What a week….or so!

OK let me preface my stating I am not at home currently, and am in Washington working on some stuff, so I am kinda doing a blog post from verbal info…which if you know Brad is pretty much assuming I am telepathic and will just be able to either read his mind, or see it if I close my eyes and concentrate deeply. So I will apologize in advance because I don’t have much to work with.

Axles Brad has been working on (thanks againg for the shots Melissa)

When I left the upholstery guy was heading up to get some more upholstering done. Fortunately he got lots of pictures of the event and sent me a handful to share with y’all. I know there is still more to do, and hopefully his wife can make the trip up next time and come check out the truck (and help offset the testosterone just a smidge).

The boys have been working on truck assembly and getting all those pieces together. It is definitely a process, and as to specifics, well when I asked Brad what he has been working on I got “everything” with zero elaboration. So I guess if you want to know what is going on, you will just have to call and ask him.

BUUUUUT one thing I do know is that the energy drinks were done and Brad went and picked them up for me! They are for sale online, and will have an updated picture asap. I was just way to stokked to get them going that I haven’t had time to coordinate a mini photo shoot from up here.

Right now it is only link to Paypal Purchase, which will be changing soon, as well as a few quirks on it that are annoying, but most just stuff on my end to try to deal with (like the dang white box that shows the number you ordered..in white) You can purchase them at :http://www.bigtoyzracing.com/apps/webstore/

Thanks Melissa for the snapshot!

On the home stretch!

Words cannot express the sheer magnitude of the delight and exhilaration I am feeling now! It also doesn’t do justice my sore arms, weird grayish boogers (don’t worry, no pictures), and obnoxious headache I woke up with this morning. After an arduous couple weeks of taping, prepping, priming, sanding, priming again, sanding more, the last 2 days we dug in. The cold weather this past week set paint back, which was frustrating, but Saturday morning early, we worked hard to get ready for the final stage. Brad touched up and re-sanded more primer spots, and I wriggled my way back into the truck to re-tape everything that had come loose, dipped down, or pulled away. (cold weather is such a pain) We also tag teamed prepping and painting some parts. Brad started heating them with the torch, and then I think he got bored and told me to continue. I always knew he was heating the metal for paint adhesion, however I never knew it was to remove water from the metal too. Insane! It is like a weird science project. As soon as you put the torch to it, water pulls out of the metal. I was mesmerized. Brad got to painting while I wrapped the heating up.

Taped and half primered

Primer Down

Red Smog

On Saturday, our upholstery guy came up, ready to go! Unfortunately, we weren’t prepared for them. Originally paint should have been done, but we couldn’t paint below 60 without too much risk, so unfortunately, we held them up a bit. They did bring up all the stuff though to get going, and worked on the templates for the custom design on the interior wall panels. My brain wasn’t so helpful on coming up with designs, and we pretty much gave him free reign in a semi-neutral pattern. In case the truck name/design ever changes, then we don’t have to swap out interior. Genius, right? So anyway, they worked up some pretty spectaulificar patterns. They didn’t even yell at or karate chop me when I randomly walked by all stalkerish like and took pictures. It was nice to see all the stuff ready to go for install. I know they came with the idea to get it done, but obviously….that just wasn’t going to work. So we will be seeing them very shortly!

Prepping

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. UGH. Mixed feelings hit me Sunday morning. One, I was really tired. No sleep for 3 or 4 days can get ya. Two, I really, really don’t want to go roll around in the dust. Three. OH MY FREAKING HIPPOPOTAMOUS THE TRUCK IS GETTING PAINTED! Obviously you can see which one was the most excited. So after a lame speedy breakfast, we hit the shop.

My job, I was told, was to just go around and quickly scuff everything. Here is a scotch pad, and get to it. Not but 3 minutes it, suddenly my “scuffing quickly and lightly” became, sand to smooth perfection all the door jams, window crevices, curves, underside panels, and pretty much anything that didn’t have a flat surface. Really? Somehow, I think he knows these things in advance, but doesn’t want to tell me until I’m already in. This was significantly different and more time consuming. I have 2 hours to get allllllll of that done? UGGGGH. Just keep picturing the truck painted.

