Touch-ups

This past week I removed all the plugs and tape from Ms. Rusty and was surprised how well they worked.  Not only did they (the plugs and tape) do a good job of preventing powder coating from going where it shouldn’t, but they were also very easy to remove.  Here is a photo of the interior of the needle area after all the plugs/tape/etc. have been removed:

However, there were a few areas that needed some touching up.  One area was the serial number plate.  I had forgotten to cover it with tape so it was completely covered with powder coating and clearcoat.  I tried using an razor knife to scrape it clean, but I ended up putting a gouge in Ms. Rusty’s new skin and I nearly cried.

I then took out my dremel tool and put on a sanding disk and carefully took off the layers of powder coat.  Then I took some fine steel wool and cleaned it up a bit more and smoothed out the edges.  The finished result isn’t perfect, but it still looks ok, in my opinion.

Another area that needed some help was the bobbin area.  Apparently I didn’t do a thorough enough job of taping/sealing the area as there is some buildup of powder coat here.  However, after a good bit of careful sanding with coarse and then finer sand paper, the finished result is as good as new.

Before:    After:

Lastly, there was some chipping of the clear coat that occurred when I took off the tape over the bobbin area.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get good pictures of this to show you.  A bit of sanding and polishing helped smooth out the area, but it isn’t perfect.  In the end, I wish thing had turned out a bit better, but Ms. Rusty looks 1000x better than before so I need to leave well enough alone for now. 
Next time I promise we’ll start getting some parts back on this old girl!