Road Foamie - done for the year

[GPW]

Good Luck ... you know we’re all very excited to see it finished ...


Ps. something we found out with foamie planes, the GG can be managed while it’s still soft (foamed ) .. using wax paper or saran wrap (never fingers) it can be pressed back in shape to fit the join... dries like that , no sanding ... Main thing is to apply the GG THIN and NOT use but a touch of water spray ... more water makes it foam more ... The plane guys were even mixing rubbing alcohol and water (50-50) to cure/accelerate the GG ... actually mixing it with the GG before application... dries QUICK !!! Just FYI

[atahoekid]

The farther and farther I went into this build, the more I found myself using GG. I used TB II, GG or epoxy depending on the situation. GG does a great job. You just gotta be able to control the foam. I tried limiting the amount of water, even thought of just letting ambient air provide the humidity but it is way too dry up her in Northern Nevada to try that. Wish I had thought of the alcohol/water mix.

[GPW]

You can always cut/scrape off the excess foam as it hardens ... once fully hardened it’s pretty tough, then we get out our special removal tool ... a thin flexible serrated steak knife ..”saw” it off.. works best so far for us ...

[eaglesdare]

yup, thats what i use to remove the excess gg. a good steak knife works great, and its easy to use.

[atahoekid]

I got the Road Foamie all painted. I've got some touch up to do but essentially the exterior just needs assembly. The door and window in the pics are just set in place for now. Here are the pics....





So now that the shell is "complete", I have two observations... First, I wish I had put a window in that door but I was so fed up with messing with the door at that time that I said "screw it". Second, that is waaaaayyyy too white. I wanted a creme color and the color swatch looked right but in reality it was barely off of white. When I was putting the color on, I could barely tell the difference between primer and paint. I know there's a general rule about swatches and your real final color but I forget what it is. Is the actual color lighter than the swatch or is it darker, or is there really any general rule? I might add an accent stripe between the navy and the white just to soften the transition a bit. The obvious color would be a light blue, but I'm thinking of a "gold" or maybe yellow. That will have to wait until the Road Foamie is road ready, probably until after the mid-October road trip. But at this point, I'm satisfied with how it came out...

Time to mount the doors, windows, lights and reflectors. A word of caution folks. Stay under 80 inches wide or you have a whole new set of lighting regulations you have to meet.

[Wobbly Wheels]

Holy crap Mel, that looks fantastic !
I agree with the accent stripe, but I can't see it in the same light you do either.

[GPW]

That’s really EXCELLENT !!! Looks SUPER !!!

[eaglesdare]

fantastic! i think it looks good.

[bonnie]

Mel, that is absolutely beautiful work. I think the accent strip would be a great idea. The blue trim is a real finishing of the whole look. Well done.

[KCStudly]

Yeah, that does look great! I'm okay with the white. Run it around on a few trips and I bet it will tone down on you once it gets exposed to mother nature a bit.

All that talk about the little dip in the trim line hardly seems to matter now that the high contrasting colors come into play; kind of amazing actually, just sort of disappeared.

[S. Heisley]

Terrific job, Mel! It looks really good.
I wouldn't worry a bit about the white being too bright. Once you get on the road and get some road dirt on it, that white will probably dull out some and won't bother you at all

[atahoekid]

Thanks for the compliments folks... I guess I do have to just live with the white and hopefully it will tone down some when mother nature gets working on it. As far as the funny dip at the nose trim, I played a little trick on the eye. I actually painted outside of the trim pieces by a 1/4" or so and more where the piece dipped, so to the eye it looks straighter. I learned that trick painting my house. Who ever did the dry wall made lousy corners and they weren't straight. It wasn't noticeable till my wife wanted a contrasting color on the wall. I painted exactly to the corners and you could really tell so while trying to figure out what to do, I read on the internet somewhere to paint outside of the corner by 1/4" or so. And as if by magic the flaw disappears. I'm so happy I discovered that trick. It doesn't completely take care of the issue , but it's a lot less noticeable. Tomorrow after I take care of a few things for work, I'm going to work on mounting the doors, windows and all the lighting. I was planning to take it for a spin as soon as the doors and windows were on but I just remembered I need to get safety chains. The ones that came with the frame were so pathetic, we just cut them off.

I keep telling "She who must be obeyed" that I only have a couple more things to buy. I keep adding small things to the list. (At least they're small things, mostly)

[High Desert]

It looks awesome Mel!

[GPW]

Paint covers many sins ... Don’t worry , it looks really Great !!!
So where does the Beer go ... ???

[wagondude]

That is sweet!