With the rear tub finished, I could hone my basic spray-painting skills (did I mention how difficult this seemingly straightforward task is!?) on the rest of the body panels, first the door skins, then moving on to the front wings and bonnet. By the time I reached the bonnet, I had managed to get a pretty mirror-like finish to the paint, but given that the rest of the vehicle was decidedly less than perfect, I opted to sand the bonnet down (three times!) and give it a sympathetic, less than perfect final coat....(well, that's mostly true, but another reason I had to do this was that in my final, mirror-like finish, I let the paint in a small corner of the bonnet run! Rookie error!). Anyway, just as my skills were developing to the point I could start a new career as a paint shop apprentice in a dodgy part of town, the body panels ran out, and it was time to start assembling things...
Whilst a Series Landy might be much like a Meccano set, it is certainly not a precision built luxury vehicle! Getting the various body panels to align, without yawning gaps and distorted flat surfaces was a test of patience and determination. Furthermore, installing solid rivets over an already finished spray job takes courage and finesse, especially when one finds out later that the supplier used a magnesium/aluminium alloy which, despite being tougher and more resistant to shearing, is a complete bitch to bash into position... I had to enlist the services of my teenage daughter, as the process is definitely a two-person job. Much pushing, pulling, banging, squeezing and cursing later, the Landy started to look like a production line vehicle again....
Spectacular!