Rattle Can Wonders (Painting Parts)

Since it has been winter, I have not done much on Maverick.  Now that spring is trying to peek out, I have been working on a few items.  One of those has been repainting all the exterior items that are white.

I have decided to keep the body as is, allowing surface rust, primer and paint to mix and match.  What I will do is take all components that are currently white and remove all paint, then prime and repaint like new.  This is an awesome job for the rattle can.

I started with the GMC badges on each side and on the hood since they were the most difficult with the detail work.  Later I'll work on the hubcaps, headlight bezel, interior door panel, grill and bumper, and then finally the rims.

So far I have removed the badges and stripped the paint and applied a couple of coats of primer.  Honestly, as I stripped the paint with chemicals and a wire wheel grinder I kept thinking about the plastic badges of today, and their lack of ability to be restored like you can on the old truck which was all metal. 

I also discovered that the original badges had the GMC red/orange on each one of the letters.  I might consider adding that to the badge if I feel confident enough.  I suspect that when the truck was given a quick and dirty paint job many years ago they just sprayed over the red because it was easier.

I did consider leaving the bare metal after cleaning it.  However I also like the softer feeling of the white paint as it matches the rims and grill work. 

You can see below the finished product.  It was a bit whiter than I expected however the rattle can did a great job.  I used Plastikote durable acrylic lacquer.  The color I choose was GM White 1011.  There was also a GM White BC and GM White 1012.  Since I'm not too concerned about the original color I went with the 1011.  I think it works. (UPDATE May 2019 - I discovered that Plastikote brand has been discontinued.  I will have to find another suppler for the GM 1011 White)

You can see the "100" in between the grill and it looks a slight brighter than the rest.  This weekend I hope to work on the grill and bumper.

This weekend I was able to work on stripping the bumper and grill.  I started with the bumper attached and used a flexible sanding pad on a drill.  It did a great job and a quick one at that.  For the final clean up and tighter areas I used either a rotary sander and or a wire wheel.  

As it progressed I had to remove the bumper eventually and managed to only break one bolt.  Once it was removed I started to work on the grill still attached.  Then again removed that so I could finish the tight areas.

I then wiped down the surface with a cleaner to remove any dust, oil, grease, etc.  Once it was dry the next step was to apply 2 coats of primer both to the outside and inside of each piece.  I then lightly sanded the surface to remove any imperfections or mistakes.  Again I cleaned the surface to remove the dust.  Finally I applied a layer of white acrylic paint.  3 layers was the final number.  I will wait a week before trying to reassemble the parts so the paint has time to cure.

Last Saturday I worked on installing the bumper and grill.  I also stripped the headlight bezels and interior door panels that are removable.  I also put in a large order to buy window and door seals, side mirrors, arms rests and a few other minor items.  So hopefully this weekend I will be able to work on a variety of items.