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Building a SAGA HT-10 - the body

The body

the body showing the top in primer First, I masked off the sides of the body with masking tape and sprayed two coats of white primer. Using primer ensures that the gold lacquer, which is not very opaque, appears even. I masked tight to the line where I wanted the top to be, as I wanted the gold to completely cover the primer.

the body showing the top in gold lacquer Once the primer is dry and sanded smooth, I sprayed the gold top. This time I maked a bit more conservatively so that the gold came slightly over the sides of the body. I sprayed 2 coats of gold, sanding smooth after the first one. This picture shows the first coat. The final coat of metallic should not be sanded.

scraping the binding I left the top to dry for several days and then scraped the edge clean with a craft knife. The sealing coat on the body allowed me quite a lot of leeway doing this.

spraying the back Next I masked off the front and the sides where I wanted the binding to be and sprayed the back with my dark brown lacquer. Spraying hanging up is a good idea as it gives easy access to all parts of the body.

False binding on body edge Here you can see how the "binding" appears at this stage..

finished back of body Finally I scuff-sanded the back and sides of the body (any more might have risked sanding through the colour) and wiped down with a tack cloth to remove any dust. I gave the whole body a few coats of clear lacquer and buffed to a shine.

finished front of body I sprayed the first few coats very lightly to avoid disturbing the colour coats. It's easy with lacquer to redissolve previous layers and cause runs.