Body is together, has gone through a couple of rounds of filler/primer and on to its first full coat. I don't have a lot of back satin left, so I'm going to avoid another full coat and just worry about hitting the areas that need a touch up - mostly the areas where the primer is still coming through.
I've learned a lot thus far:
- The filler/primer cracks up over parts that had been painted previously despite sanding. I think more effort went into trying to deal with that drama than I ever spent sanding the PLA. The control panel has some fairly deep cracks despite a lot of sanding time. I've decided I might just live with it. A few cracks add to the texture.
- The filler is fun to sand. It makes a lot of mess. It also smells. A lot.
- I need better gear to put bits together while glue dries. Limited clamps made it a challenge.
- This concept has a massive surface area that is quite simply too hard to completely prepare.
- I really should have put more effort into fine tuning my printer to reduce the layer lines and done more testing to avoid using as many supports. There are a lot of mesh areas inside the sections that the supports had adhered to that are too hard to get to. If I'd have been less focused on making this low budget, I suspect I'd have printed enough pieces to make 4 guitars instead of 1.
This is definitely not perfect. A lot of the join work is crap, some due to the additional layers added where I've cut the sections up to fit, where things moved while the glue cured and so on. There is a gap to the right of the centre - you can see it near the bridge. There is a whole area that doesn't have a side in the design to adhere to the section with the control cavity, so there isn't a lot of room for adhesion.
I wound up with two sections to put together, and this was where they joined. Initially they were near perfect, but it become clear soon after that where I'd anchored other areas (I resorted to cable ties), that it was trying to flex. When I let it go, that gap developed, so I let it go. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to create a whole lot of pressure over an area that doesn't have a lot to adhere to. Once the back plate is on it shouldn't stand out too much I hope.
The neck arrived yesterday. Surprisingly straight. The finish is a bit average and there are signs that the clear coat has come over to the fret board.
I've thrown on a coat of lemon oil to start trying to bring up the fretboard, and I went through and gave the frets a quick level, dress and polish.
I 3D printed the Plasticaster logo, laid down some polyurethane on the headstock and managed to get it to stick. This needs some more work - it's coming up a bit bubbly - I imagine the coolness of the garage is probably a bit too cold for it. Once it's dry I'll try to sand it back and wait until it's a bit warmer to give it another coat. I don't really care to do too much more to the headstock other than get that logo stuck there with a couple of coats over it to help keep it there, and otherwise bring the finish back to an acceptable level.
I've got the electronics all ready to go when the body is ready.
The hardware however is a different matter; it's all kit bits from the ST-1 which is still in transit (since 20/8).
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