S i l v er C l o u d R es t o ra t i o n S er i es - par t 5
5. Cusion Seat Spray Coat 6. Final Spray Coat 7. Back Passenger Seat after spray 8. Woodwork under restoration 9. Woodwork under restoration
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10. Dashboard top roll split
seats. How those handles were fixed is still a mystery. Removing old and damaged varnish is a long and time-consuming process. We were advised not to use chemical strippers as this can soak into the veneers which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to obtain a good finish on the new varnish. The other options were scraping using a heat gun to soften the varnish, cold scraping, or hand sanding. All methods have their drawbacks as it is difficult not to damage the delicate veneers once the old varnish has been removed. We chose to use cold scraping on the chipped and flaking varnish of the veneered borders as, with a little practice, this proved to be the gentlest and most controllable method,
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although laborious. Some of the flatter areas were dry sanded but care must be taken not to sand too deep and rub away the very thin veneers.
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RREC B329 • MAR/APR 15
Once all the damaged varnish had been removed, all the bare wooden surfaces were very lightly sanded smooth. We then applied several light, brushed coats of clear gloss yacht varnish, allowing each coat to dry thoroughly before lightly sanding down between coats. We used progressively finer grit sandpapers with each coat to eliminate scratches and swirl marks. The final coats were spray coats of clear cellulose high gloss varnish (Photos 8 & 9).
Once the refurbishment of the leather and wood parts was completed, all the parts were individually bagged to keep them clean and they were stored away until the time when we will refit them into the car. It is worth taking care to ensure that leather parts are not placed on top of each other as it is easy to create depressions and marks in the leather if one piece presses into another in storage. In this and the previous article, I have covered the refurbishment of the cloth upholstery, the leather and the wood. Next time I will start to describe the mammoth task of restoring the engine.
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