Building the Seat - Kit 24

A Little Out of Sequence - 

STW sent me a shipment with some partial kits to give me something to do.  Kit 18 - the "Wire Loom" which also had the Regulator - (Steam Throttle) and Sight Glass.  They also sent me Kit 24 and 24A, the seat and upholstery.   I will deal with the Kit18 in the next post.  

 

Here is the "Saga of the Seat". 

The shipment came in multiple parts, which Fedex promptly sent to three different hubs and it took a week to get everything straightened out and delivered.  At least everything was there and un-damaged.  I will say that Helen at STW does a GREAT job of packing.  

However, the documentation is starting to indicate a trend.   STW is updating the kits and production methods, but does not update the actual ISO's and Instructions/pictures.  Case in point, the base for the seat used to be a wooden mortise and tenon joint that you would fit and disassemble, then finally glue into place.  This is shown in the drawings and pictures but in real life is a different type of construction joint. 

Two plastic parts that slide into pre-cut slots in the wood.  Then you just "pop" the two together. 

All is great - new technology -  JUST DO NOT TRY TO PULL IT APART !!!

I happen to have figured this out BEFORE I snapped the pieces together.  So some liberal application of TitebondIII and "pop" - tight as a drum.

Next - Spindles

The Spindles came nicely pre-cut and sanded.  The only real fitting was to do a little sanding on the ends to fit into the pre-drilled holes on the base and the arms. 

'BOX-O-SPINDLES"

A Moment to Digress - 

Painting -  Finishing -  What product, What technique?  

I do a fairly decent job of applying a finish.  Sand, Prime, Paint.  Try not to drip, sand and paint again, be patient,  let it cure before you mess with it,  do not mix products without testing. 

I decided to do a slightly different approach on the body panels and wooden pieces/parts.  I thought that a good place to try things out would be the seat.   In the past, the one thing I have run into on putting a solid color on wood, is that the grain always seems to show up.  I had been using a "sanding sealer" prior to priming, and yet the grain shows thru - not a lot but enough to bother me.  

I banged around on the inter-web and discivered a company back east called "Progressive Epoxy Polymers"  They have a kinda convoluted website, but in total had quite a lot of information available. (www.epoxyproducts.com)   I called them, the owner and chief chemist answered the phone, and we discussed my application -  Sealing, priming, smoothing and strengthening flat plywood body panels prior to finishing with some type of automotive paint system.  

The product is called - ESP155.  It is a two part - 50-50 mix.  has a working time of a hour or so, at least at Denver temp and humidity it did.   I used it first on the spindles and seat/arms.  I will really test it out on the dashboard I plan to build (next post). 

Things I learned - 

1.  Patience - put it down and walk away for a couple of days.  Depending on temp and humidity it can take a while to get all the solvents to evaporate.  Do not rush it.  

2. Once you think the epoxy is cured, if you paint it with an enamel that has a lot of solvents, like automotive enamel, the solvents in the paint will soften the epoxy a little - DO NOT WORRY,  just walk away again.  Because the bonding between the epoxy and paint is a good thing.  Just go read a book. 

3. Once the drying is moving along, you can put the piece in the sun to really cook it. Just be careful that it is not so thin it warps.

For the seat, I did not worry too much about sanding the pieces into oblivion,  just took care of drips.  Then I shot first a Gloss Black, and then detailed in Hunter Green, followed by a gloss coat on the spindles.  

For the seat and arms I just shot Glass Black.  

 

First - Epoxy

Then Spindles:

 Color Details: 

And a shot of Gloss:

And after a game of "Wack-A-Mole" - 

All the spindles are in the holes and everything is snugged up.

The metal part of the backrest is at the powder coater, and the cushions are in storage for the moment.  I see no reason to weigh things down until the body panels show up.

And there she is - sitting on the frame for now. 

I got the upholstery out of storage.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading - more to come. 

Poppapope

Denver, CO