A lot has been done, and this update is long overdue, but I've been too busy actually working to sit down and sort my photos and thoughts.

Friday night, I noticed some very small pits that survived the primer so I added just a bit of bondo before painting.

Saturday, I went over to my wife's other Dad's house (from her moms previous marriage, he's still pretty close with the family) to paint the pieces in his garage. He suggested hanging the pieces, which had both the advantage of me not touching the pieces, and the disadvantage that the pieces spin around when painting from the force of the aresol. I got a rubber glove and put my hand behind the pieces while working when they needed stabilizing.

I also picked up some real fiberglass resin (it was right next to the polyurethanes at the hardware store, but somehow I missed it the first time).

After a first coat, it looks pretty bad, but it does have a much thicker consistency than the urethane, so it should serve my purposes better.

It looked better after sanding down flat, and looked great wet, but when it dried it got all grey and hazy, no matter how fine the grit of the sandpaper I used. Maybe it just needs another coat?

Looking much better after a second coat.

This is without any sanding, and I found that sanding had the same result of obscuring what is underneath its surface. It also is very dark, and you can't really tell the camo is underneath it unless you light it really well. Yet again, I'm deciding against coating the cloth with a resin for now.

Superbowl Sunday, I spent at Dad's occasionally watching the game, but mostly out in the garage painting. I let the pieces sit until late Monday when I picked them up and took these pictures:

Everything looked good, all I need now is handles (which my wife says are a bad idea), and the plexi, and then put the goodies inside.

Here's where the story gets interesting.

Since I've got those holes bondoed up sticking up on the backside of the panel, I know I can't just lay a piece of plexy over the back, or it will be uneven. I could either (A) cut the plexy carefully around the piece and notch out the places where the stumps are, or (B), melt the plexy enough so that it will push the nubs into it.

I went for (B).

After a long time with the hair dryer on full blast, I decided it just wasn't getting hot enough. I took my work into the kitchen, and set down a towel on the counter to put the side panel on, and started warming the plexi over the open gas flame (high enough it won't catch on fire, I know it burns bad, and makes toxic fumes), well the piece starts to droop and get pliable in the right spot, so I put it down on the backside of the side panel and push it down as it cools.

Not only does it not work as expected, but I turn my panel over and the clearcoat got warm enough to partially melt, and I had pushed the texture of the towel onto the finish.

I mope around for a few minutes thinking of what to do, and whether to just give the recipient an antec sonata I have lying around. My wife almost kicked me to suggest such a thing after I've already put so much time and effort into this case. So with new resolve I decided since I'm going to have to sand it down and redo the painting, I'm going to try and throw the whole bit into the oven, and get it to melt down right.

After I pulled it out, and pressed it into the towel some more, it looked like this:

The plexi was in a much better position, but I just don't think it will work, so I decide to go for broke, and hammer the nubs on the back flat and shave them off with the dremel grinder attachment, which would mean I'd have to re-bondo it too.

I took the panel out back and hammered down the nubs around the cuts, used the grinder to grind them into oblivion, filed the edges that potruded into my cuts.

And I resanded the whole thing, not all the way down to the metal, but close enough for my purposes.

And put a fresh coat of bondo down.

By then it was bedtime, so I let the bondo sit overnight, and brought it in to work to sand down the bondo and re-apply, and resand. Tonight I should be able to put on the primer and a first coat of black. Friday I need to finish the painting, and prepare the handles (If I can find some that meet my wifes approval), and cut the plexi. The big presentation is hoped to go down on Saturday in the early afternoon.

Wish me luck.