Paint vs Powder

This is probably a little late as I suspect everyone has started painting their kits by now but for those who may still be puzzled as to how to proceed I thought I would post the results of my tender being powder coated. As Steve metioned there are those who feel it is a love it hate it kind of thing. There are others who like me dont have the necessary space or facilities to spray the various components. Many years ago when I first moved into this house I resprayed several components of an American car I owned in an almost empty garage. The fumes and overspray went everywhere!! and since then the garage is not a possible anymore. Also I am not confident I can clean and prepare the surfaces as well as a professional company.

So I have just got the first components back and whilst I was happy with the first engine I built this is a different company and the finish is almost beyond description. They have managed a really deep gloss black shine on all parts of the whole lot. In some places it almost looks like glass. Also they speciallize in metal treatment so I am confident they have prepared the metal really well. Bear in mind here that I simply put the bits together and hand them over in the raw form. I dont have to clean and prepare anything and then it comes back done. I know some may say there is and element of the build process being lost but I can honestly say I loathe cleaning and sanding tricky awkward bits of metal and weilding angle grinders.

Here is a couple of shots of the tender before and after but it really doesnt do the finish justice.





And for those who might be interested this is the car I had. I had owned it for 18 years and during that time had removed every bolt or nut at least once. I had the entire interior re upholstered by a freind who now works for Rolls Royce. I stripped and replaced the entire front end and had all the suspension components zinc'ed and then I replaced the engine with a brand new Chevvy 350 lump crated from the states and every last nut, bolt and bracket was chromed, all hoses were braded and there was a large airbrushed mural of a dragon on the bonnet.