Chimney and first bit of painting

Did anyone else feel that the chimney took up an unexpected extraordinary amount of time to put together? It seems like I've spent weeks on something that I was leaving to do when 'I had a spare moment'! I used large jubilee clips to 'fold' the seam over between rivets, it worked well but as a side-effect I've got a few dimples where I did some folds rather too late at night and didn't realise I was completely on the seam

I've got paint on the smokebox and cured it in the oven last night. The finish is really good using plastikote BBQ paint. I've used the Rustoleum stove paint on my other engine and it's too grey-ish for my liking, this plastikote stuff is a nice black. Chimney and chimney base are hanging in the spray booth waiting for a third coat. I've decided to skip the Chinese New Year tonight as everybody will be out of the house at a nearby restaurant strugglin with chopsticks. This means I can use the oven again to cure the chimney off

I hope they bring back a doggy bag....

Don't leave it too long between coats as the Plasticote BarBeQue paint is like Hammerite in that if it's left to long it has to be left for 6 weeks to cure or else it will 'pickle' up. A good way to ruin an evening is to watch your paintwork 'pickle up' in front of your eyes!!! Anyone not had the pleasure of watching paint pickle, it's when the last coat reacts with the previous layer and sends the whole lot all wrinkly.

10 minutes between each coat is about what I've been giving it. The parts are now hanging for an hour before they go into the oven, then I'm going to be hard-pushed to give them 30 mins to be honest before the hoardes return! Just put a layer of undercoat on my name ring as well

Steve Traill wrote:Don't leave it too long between coats as the Plasticote BarBeQue paint is like Hammerite in that if it's left to long it has to be left for 6 weeks to cure or else it will 'pickle' up. A good way to ruin an evening is to watch your paintwork 'pickle up' in front of your eyes!!! Anyone not had the pleasure of watching paint pickle, it's when the last coat reacts with the previous layer and sends the whole lot all wrinkly.

Steve

I experienced the pickling with Hammerite on a replica railway sign I was painting, bloody frustrating watching it curl up in front of you like one of those plastic film fishes you used to get out of a Christmas Cracker that you put on the palm of your hand - it teaches you to read the tin more carefully though!!

Incidentally the sign is intended to keep out certain members of the family that would otherwise be in the way, it reads:

"IT IS FORBIDDEN FOR VAGRANTS, BEGGARS, ITINERANT MUSICIANS AND FEMALES OF DOUBTFUL REPUTATION TO ENTER THESE PREMISES"

I think I am now permanently on my own since putting that up though!

Can you still put items in oven after 2 weeks to cure or have i got to wait another 4 weeks now?

Can go in the oven any time.

Tim

What are peoples views on painting the mating surfaces of parts? Generally I wouldn't do it but for the perch bracket I'm thing about painting the surface where it fits onto the smokebox. Two reasons really: a) the smokebox is painted all over already and b) I don't want water rusting this joint. The only problem I see is if heat will burn away the paint therefore leaving a hairline gap between the two assemblies - that wouldn't be nice to have to fix in a few years time! I've thought about using foliac as well, just wondering what others have done before I weigh up my options

I paint all surfaces. When the engine is steamed for the first time the paint will shrink with the heat and so there may well be a need to tighten up the bolts. Many parts of the engine will need tightening up after the first few steamings and running.

Tim

Must admit I have painted mine as well, on the basis Tim mentioned that I would be tightening up bolts later if the paint did burn off. It will help protect them during the course of the build and keep any corrosion at bay.

could we not use a thin layer of the foliac graphite paste on the perch bracket joint instead of paint? ps if steve is reading this when will inner name ring be sent ?

I'm going to put a thin layer of BBQ spray paint on the surface since I've already finished painting the rest of it. At least with the VHT paint it's not going to shrink away. Don't fancy having to tighten those bolts too much even after one or two ateamings let alone 6 months on the road!