Progress Update:
On impulse, I ordered the matte orange vinyl last week, thinking that the gloss rattle can orange would be too glossy. Since I had the paint, and was impatient, I decided to hit the speaker grill and coinbox surround. Worst-case, I cover the paint when the vinyl comes as the manuf. recommends a glossy / flawless finish for best results.
The vinyl actually showed up as I was painting and I was amazed at how close the vinyl was to the Rustoleum Orange I bought. Anyway, the paint looks great and I'm going to roll with it. After the primer coat, I wet-sanded and the grill now has 2 nice coats.
EPIC failure on the coin-door. Same primer, same procedure, but when I painted the orange top-coat, the paint started separating like a crackle effect. I was tempted to start scraping it off or ragging it while wet but thought better of it and let it dry. Yesterday morning, I proceeded to sand it and this just made it worse as the paint gummed up and left debris throughout.
In hindsight (and if I do another build), I would paint the panels all separately. Masking my inner sidewall (only installed one side) and worrying about a nice clean edge on the return was a bit stressful. At least w/ one side off, I could spray and fix my mess without worry.
Long story short, I took paint thinner and a scraper to the orange and brought it all back down to the black primer, degreased, re-primed, sanded, primed, sanded and then added 2 nice coats following the 'within one hour' recommendation.
Why the crackle? The only thing I can think of is residue from my tack cloth (wax) or debris in my sanding sponge.
The front looks great now and I've got her on her side with the second side resting on top and ready to be glued / screwed and to add the shelves etc.
Here's the florescent light installed:
And the speaker grill, painted:
Here's a shot of the cab on it's side, surround painted and top panel ready to be affixed:
For interest, here is the orange vinyl (2' x 5' roll). I may just re-sell it on eBay or save it for another build:
That's it - off for the Easter weekend but should be back on Monday with a few hours to get her together and upright (hopefully!).
Happy Easter gents.