some anxious moments (I am sure you did too)when you said it wasn't drying for you.

What's the deal on fuel door? Still in the freezer?

Good work, man.

i remember what you did for your hood pad, but since i already have the herculiner still i'll just use the rest of it.

took it out of the freezer. didn't really seem to do much, maybe leave it longer? It had water on it, obviously, so i put it in the oven for about 20 minutes on 170. dried it out, didn't really seem to make the linseed dry any faster.

said...pft....and just took it to the hotrod shop today. he is going to play with it and the paint.

i'll know more in a couple weeks.

Hank