Ho Ya'll;
Well, did you all get the last? I continue today on with this. I now have a clean Non wood trimmed tailgate. It was a tricky job ,but I managed to get it smooth and ready for the wood. Oh,one point here. If ,in trimming you may have gouged the plastic slightly.
Do Not, use Putty as a filler here!! Use Sprue Glue! Why? Well, on a gouge that small the filler will come out if you get it too thin. Whereas the Sprue-Glue is basically more plastic! Now that you have the surface as smooth as the proverbial Baby's Butt, we go to the next step. This one may be tricky for some, But it has worked for me.
Another No-No. Do Not try to sand the gouge out! If you do you will create two things. One is a Flat spot in the surface shape and Two-You will make the part to thin in that spot! We want the gentle curvature to remain. Take the Wood you have selected for the back-ground panels and lay it out in front of you. How thin is it? If it is thinner than a 1/16 then you are good to go. Liners from Cigar boxes are hard to find, But you can find some Skived wood where doll house supplies are had.
Now you need to take this panel you have and cut it into a strip as high and wide as the whole tailgate! Set the tailgate on it's bottom edge. Put the wood next to it and see how high you need it. We will NOT take it up over the top curve. Now tape it down and start sanding! Make sure of this, The Surface is flat and true and you have a sanding block as large as the piece.
Now gently start sanding in a small circular motion over the whole surface from one end to the other. You need to have only taped both ends away from the area you are sanding! Occassionally Stop. Untape and hold up to the light! You want a surface that is equally thin all over! Now when you think you should not go thinner, you are right!
This piece of wood should be no thicker than a fairly thick piece of paper. Here comes the hard part. You now have to get a saucer! Yup, I said Saucer! Fill the saucer about halfway with almost boiling water and drop your wood piece in there. Now after a minute or so take it out and clamp it to the plastic part being careful not to distort the plastic.
You MUST clamp all around the edges! When this is dry, which is after an application of hot air from a hair dryer or heat gun. Then, let it sit and cool overnite! You should have a very thin piece of wood shaped juust like the Tail-Gate! Use a contact type of glue and attach this piece of wood to the tailgate. let dry under clamps again.
Trim the edges off and admire your solid wood looking Tail-Gate part Now after it is really dry. You will go to the next step, That is sealing and sanding( Very lightly) the wood on the Gate! You want the finish to be semi-gloss! There are many products out there for this.DO NOT use anything with an oil base. You don't want to stain it. Only if it is too light and then you have a longer drying time.
After all this lay out the raised pieces. Starting with the one I already describe in part one.The Top,Bottom and Middle piece. OH, by the way, when you trim the plastic wood off, there is a " Boss" molded into the center of the part. This is for the spare Tire to hang on. You can replace it with a piece of Sprue or Rod Epoxied to the wood very neatly. I am done for now, get to this point and talk to me.
One thing before this is done today. You saw the word Skived, correct? That is a term meaning to thin. When you buy dress gloves for the Missus or sometimes dress gloves for Yourself then the leather is likely skived or thinned to make it thinner and more supple. This also applies to wood!