Almost ready for paint!

We had a VERY productive week in the scenic shop.  The truck has made great progress.  All of the body parts have been fitted and anchored except the bed and rear bumper.

FRIDAY EVENING
Kathleen, Melanie and Shelley worked on the interior of the truck. The headliner and seat needed to be cleaned and painted after years of smoking and who knows what else.  We actually ended up spray painting the seat black to hide the stains...

The doors were so heavy that they kept causing the wooden door posts to fail, so we gutted them, removing glass, all mechanisms and a huge steel weight in the bottom of each.  After remounting them, they were remarkably easier to handle and closed better.  We then focused our attention on working out the rest of the font end.  Fenders first, then grill.


Trying to figure out the geometry of the front end of this truck is a challenge.  Nothing is a right angle and all of the parts bolted to a frame that is now gone.  Very little bolts together.  Fortunately when we cut the windshield frame from the fire wall, we left the two bolt holes that held the top of the fenders.  That and the front edge of the doors, tells us where the fender needs to be.  Fortunately, Nissan designed this model with a narrow metal strip between the bumper and the grill that bolts to the front of the fenders.  These three pieces became our guide for fitting everything else together.


With these pieces in the right place and a few beers down, we called it a night about 10PM.

SATURDAY
After a good nights sleep, I got to the shop and spent an hour or so just cleaning.  We had parts EVERYWHERE and no place to work.  It looked like a mechanic shop, not the neat and organized scenic shop that I normally run.  While cleaning and organizing, it dawned on me that we needed to make sure that the bumper was in the right place, centered on the frame first and then align the front of the fenders, grill and hood to it.  Remarkably, once the bumper was mounted and fenders anchored in place, the hood dropped on and was within 1/8" of being square...close enough for a stage prop.

We then had to black out behind the grill and needed to figure out how to mount the lights. A piece of luan shot to the framing behind the grill stiffened the front end. The lights mounted to it with relative ease.  The front end was essentially done.

Kathleen and Melanie both showed up a little after noon. The two of them attacked the interior, replacing the carpet and fitting the gearshift assembly back in.  Meanwhile, the seat is STILL DRYING in the sun.



With the front end in good shape, Patrick and I turned our attention to the bed.  When we built the initial chassis, the framing stopped at the axles. To extend it out to the bumper in both the front and at the back, we sistered 2x4s on top of the initial 2x6 frame, holding them with mending plates.  For the front end, 2x4s more than adequately supported the weight of the sheet metal.  When we sistered 2x4s on the back and set the bed on, it sagged...A LOT!!!  So, a quick trip to Home Depot, we replaced the 2x4s with 2x6s and that was better.

The bed is so damn heavy, that it probably doesn't need to be bolted down!  It took four of us to lift it on to the wooden chassis.  When we set it down on the frame, the casters on both rear legs flattened to the floor...sigh.  So, much for moving it around in the shop anymore.  Those casters were rated at 200 lbs each!



This isn't the first time that I have had problems with casters under a truck.  When I did The Grapes of Wrath in 2010, our truck was MUCH lighter.  I fabricated it almost completely out of wood.  The only metal on it were the two front fenders and the rims for the four wheels.  For Grapes, I choreographed the truck to move to different positions on stage as part of the scene changes.  I went through 3 sets of casters on it during rehearsals and the run of the show.

We fought for over an hour with getting four bolts to hold down the bed to the frame.  I was tired and frustrated and we called it a day.

Wednesday evening, we will finish the bed and rear bumper.  Then it is time to start prepping for paint.  Every surface needs to be sanded and the few dings need to be filled with Bondo and ground down. Some spot priming and it will be ready for paint.  I am considering using yacht enamel instead of automotive paint.  I have painted several boats in the past decade and know that I can get a smooth, level, glossy finish without all of the hassle of paint sprayers. I will probably roll it on with foam rollers.  This paint wouldn't hold up on the road, but this truck has retired from the road...

Goal is to be ready for paint next weekend!!!!
R