And now for the part I most dislike… stripping the old paint!! This, to me is the most painful/messy part of a restoration.. prepping a cabinet for paint!! Its only when i start spraying the base colour i start to get a sense of relief!  After stripping off all of the old paint with paint stripper and wiping down with methylated spirits, I left it til the next day before I sanded it back with 60 grit sandpaper. I then filled all of the dents and gouges with auto body filler. After that had dried I block sanded the filler smooth with 60 grit and refilled any spots I’d missed, or anywhere there were low spots that I could find.

After that I block sanded the whole cabinet back again with 220 grit paper, dusted off the cabinet completely and gave the whole thing a couple of coats of K&H brand enamel primer. When dry I gave it a sand back with 220 grit and filled a few small scratches that showed up after the primer had been sprayed, using “Septone” brand automotive spot putty. After that had dried, I block sanded back the putty back smooth, then, once again sanded back the whole cabinet with 220, before wiping down the cabinet with Prepsol and rags and giving it another coat of primer. I then left it to dry for a day, before sanding the primer back with 400 grit paper, wiping it down with Prepsol then spraying on the purple base colour in about four coats. The paint I used was Plasti-kote brand enamel spray paint, bought from Bunnings. The colour is called “African Violet” and was a fairly good match for the original unfaded colour found under the siderails and on the inside of the cabinet. I gave the inside of the cab a coat of this colour as well, since the whole inside was painted on this cab.. so I thought I should tidy it up too!

I’ll now leave this for a few days before I do the stenciling. This cab had no “splatter” pattern paint on it so there’s one step I don’t have to do! In the mean time I’ll go thru the whole ordeal again with the backbox!