What colour paint?

My decision on what colour my mini was going to be had changed several times. 

Originally i was going to do an Orange & Black paint scheme, which soon changed to a two tone White & Black look... It wasnt the easiest decision because i wanted to stick to 70's solid colour either bright or pastel and wanted a colour that wasnt common. Pretty much every colour has been used on Minis in Australia.

My final decision was based off an Aqua coloured Mini in Mini World and a topic about Aqua Minis on The Mini Forum. I would still maintain the Black roof and flares for some contrast and my Black rims would match up well.

When it came to finding the colour code and purchasing the paint it was only available in a Dekron Direct Gloss which would of costed almost 3 times as much as normal auto paint. A colour which i found to be similar was the GM/Holden Aquarius used on the LH Holden Torana in the 70's. This came in a solid base coat and was easily available from Amcap, my local supplier of Autothane and PPG paints.

The colour on the Holden Torana.

And here is a sample i sprayed up.

 

The colour looks quite blue in pictures but thats the way it came out through the camera. In real life it is a lot more green. 

In the end, im pretty happy with the final decision.

Body Preparation - Shell

I've taken on the job of preparing the body for paint myself. Although, I will be getting a friend to check over it and paint it for me. He recommended i used Autothane products as they are the brand he uses at work and they are a trusted brand by PPG.

For anyone who has done any body preparation you'd know its not the most enjoyable job. In fact its probably the worst job. It consists of long hours of sanding, bogging and more sanding. I spent countless hours after work and im still not a 100% sure its perfect but its currently in a reasonable good state. Primed and smooth. But ill take you through my journey.

Here is the shell almost ready to be primed.

A few layers of prime and she's looking pretty good.

A dust coat of black and the blocking begins. Here is where the body preparation really aches. For those who dont know what blocking is: you apply a thin dust coat of black paint then use a block with reasonable fine grit wet and dry sand paper (i used 240grit) and rub off the black coat. If there is any black paint remaining that means there is a low spot in the body, and if you rub back to bare metal, this usually means there is a high spot.

With the help of some knife putty. Below.

You have this patchy body. The most tedious of all jobs!!! >_<

Now here is the body in its current state before its final rubbing. I primed the shell with several coats and rubbed back with 400 grit. It will need a further rubbing back before actual paint but i do need to move onto the doors, bootlid and bonnet.