Rubbed back (well, almost!)

Following the mammoth effort on Saturday, Damian woke to find Scottie missing from the guest room, and strange noises coming from the shed. He went up to the shed to find that somehow, Booger Mobile had acquired a severe case of what looked to be the MEASLES!!



Turned out Scottie had woken early and decided to go check Booger Mobile out, and being unhappy with the surface, began to spot-putty the defects (being such a perfectionist, noone else would have seen them, but nothing but the best will do for Booger Mobile!!) After sanding back and throwing on another coat of primer, BM looked good as new!

After laying back on the guide coat,

the tape and paper was removed to reveal Booger Mobile in all its glory ready to be wet-rubbed back!!

Using Scottie's winch to extract Booger Mobile from the shed, Damian found several hoses to join together to provide water, and Scott began the onerous task of hand-rubbing the primer.

This is the type of top-quality work that Scott performs! Shiny isn't it!! (To quote an ad that was on TV many years ago - so shmooooooooth, so grossy!!

If you look closely in the following shot, you can see that one half of the bonnet has been wet-rubbed, and the other half hasn't... can you pick it? (If you really aren't sure, here's a tip - go get your eyes tested!!)

Lacking the necessary skill to wet-rub a car to Scottie's exacting standard, Damian made himself busy preparing some of the other bits and pieces lying around. This is the "super pursuit" badge that goes on the front guard - the boys though it would be nice if it had some green in it!

Meanwhile, Scott kept rubbing...

While Damian brushed up his taping skills...

Then threw on the first of a gazillion coats of green paint!

Here's the finished product for the Super Pursuit badge...

And the wet-rubbing continued...

As did the taping and cutting (usually Damian isn't allowed to play with sharp knives, due to the tendency for him to cut himself, however he managed it with all fingers, toes and limbs intact!)

And the green paint begins...

Meanwhile, word had spread far and wide about Scottie's wet-rubbing ability, and a small crowd of onlookers gathered, watching in awe!

The following shot offers a true "reflection" of Scottie's wet-rubbing ability!

Which clearly pales into insignificance beside Damian's magnificent horn!!

The wet-rubbing was almost completed...

but sadly the boys ran out of time to get it all done, so the Booger Mobile was pushed back into the shed... (Gee it's a lot lighter without the engine and gearbox!!)

Here's a sample of Damian's painting ability (which explains why Scottie has been painting the car!!)

However this one turned out sweet!!

Another massive effort from the boys saw the wet-rubbing almost completed (externally), several fiddly jobs completed (such as the chrome inlays etc being greenified, the donated towbar assembly being painted etc), and several people very impressed with Scottie's car preparation abilities!

This week sees Damian heading to Camp Quality senior camp in Brisbane, so there will be no further blog updates until next weekend, and Scottie hoping for his bleeding fingers to recover in time to do more wet-rubbing next weekend!

Let's keep those donations rolling in, and if you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact Team Booger Mobile via the link to the right.

Have a great week everyone, and remember, it's for the kids!!

External Primer is ON!!

Saturday marked the first day of a two-day Booger Mobile marathon! Scottie came down in the morning, with the plan that two solid days (and nights too if necessary) would be spent getting Booger Mobile to primer stage.

Damian started under the bonnet, keeping out of Scottie's way. First he removed the engine mounts, strut turrets and cross member,


then used the scary wire-brush angle grinder to clean surfaces ready for sanding.

Meanwhile, Scottie was busily preparing the bodywork for priming. Note how many highs and lows there were on the passenger side!!

After removing various bits, Damian sanded the engine bay and applied the matt black paint on the lower portion.

The unpainted part is going to be the same colour as the rest of Booger Mobile. Looks quite good so far, doesn't it?

While Scottie continued sanding, scraping, bogging, hammering, sanding, cursing, Damian cleaned and painted up the removed bits.

He also took the liberty of removing the bonnet latches and sanding the underside of the bonnet ready for priming.

Poor Scottie continued to work on the passenger side - clear evidence of an accident from many moons ago - and this caused much additional work as the different paint chipped rather than allowing a nice smooth edge to be blended in.

