Milestone!

In an unprecedented application of will power, I got the two front wheels sanded and painted this week!

The pictures look pretty nice if you click on them to enlarge.

The sanding of the primer on the two wheels took about 5-6 hours for each wheel, and sanding between coats of paint took about 2 hours for each wheel.

I learned a great deal about paint while doing the gear.  Only time will tell how the job holds up, but the application of the paint was nothing short of an epiphany.  I'll blog that in the future.

The next piece to go into the paint booth will be the body, then the seat.  If all goes well, I should have those parts done next week.

This will give the gear paint awhile to cure.  I need to mask the hubs so I can paint the inner and outer parts of the hubs, step treads, etc. black.  Don't want to stick masking tape on the fresh paint!

Once I get the body and seat done, I have contacted a striping artist who is willing to stripe the vehicle for me.  I managed to destroy the finish on one of the body bolsters in a do-it-yourself episode.  Not keen to try again!

The wheels have a nice fresh coat of grease and new leather washers, and I find that the whole thing fits handily in the carriage shed without taking the shafts off!  :o)  Big plus - the little devils are tight!

Shaft cover materials are on order.  I think my goal of getting the entire carriage painted before the end of summer will be met!

The last dirty metal, the foot rest, has been cleaned and primed.  I have a little work to do on one of the dashboard mounts.  Soon, I'll be able to go back to my "other" life for awhile, awaiting the rains of winter for the indoor job of upholstering!