The Snowball Saga - '68 Standard Revitalization Project by Blitz

6 minute(s) of a 403 minute read

So all along I've used one wheel as my "test wheel" to try out painting techniques before doing the other 3. So far it's worked out perfectly and I haven't changed anything. But the silver portion is the most complex part, and things are definitely going to change this time.

For my first attempt, I thought I would try the "paint everything and wipe away the excess later" technique. This general idea worked out great on things like the taillight grilles, so I had a little experience with it. So I made a masking device for the outer rim, cleaned and prepped the painted areas, and wiped some chrome polish (nevr-dull) onto the chrome in an effort to not let the paint stick well to those areas.

Then I followed the instructions on the can - VHT recommends 2 light coats followed by 1 medium coat. Either I wasn't light enough on the trigger, or 3 coats is just too much, because this ended up pretty thick. You can see one initial attempt at wiping away the paint while it was still wet.

I dipped a cloth in paint thinner and tried removing most of the excess while it was still soft. It was tough going at first, but eventually got easier.

I stopped at the above picture, thinking that I might be able to refine the edge better when it had a chance to dry more. So I put it aside and started plotting how to do things differently.

I didn't love this wipe-off technique. It was kind of a pain, and I wasn't liking the edges I was getting. Part of that is probably the paint being too thick, so I'll try to address that next time. But also I wanted to try to better replicate what the factory did.

I kind of rejected the most obvious solution of just using masking tape, as the lines would be too crisp and I didn't want to scratch the chrome with a razor blade while trimming tape. Also it's a lot of work do to that to every wheel. So I figured the best way to replicate what the factory did would be to make stencils of some kind. There's no magic way to do this, as far as I know, so I just took some parchment paper from the kitchen and made a rough outline to start with (using a different wheel of course).

Once I cut that out and got it pretty close, I transferred the shape to poster board and cut it out, then further refined it with scissors until I was pretty happy with it. Folded in half to get it more symmetrical.

Then I used a junk vinyl LP as a template to cut out a circle, about the right size to mask most of the wheel center.

This led to what I'll call the "Mk. I" stencils.

It wasn't until I made a full set of 5 of these that I realized the openings were a bit too big. The reality is that they need to be a little smaller, because the paint overspray is going to get under the edges. However, there was a benefit to cutting out these "actual size" pieces... coming in next post.

Now that I had these little "positive" pieces, they could help me out on the first wheel. I used them to refine the tricky outer edges. Also I upgraded my wiping juice to acetone.

Definitely not perfect, but much closer to how it's supposed to look. After much painstaking wiping, I could call this first wheel "as done as it's gonna get". Here's a comparison with the original silver (left) and new silver (right). The new silver is a bit brighter.

Here's a shot in the sun. You can still tell some of the edges are a little wonky, but I can't complain too much, it looks pretty nice.

Finally, here's a look at the Mk. II Stencils that I just finished up last night. You can tell that the side edges are in further, and the bottom edge lines up better. The top could still come down a bit, but it's pretty easy to wipe that area with acetone to remove extra paint, and I'm not super stoked about making a third set.