Yes
@27motorhead , it can be very frustrating and can try our patience at times: suck seatposts, bottom brackets, derailleur screws
, etc. and also very pleasant and satisfying: cleaning/polishing small parts, repacking bearings
. The final assembly/build is what makes it all worthwhile apart from first real ride. I’ve enjoyed wrenching bikes as much as riding them since tumbling down this rabbit hole 35 years ago.
Thanks so much for the tips
@MuchAlohaNui! I will definitely be using some of your pointers with my next step.
At long last I have a green coat I am happy with which still has some minor imperfections but nothing I can't live with. Third can picked up yesterday and drained it. Not before very careful sanding of the previous coat. I took a different approach and painted outdoors in a area fairly sheltered from wind and held the frame in my hands so I could paint at any angle and search every inch for problem areas. I found that laying it on thick actually worked best to get nooks and crannies smooth. Areas that started to get gritty could be saved by dousing it with more paint (this paint does not run). At the end of yesterday’s session I was left with a pretty decently smooth coat with a few areas a bit gritty.
This morning before work I spent about an hour smoothing out those slightly gritty areas using very light 1000 grit. Not perfect but very acceptable for my level of OCD. This frame has probably seen around 30 hours of attention so far....
Pictures below show the green a but dull/pale but the colour is quite nice in real life, clear coat will make it about as baby-bum-smooth and glossy as can be
I plan to leave it to cure for a few days. Pretty sure I don’t need to as the cure time is only 6-8 hours but no way am I chancing it and risking crinkling/reactions. I’ll be sure to use some of
@MuchAlohaNui ‘s pointers (my oily hands were all over the frame this morning smoothing it out
)