Looks great, RED trucks rule. You have the pop top up there, or is it a safari wagon ride back to the coast to install it?
Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (11 Viewers)
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theglobb
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #2,042
After looking at my paint more and more, it kinda got on my nerves. Had a rhino liner like texture in some places, smoother in others, etc. I decided to sand it down a little bit and repaint it properly. I didn't mix the enamel thinner enough last time so the paint came out poorly as it wasn't atomizing correctly. Since I've never painted before, I had no real clue on what was going wrong or what I could be doing better, then I painted my doors on a separate day at the proper ratios and it came out so much better.
Here is an example of all of the orange peel it had before, felt rough on the hands.
and here is it after!
@Felde was infact correct, the messed-up side of my troopy is now even more noticeable. I'm not gonna lose sleep over it as it still looks much better than it did previously haha.
for painting in the dark it came out pretty well!
Threw all the panels in my house for the night so they would dry a bit better
also check out this old 70s fridge I got for $20. Bought new by the PO in the late 60's plugged in and has never been unplugged until the other day. The only time it was shut off was during power outages. Fridge and freezer work VERY well.
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I'm going to California for roughly 2 weeks. Mainly for a wedding at first but then will have a week or so of extra time out there to do whatever, will be driving up the coast with my mom and dad @Shyrock. If anyone reading this is out there shoot me a message, maybe we can meet up. Will be driving my dads Toyota Dyna back up to Boone with me with the pop top on the flatbed and then installing it. I guess that'll be the next update this thread gets! Progress!
Here is an example of all of the orange peel it had before, felt rough on the hands.
and here is it after!
@Felde was infact correct, the messed-up side of my troopy is now even more noticeable. I'm not gonna lose sleep over it as it still looks much better than it did previously haha.
for painting in the dark it came out pretty well!
Threw all the panels in my house for the night so they would dry a bit better
also check out this old 70s fridge I got for $20. Bought new by the PO in the late 60's plugged in and has never been unplugged until the other day. The only time it was shut off was during power outages. Fridge and freezer work VERY well.
---------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to California for roughly 2 weeks. Mainly for a wedding at first but then will have a week or so of extra time out there to do whatever, will be driving up the coast with my mom and dad @Shyrock. If anyone reading this is out there shoot me a message, maybe we can meet up. Will be driving my dads Toyota Dyna back up to Boone with me with the pop top on the flatbed and then installing it. I guess that'll be the next update this thread gets! Progress!
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Sometimes you have to learn by doing !
More importantly is that you’re willing to try
Looking great overall.
Love that bumper sticker on the rear bumper !
More importantly is that you’re willing to try
Looking great overall.
Love that bumper sticker on the rear bumper !
Time to think about a cool sticker to go on that dent ... maybe a bandage.
I once saw a truck with a heavy messed up rear tailgate, where he had incorporated the creases into a piece of artwork of a manikin p***ing down a cliff... can't find the pic
.Our just outline the creases to give it some character. You may use Gemini AI (works better than chatGPT with pics) to create a preview from a photo.
Here is a first, unspecified attempt
Have fun on your trip!
Cheers Ralf
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theglobb
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #2,046
Back from California!
The Rolls-Royce the bride and groom drove away in. The pricetag on this vehicle may be impressive but I am simply not interested or impressed with it at all.
Met up with @Broski while I was out there! Always great to meet people from mud and match people's real names/faces to the usernames I see so regularly. Checked out his BEEEFY 80 and grabbed some Mexican food. Was a great night.
Made it back home to NC and loaded up the pop top into the bed of my dad's Dyna. We modified the wooden frame that we had built originally to protect it. The poptop with some 2x4s on each side of it was the perfect width to fit in the Dyna's bed with both of the sides up, where as before one side was up and the other was folded down.
Some of y'all may remember from last summer but my pop top ended up getting damaged in shipping. Made it all the way from South Africa totally fine and unscathed. Then some (I'm assuming) methhead forklift operator who works for Estes decided to mutilate it. The photos dont really do it justice, its pretty chewed up on the front and rear. I had worked pretty hard for this thing, and spent really all the money I had saved up on purchasing it at the time. Probably not a wise decision, but I knew that I'd never get one cheaper. Needless to say I was quite heartbroken and angry when it arrived all torn up.
Well, a lot of time has passed since then and I have come to not care at all. My troopy is a total hack job so it's kinda fitting that my poptop arrives pre-damaged. I fought with insurance for a solid month or 2 on it; they kept saying "they didn't damage it", I kept saying "yes, they did". Eventually, I just became a relentless annoying b!tch to whoever I was dealing with on the other line. Low and behold, after about a week of me being a vile human to them, they sent me 2 grand. I think that's one of the few situations where being the worse person ends up actually working out for you
Spent all of today with a heat gun and some specialty body work tools.
Behold... a Harbor Freight dead blow hammer, an autobody hammer with tape on the face of it, and some wood I found behind my house.
After hours and hours of beating on this thing, I got it pretty dang straight! (any wobbly or bright spots are where I sanded the metal and paint for some self-etching primer to adhere to)
Not too shabby for 2 hammers and a block of wood. Heading to the Outerbanks on Thursday with my girlfriend for her fall break trip, and also to return the Dyna to my dad. Will hopefully have the poptop on the weekend after this one!
The Rolls-Royce the bride and groom drove away in. The pricetag on this vehicle may be impressive but I am simply not interested or impressed with it at all.
Met up with @Broski while I was out there! Always great to meet people from mud and match people's real names/faces to the usernames I see so regularly. Checked out his BEEEFY 80 and grabbed some Mexican food. Was a great night.
Made it back home to NC and loaded up the pop top into the bed of my dad's Dyna. We modified the wooden frame that we had built originally to protect it. The poptop with some 2x4s on each side of it was the perfect width to fit in the Dyna's bed with both of the sides up, where as before one side was up and the other was folded down.
Some of y'all may remember from last summer but my pop top ended up getting damaged in shipping. Made it all the way from South Africa totally fine and unscathed. Then some (I'm assuming) methhead forklift operator who works for Estes decided to mutilate it. The photos dont really do it justice, its pretty chewed up on the front and rear. I had worked pretty hard for this thing, and spent really all the money I had saved up on purchasing it at the time. Probably not a wise decision, but I knew that I'd never get one cheaper. Needless to say I was quite heartbroken and angry when it arrived all torn up.
Well, a lot of time has passed since then and I have come to not care at all. My troopy is a total hack job so it's kinda fitting that my poptop arrives pre-damaged. I fought with insurance for a solid month or 2 on it; they kept saying "they didn't damage it", I kept saying "yes, they did". Eventually, I just became a relentless annoying b!tch to whoever I was dealing with on the other line. Low and behold, after about a week of me being a vile human to them, they sent me 2 grand. I think that's one of the few situations where being the worse person ends up actually working out for you
Spent all of today with a heat gun and some specialty body work tools.
Behold... a Harbor Freight dead blow hammer, an autobody hammer with tape on the face of it, and some wood I found behind my house.
After hours and hours of beating on this thing, I got it pretty dang straight! (any wobbly or bright spots are where I sanded the metal and paint for some self-etching primer to adhere to)
Not too shabby for 2 hammers and a block of wood. Heading to the Outerbanks on Thursday with my girlfriend for her fall break trip, and also to return the Dyna to my dad. Will hopefully have the poptop on the weekend after this one!