At last it was time to get the external primer happening. (Note the darkness outside, and the particles floating through the photo like snowflakes!) Booger Mobile was taped up to protect the windscreens and the chrome trim,

then Scottie got to work applying the primer.

Looking good!! (Ran out of paint and had to refill at this point!)

Still going...

Covering up the leopard-like pattern on the passenger side!

Two coats of primer and this is what Booger Mobile looked like!

Driver's side.

Passenger side.

Look at those beautiful straight panels and clean lines!! On Sunday, the plan is to get the guide coat on and the outside of Booger Mobile wet-rubbed ready for painting, then the doors, bonnet and bootlid can be removed for the internal priming to be done!

Still a lot to get done this weekend! Tune in tomorrow night for the next exciting chapter!!

Donations soar past $750!!

Wow... and again... WOW!!

Scottie and Damian are overwhelmed by the support so far, with donations to Camp Quality (as part of Team Booger Mobile's fundraising effort) now exceeding $750!!!!!

Rest assured that all money from donations goes directly to Camp Quality to help run their amazing programs. To give you a little perspective, $750 is enough money to send one camper away for a week-long camp!! On behalf of the campers and their families, THANK YOU to all who have donated!

One word of advice though, if you click onto the Team Booger Mobile esCarpade page directly to make a donation (rather than using the bright yellow Donate Now button on the right hand side of this blog), don't use the round, red donate button at the top of the page, scroll down till you see the yellow Donate Now button beside the current total - this is the button that ensures your donation is attributed to Team Booger Mobile's fundraising, and allows you to leave a message of support! Please do leave a message when you donate - the boys love to read them!!

Donations pass $500 and rising!!

Who would have thought that in less than ONE WEEK, the total donated to Camp Quality (as part of Team Booger Mobile's fundraising efforts) would have passed $500!!

This is around 11% of our required "minimum donation" of $4500, and an impressive 2.5% of our target of $20000.

Many thanks to all the wonderful people who have already donated. If you haven't donated and wish to do so (or indeed if you have donated already are want to do so again!!), you can donate online by clicking the button below!

Primer prime-time!!

Scottie arrived a little later than usual to get to work on Booger Mobile, having stopped along the way to collect a towbar that was kindly donated by Sean (a member of the Australian Ford Forums).


While Scottie got started on the bodywork, Damian finished off the display stand.




Shortly after that, the boys had a visitor - a friend of Damian's who in a previous life was an engine reconditioner stopped by to give the official verdict on the engine block. Turns out it can be saved, so there'll be more about that in a later blog!

Meanwhile, Scottie was creating a dust-storm,



so Damian sought refuge with Scottie's air-powered sanding tool. (Note the funny angle - photo was taken using the camera balancing on a tin of spray paint using the auto timer!)

Of course, immediately after this photo was taken, the end of the sander spun off into the never never and the tool wouldn't work, so Damian had to pull it apart and found that a grub screw inside had come loose and was jamming it. After sorting that out (much to Scottie's surprise and happiness), and quite a bit of time later, this is what the granny visor looked like!!

Scottie continued sanding, bogging, resanding, and giving Damian menial tasks to perform...

In a moment of artistic genius, Damian decided to grafitti in the bog dust...

Shortly after this, it was time to clean Booger Mobile down with PrepSol and tape it up, ready to lay on some primer!

All taped up ready to go!

Scottie mixed up the primer and poured it into his spray-gun. Note the gumby left handed tipping - I suggest making a pourer on the other side of the pot!!

As stated in a previous blog, Scottie is a gun spray-painter from way back, so Damian stood back and watched the master in action!!

Don't forget the granny visor!!

And here's the undercoat completed on the roof, bonnet and top of the front guards!

Of course, the nice clean, pretty yellow undercoat didn't last long... Scottie laid on the black guide coat so that the tape and paper could be removed, ready for rubbing back next week.

And the granny visor... looks like it's ready for a good rubbing as well!!

And there it is!! Primer and guide coat ready to rub back...

With just four short weeks till the grand unveiling, the work is ramping up quickly! Stay tuned for the next exciting update!!

Last but certainly not least, thanks to all the generous people who have donated so far...