GT6 Interim Update

The GT6 bonnet is now almost completely stripped of paint, Jenolited, with all the dents and dings hammered out and any remaining dimples filled.

Any remaining paint in corner crevices that can't be reached with the knotted wire brush will have to be tackled with the sandblaster - an operation I'm not looking forward to, given it's predilection for blockages.

I trial fitted one of the lower wing repair sections - a perfect fit.

Once the sandblasting has been done it's merely a case of fitting the jigsaw together within pretty exacting tolerances. I'm glad I bought those 1/8th inch Clico fasteners and have bought another 10.

I have some delicate welding to perform on some tiny splits in the front corners of the bonnet and so, rather than wait for the 3/8ths BSP to 1/4 BSP reducer to arrive from China, I had a search in my air tool box and fortuitously found a suitable barbed connector, the threaded end of which fitted the MIG welder. All that was required was to remove the double ear clip from the 3/8ths connector and ram in the 1/4 inch one, which fitted the male connection on the welder.

Now I've never used double ear clips before, so had to look at a YouTube video. You have a choice of buying a special tool, or not. I chose the 'or not' method and just ground off one ear.

Still, it's a tool I don't have and these clips are quite useful for gas and watertight connections on hoses - especially in car fuel and cooling systems, which will have to be addressed sometime in the future.

Now the gas pressure from the argon bottle isn't that high, so merely warming the hose, slipping the barbed end into the pliable plastic and treating the male thread on the MIG with PTFE tape worked a treat without the need for double eared clips, but if I run into trouble I'll simply use an ordinary jubilee clip. 

The gas came out of the business end of the welder when the trigger was pressed, so did a little a little trial welding on a piece of scrap metal with an argon/CO2 shield at varying pressures - I couldn't believe the difference! Hardly any spatter at all. 

I'm led to believe that these disposable argon/CO2 bottles don't last that long, and it didn't - about a minute and no more (I had it set at 20L per minute, which might have been too high), but it's more a proof of concept and, on the basis of how it helps, I'll get a large cylinder of shielding gas; however, I went to our local SGS distributor and discovered that a 3ft bottle of argon (5% CO2), with a regulator, will set me back £268, £105 of which is the deposit on the cylinder. I need to think about this and work out the best way of cutting down the cost. Might just pay a mate for using some of his gas.

I have my eyes on a set of louvres for the lower section, which would add a touch of class.

Not 100% decided, but at that price it's worth buying them and seeing what they look like at different angles. They need to be vertical in orientation and raked back at the bottom.