VITESSE 2L MK2 DASHBOARD WOOD VENEER

[Colin Lindsay]

21 hours ago, PatK said:

As an afterthought I wonder if anyone has ever tried using clear glass fibre resin brushed on thickly and then sanded back, that would be interesting and very long lived!

Thanks again.   Pat

 

Never used it on the wood but it's a great stiffener / reinforcement for the rear of early fibreboard dashboards.

[PatK]

10 hours ago, ed.h said:

A dashboard is essentially an outdoor application, even for a non-convertible.  For a dashboard finish, look to the wood boat crowd.  A true marine varnish has attributes that will work well on a dash.  I used Epiphanes, but there are others.

Ed

Thanks Ed, I will look.    Pat

[PatK]

14 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

Never used it on the wood but it's a great stiffener / reinforcement for the rear of early fibreboard dashboards.

I have used it Colin on wading sticks for fishing, with a deer antler hand grip, and placed a fishing fly in the hollow centre of the antler, then filled up this with clear fibreglass resin. When set,  polished it back and it looks fine. You could and probably can buy half spheres of clear resin with salmon flies encapsulated in them. There were home kits produced for doing this. I also wonder how using clear epoxy resin as a surface finish would work out. I believe that you can buy this from boat chandlers.  Just a thought!  Thanks Colin.             Pat

[Colin Lindsay]

3 hours ago, PatK said:

You could and probably can buy half spheres of clear resin with salmon flies encapsulated in them. There were home kits produced for doing this. 

We lost an old gentleman from over Markethill way recently, he made walking sticks with Army regimental or Police badges set into clear resin spheres at the handle. I never asked his technique, nor the materials he used, but I got him a lot of custom over the years - you supplied the badge and he did the honours.

[PatK]

26 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

We lost an old gentleman from over Markethill way recently, he made walking sticks with Army regimental or Police badges set into clear resin spheres at the handle. I never asked his technique, nor the materials he used, but I got him a lot of custom over the years - you supplied the badge and he did the honours.

Sounds like he may also have been using clear polyester resin also Colin. 

[PatK]

On 12/12/2020 at 09:09, Colin Lindsay said:

Never used it on the wood but it's a great stiffener / reinforcement for the rear of early fibreboard dashboards.

Hi Colin, I finally bit the bullet and decided to have a go. I managed to sand off the old lacquer which took ages using an orbital sander and 180 grit paper, and only went through the veneer in a couple of small areas on the edges but was able to put a suitable wood stain on these that matches the veneer. 

So Colin, as I said I was wondering about clear epoxy resin and decided to give it a go. On  U Tube theres bags of videos showing how its done so I just followed their instructions, and it was so much easier that putting multiple coats of cellulose lacquer, or Rustin's Plastic Coating. The photos below are of the dashboard that I did this morning, around 10 AM, and now at 2.45pm it has gone rock hard and I'm delighted with the finish. In fact it may be too shiny, but I can easily reduce that shine if required with very fine sandpaper and a cutting compound. So would recommend this method to anybody as being the easiest out there.

Cheers Colin and a Happy Christmas to all Club Members

 

 

[Colin Lindsay]

Excellent - I'm well impressed. Let us know how it lasts, but at present that's a professional looking finish.

[Peter Truman]

The PO did my Dolly Sprint with a similar product it looks great but I’ve found the extra thickness of the resin in the instrument holes and esp the cubby door which has extra build up on the aperature and door edges caused fouling and required some sanding of the edges to make for a good fit

[PatK]

Yes Peter, I'm sure that I will have to do a small amount of sanding. I have found that a sharp craft knife works well for the first clearing followed by sanding back. You are right Peter, the glove box edges will also require sanding back, followed by a coat of dark brown lacquer on the edges, similar to the existing edge colour, but thats no problem for such a god, hard, easy finish.

Thanks Peter.     Pat