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PAINTING THE TORSO
Products used
Coat | Product | Number of Coats | Number of Cans Used |
Primer | Rustoleum Automotive Primer | 4 | 4 |
Color | Duplicolor Truck and SUV Silver T178 | 8 | 8 |
Clear Top Coat | Duplicolor Truck and SUV Clear Top Coat T125 | 4 | 4 |
Duplicolor manufactures a dizzying array of silver auto body paints. Each is unique and designed to match the paint for a particular brand and model of automobile. Not knowing which silver paint would be right for my robot, I bought a can of silver paint that seemed right and of which the store had a large stock. 'If this turns out to be the right color,' I reasoned, 'I want to be able to buy as many cans of it as I need.' After testing the paint at home, I determined that my first selection, T178, was the perfect silver for the robot's torso.
After preparing and priming the surface of the torso (a project that I began months ago), I constructed a paint tent in the garage using sheets of plastic suspended from the ceiling. Following the directions on the can of paint, I applied each layer of silver paint. Between coats, I sanded the paint with super fine steel wool and cleaned it with a good quality tack cloth. I allowed each coat to dry at least 30 minutes before touching it with steel wool.
Not knowing how many coats I would need, I kept applying coats until the color had achieved a deep and rich finish. I was finally satisfied after applying the eighth coat.
The clear top coat gave the
paint
an even deeper luster without making it glossy. Just to be safe, I let
the paint dry for two days before applying the clear top coat. This
product
requires at least 48 hours to dry. I discovered, however, that the
solvent
does not fully evaporate for at least a week. I waited this long before
putting all the hardware back on my robot's torso.
None of the photographs bellow convey the real color of the painted torso. The photographs taken without flash make the torso look bluish gray, whereas the photograph taken with flash makes it look dark silver. The real color is a nice light silver color that closely matches the color of the raw aluminum waist plate.
Click on thumbnail image to see the full size photograph