Waiting for paint to dry

Something that I have discovered to be particularly useful in my short lived cabinet making career, is that it is often worth having several things on the go simulataneously. Not so much from the point of view of being a go-go-go freak, but more that there are often down times when you literally need to wait: for paint to dry, for glue to set, for solvents & timbers to cure.

That’s not to say that down time for contemplation purposes is not valuable (which it is), and sometimes down time can be quite convenient so that you can harass your sister-in-law check out what others are up to, take inspiration or give opinion if sought, or just lend a hand where two are not enough.

Anyway, I’m waiting for the first coat of inside to dry so I’ve test dry fitted the glass panes and made a few minor adjustments where the thickness of paint has sent me acropper.

 

Third coat of blue & interior prep

Somewhere in the back of my head, I had considered the options for the TARDIS interior. On the Ecclestone episode “Father’s Day”, the set designers inverted the TARDIS exterior panels to face inwards for the empty insides scene. Two other options are straight black and straight white. As I don’t intend spending much time on the inside, not longer being of an age with an overactive imagination, I decided on straight white.

Which left me with the problem of actually doing it, which had not entered my calculations when I started the exterior painting. So, more preparation, more sanding, more scraping, removal of blue overspray from the outside (and ergo, the persistant new though that whire overspray from the inside is going to be inevitable), and generally more sanding.

There’s lots of fiddly bits on the inside because it’s not the beauty aspect, so a few corners and construction details I’d left raw (such as screw holes, dings and scrapes, and various timber fitting repairs where the odd shim was required).

My issue now is that time (sigh) is quite pressing on me for the project to be completed by semester’s end, so I’m going to be a bit expedient with the inside.

First coat of blue

Well, the excitement builds as some blue goes on. Carefully selected by Anna, there are so many shades of blue the TARDIS has been over its time on tele. from a dirty sort in the old black & white ones to a dull dark one in the 70s to the moody mid 200os one to the in-your-face bright blue one at present.

We’ve gone for a colorbond blue which is sort of a grey-blue but it depends on the light that your looking at it with, of course.

Left over paint

After much spraying of udnercoat, I started to come to grips with the variability of a sprayed finish based on the weather (temperature & humidity), the diltuion of acrylic used (I diluted by about 15%), the pressure on the trigger applied, and the rate of spray itself. Yeesh. Still, I am progressively happier with the finish achieved.

I had some leftover so decided to give the window frames another going over.

I’m dreaming of a white TARDIS

Well, I can see why painters go barmy now. There is so much preparation involved that even with the decision to go with a spray application, the time involved in sanding, and preparing, and sanding (in between coats), and preparing, and sanding makes one go “aaarrrggghhh!!!”

It’s not so much the flat bits, but now that I’m working so intimately on each bit, I have discovered that there are so many detailed fiddly bits. Still, I went with a Wagner branded airless spray gun from Bunnies Warehouse. The first was a W450 at $200 which worked for about 20 minutes then died. During the its meagrely short life, it spattered and splatted unsatisfactorily leaving big and small blobs alike all over the place.

After its demise, I exchanged it with the good people of Bunnies for the $80 less W560. Whereas the W450 has a piston type mechanism, the W560 has a small hair drier type power unit to pressurise and propel the paint. I struggled for a while but then discovered that unlike the W450, the W560 has no inlet valve strainer, so chunks of paint bristles, chipboard, dried acrylic and other assorted floaties had made their way into and blocked the nozzle.

A quick clean, some fresh paint and we were underway again. I must say that, having seen the TARDIS in raw timber for so long, a coat of paint drastically changes the appearance of the construction.

 

TARDIS upright again

Heading towards the finish now. The base was almost a perfect fit with the kickboard sitting slightly proud by a few millimetres. Some quick planing and sanding later, and all is right. Such a pity to have to paint it, I’ll now complete bogging the few nail & screw holes on the outer surfaces, as well as complete sanding both for a smooth finish & in readiness for painting.

After 2 years of construction, Teacher Pete asked if the TARDIS will fit through my shed door at home.

Yes of course it will, why do you ask…

Kingston SE

Not to be especially confused, but there are apparently 2 (if not more) towns called Kingston. The one we want is Kingston SE, home of the big lobster. We were initially sad as the lobster season was over a month away, however as it turned out, they’d started early so we had a delicious seafood lunch from the little shop by the pier.

Cape Jaffa was a revelation as the last time we were down that way, there was no marina as such (just wee scale models, and posters of happy families pointing skywards to the future). Stage 1 looked completed, but were it not for Cape Jaffa being so far from practically anything (and possibly also the economic downturn), it would otherwise be a booming place.

Having found the beaches of Little Dip, we thought we’d make a return visit to get some proper sunset pics.

Little Dip Conservation Park

It’s with a little irony that the conservation park around the corner from our accomodation is protected from all things, except for 4WD vehicles. We noticed on a walk that the erosional damage in some places was almost a metre deep. Still, we have to draw arbitrary lines somewhere…

Our (my) concern was getting back in the dark after some sunset photography, particularly as the clouds looked especially rainy.