Dash Update

I'm not happy at all with the speed of progress on the GT6 dashboard, although I'm very happy with the result and have learned a lot about veneering on the journey.

I left the right-hand panel covered in some half dozen coats of polyurethane lacquer while we went on holiday to Yorkshire for a few days, hoping it would be thoroughly dry on our return - which is was. However, the polyurethane didn't take at all well to sanding with 120 grit sandpaper. Additionally, there were still a few steps in the veneer (reflecting steps on the substrate, which was well worn) as well as a couple of chips.

I had another go with 320 grit wet and dry, to good effect, but went through the polyurethane in order to get a reasonably flat surface and had to apply more coats.

I finally got to something passable (above), but still not to my exacting standard. I buffed it up with some rubbing compound, but then applied polyurethane solely to the low areas and steps, using a dibber dipped in the lacquer, slowly building the dents up. Then after air drying for several hours, it went into the fan oven for an hour at 50 degrees C, just to ensure it was fully cured. I finally sanded with two different grades of wet and dry and buffed with cutting compound to achieve a very good result, as shown below, which is a 100% improvement on the original veneer.

While it is possible, as demonstrated, to build up to a flat surface with lacquer, it's not ideal and a perfectly flat and smooth substrate to start with is preferable. It simply wasn't possible in this case and I had to do the best I could with the tatty original (below) that was available.

There are two very tiny chips that you can hardly see on one edge, plus some small dips in the lacquer, but they give it the air of a restoration, rather than a complete replacement. I do so wish I had the two other, original panels.

I even went to the extent of making another right-hand panel yesterday from the bought ply, accidentally chipping off some of the veneer while cutting it back, but successfully inserting replacement sections using marquetry techniques.

I need some brown stain for the edges, but I can make one in a day now.

If I make a totally new one (which I'm tempted to do, just for the experience) I'm not sure how to handle the instrument holes. The main hole for the tacho and speedo are 100mm, which can easily be cut out with a hole saw, but the rebate that takes it out to 105mm on the facia, and caters for the instrument bezels, is giving me pause for thought. What I really need is a small palm router, which I don't have. That said, the rebates aren't strictly necessary, in my opinion, as the bezel of an instrument protruding above the surface is not exactly aesthetic heresy, but it may well be heresy in terms of originality.

The middle section of the dash, which I bought on e-Bay, still hasn't arrived, so I don't yet have a workable template for a new one. Evri reckon they've delivered it, but certainly not to my address; however, that's a story in itself, as an attempt was made to scam me. I received a text from a spurious mobile number saying my Evri parcel wasn't delivered due to the label being damaged, despite me having previously been notified it was delivered (just not to my address), and I was provided a link where I could enter my delivery address, but it also requested £0.23 for the redelivery, meaning I had to enter my bank details for the payment, which immediately raised my scam antenna.

Now Evri never ask for money via text and this is a well documented scam; the scammer asks for a plausible amount but then empties your bank account. One wonders how they got my phone number to send me a text in the first place, unless it was one of thousands of similar texts sent randomly every day, hoping to hit someone who is expecting an Evri parcel, like I was. There's certainly no way Evri would have access to my number as the recipient, only my address.

The search for another centre section continues and I have my eye on a complete Spitfire Mk IV dashboard on an e-Bay auction, which has been sanded and stained, but not veneered. Perfect for my purposes.

It's currently listed at £10, which is a bargain, but it's bound to climb. I have a snipe on it at an undisclosed amount.

I did think about spraying the lacquer, rather than using a paintbrush, as a brush tends to leave some tiny bubbles that need exploding with a hot air gun while wet (shades of my resin skills). Spraying would leave a perfectly smooth finish, although making sufficient to go through a sprayer would be incredibly wasteful of polyurethane. There again, using a very thinned out solution of polyurethane with a sponge might produce an even better result that won't need as much finishing, although it would take many applications. I'm learning as I go along by trial-and-error.

Part of me wishes I'd gone back to my resin days, as that is certainly hard as nails and forgiving of substrate imperfections. I'm not sure, however, if it would yellow in UV.

The panel that runs across the top of the dash, between the windscreen and the dash facia, is covered in black vinyl that's seen better days. 

It requires stripping and new vinyl applying with a heat gun, but I wondered whether it was feasible to co-ordinate it with the dash, using burr walnut. Now it has a very sharp curve over the dash, so I didn't think veneer was possible, as it would snap, and using a whole piece of solid burr walnut would be too expensive, but you can get burr walnut patterned vinyl - and I've ordered a suitable sized roll from China (UK suppliers didn't have sufficient length) for £13. There might be enough to do door cappings too.

Might still be worth an attempt. However, I did wet an offcut of veneer, bent it over the sharp angle and held it in place with clamps till it dried.

It took on the shape quite nicely. It would be difficult bending a large sheet of veneer over the entire dash top, especially getting it into the small indents and recesses, but I dare say it's possible if sufficiently wet and pliable. Some V shapes would need careful cutting out for a good fit. I may give it a go, as vinyl might be a tad too garish, although encouraging vinyl around bends and corners with a heat gun would be relatively simple. 

Pressing such a huge piece of veneer while drying, or after applying the glue, would be very difficult and would, I think, need to be done in stages. The very sharp edge at the front needn't be catered for, as that's hidden under the windscreen, but the glueing and lacquering would need to be very good to prevent lifting in the instance of condensation on the windscreen dripping down. 

A suitable piece of veneer would be about £60, if I can get one 1.2m long - most pieces for sale on e-Bay are well short of this length, although that's not to say I couldn't use two smaller pieces split from the same thicker sheet, so there was a match at the seam, and have that seam right in the middle of the top of the dash - in what's called a book match seam (below)

Next I'll be investigating burr walnut wrap for the entire car!

While I was tackling some wood butchery, I made a drinks holder for the motorhome out of eome excess ply, as the ones in the lid of the glove compartment are useless.

The front ones are for Hay's camping cups and the rear ones are for those cardboard cups you get from the likes of Costa. It nestles on the armrests, held at the back by a thin piece of wood and at the sides by two more pieces of wood on the outside of each arm rest. I removed the corner on the driver side to as to not interfere with changing gear. 

It's totally secure, yet comes off in half a second and can be stowed behind one of the seats. I left it without veneer as the colour of the natural ply matches the interior wood of the motorhome almost perfectly.