We sanded and smoothed that truck, which honestly is a terrible job for me in a hurry. I’m very tactile (like the person who touches everything when I’m at the clothes store, and twirls my hair because it’s silky feeling) So any mild imperfection really is difficult to move on from and I end up taking more time that probably needed. In the back of my mind I just want to tell myself it was getting wrapped anyway. While I finished up the last of the sanding, Brad blew off the truck and we grabbed some tack rags (oh that almost killed me) and wiped down the truck. Have you ever touched those things???? I can’t do sticky anything. It kills me. Truck wiped. Time for primer sealer to get mixed.

Most of the time I feel  I’m relatively important. Aside from these well written, thought out, and edited news updates that probably qualify for a literary Nobel prize, I do have a lot that I handle. But when assigned the task of watering the concrete, I began to question my value being handed a job like the kid you want to be engaged, but don’t have the time to babysit their work. I know my parents did it to me…. Turns out watering concrete is actually extremely needed, especially when painting without a booth.  So I watered, Brad prepped spray and did one more walk around. It’s GO TIME!

Primer sealing the window edges and door jams

Primer Sealing Body

Round 1- Primer Sealer DONE

Respirators are sexy, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a liar. They look good, feel great, and are a treat to breathe through. Ok maybe I’m exaggerating a hair. Mine didn’t fit for crap and it felt like it was pull my lower eyelid down so that wasn’t real pleasant with chemicals flying willy nilly in my general direction. Brad rocks his like a champ though. Good for him and his big neck.

Primer sealer down. One light headache. Now we wait. Quick one hour break. WRONG. The Summit Brand Primer sealer would have taken 6 hours to cure on its own at our temp. I was all for it, but Brad didn’t seem to want to paint in the crappy light at 9 pm. What a baby. Instead, the light and blast heater became mobile. I pushed a tire lift around really, really slow to heat up the sides of the truck. For almost 3 hours this continued. I did manage to squeeze in a few Spanish lessons on my phone, get in a mini workout, and plan my grocery list for the next run in.

Once the sealer was dry enough, Brad got to it. At least with the paint, he could just do laps around the truck. So I would go walk a lap, come in and water the dry spots on the floor, go walk a lap, then check on the floor. Finally, just after dark, the truck was done. Whew. Brad works quick. I know it killed him to not be in a paint booth where he had better control of the elements, because Brad’s a perfectionist with his work. He doesn’t half ass things. I just repeated my new mantra….it’s gonna get wrapped. Just get the damn thing done.

She’s allllll done! Paper comes off Tuesday!

Laying down the paint.

It was a long weekend, but we both fell asleep knowing that the truck was painted, the dust could finally be cleaned up for good (uuuuuugh laundry every day and cleaning daily is not my idea of awesomeness), and we could get moving on assembly. What a feeling.

It’s Primer Time!!!!!

Last weekend, the upholstery guy came out from Havasu to bring out the completed seat, seat covers, and build patterns, and took some more measurements. In person, the seat looks even better, we are excited for the rest of the interior.  I’m secretly hoping too, that when we are done with the truck, he can redo the interior in the camper. It’s not run down or bad looking, but the foam is insanely broken down from my bum working on the computer all the time.

Creating Patterns

 

Looks good in the truck right?

Apparently Brad confused me for the paparazzi that are banging down the door for scandal around here….

Now for this week. Oh my heck. I can’t believe we are actually in the painting stage….finally. It was starting to feel like the movie Groundhog’s Day, and not in a good way. I would love to say the week flew by, but it was just another week of painstaking and annoyingly tedious tasks. Fortunately for myself, it afforded me the rare opportunity to leave the piles of paperwork, emails, and orders behind, and delve into the truck. One thing I am a little sad about is my lack of involvement in the building process. Normally, everything is just Brad and me. Whether it was swapping motors, digging ditches, putting in the floor. The truck hasn’t been that way mostly because there is just too much crap to do in the office, as well as day to day maintenance. I swear tracking lost shipments is a full time gig around these parts! Fortunately, Metal has been a good replacement (and probably more useful in the shop than myself) so I can’t complain too much.

So as you all know, it’s been all about body work. Well, the sanding finally stopped (thank goodness) and it was time for phase 2…..or possibly phase 97, either way, we moved forward. Time for masking off the door jams, and then pretty much the rest of the truck. PRIMER BABY! Ok so I was conned into helping tape the doors. Realistically, I should know by now that anytime Brad uses the phrase “we” it actually means “Jen” and that he will be involved elsewhere. And taping the doors, well that was just to get me in the door, because once I start, I don’t stop. So the doors turned into the doors, plus the windows, plus the rear, plus the roof, then the windshield, then a paper drop layer under the truck and THEN a plastic one below that. Hmm I feel scammed. It started off fun, like I was building a fort, but instead of limp blankets and couch cushions, I had a monster truck, 500 feet of paper, and a zillion rolls of tape. Oh yeah! After about two doors, and a few windows, I was completely over the childhood project. It became monster truck fort hell. Everything has to be exact, everything has to stick for awhile, and there is a plethora of different crevices, cracks, curves, corners, cutouts, and hmm what’s another c word I could use…crumpets….yeah, ok well, no crumpets, but you get the point.

Once the sides were all done up, we did the roof together (the 10 minutes of “we”) and then in the middle Brad left for awhile so I was kinda stuck up there with no good way down since climbing down a window or other step would punch a hole in the nicely papered areas. Sweet. It’s not even outside so I couldn’t get a tan, and my cell was sitting on the bench so I couldn’t even do one of my learn Spanish app lessons on it. Lame. Just lay on the cold uncomfortable roof trying to avoid the holes for the AC (that was almost disastrous a few times…) So then  it was on to the drop layers, and after three days of taping (I did office crap in the mornings) I was so ready for the straight lines around the bottom. Yeah. Wishful thinking. The tape was uncooperative and just wouldn’t stick to the dang plastic. Awesome.

About a third of the way through, I could hear Brad start spraying. He had already cleaned and wet the floor to avoid dust. OH and here is a great tidbit. So I learned that you do your first “drop layer” in paper and then below that you do your plastic. The paint when it falls on the plastic just jumps right off when dry. SOOOOOOO in turn if it is close to where you are actually painting, it will put flecks EVERYWHERE. Great, if you are going for the “I don’t know how to paint look” but not so much for champion, I took too long, showpiece.

Ok so I rounded out taping and Brad was working the passenger side of the truck. Does this thing actually have a passenger side? The driver sits in the middle and the passengers are on both sides. Hmm what a conundrum. Blows your mind right? Ok well, probably not so much.

I’m not going to lie. I was thrilled and then some to see primer getting laid down on the truck. Giddy even. I may or may not have done a little happy dance when no one was looking. Stepping back from the truck, I really, REALLY wished I had a roll of ribbon that was like a foot wide, because it resembled a present a three year old tried wrapping without adult supervision. THE OCD in me was screaming in agony that it couldn’t be perfectly coordinated and neatly wrapped, but I just had to walk away. The bow would have been a nice touch. I’ll Photoshop one in, real cheesy like.

There is still so much paint to do, and you just don’t realize how much extra work the length creates. Taping a car? Quick. Taping a monster truck limo? Way too freakin long. And super wasteful. I don’t even know the number of rolls of tape I went through, and I ended up wearing one around my arm after I was done for like three hours because I had grown accustomed to it. Making dinner with masking tape on your bicep really isn’t as cumbersome as one might think.

Happy….end of the month gift

Inside my fort

The shop looks like someone died…

PRIMER!!!!!!!!!

Other shop tasks for the week, included dropping a new tranny in one of the Bullets and Burgers Vans, doing some brakes for Melissa, and both Shawnee’s (our fantastically random and hilarious niece) and Melissa’s birthdays. Hmm. Tomorrow looks like a Vegas trip for me, and hopefully I will return with some sandpaper, powder coated parts, and finished exhaust. (I will also likely get some doughnuts, Jimmy Johns, and Skittles.)  See ya after the truck is painted!!!!!!!

Celebrating Brad’s B-day