Restore Wood on Cab

[CraigG]

Hi All,

Need some advise, recently bought a Ninja Assualt Standard Cab, which is excellent, but a small section of the wood is missing, about 2 inch wide by 2 inch length. Was thinking of using wood filler to ack it out and then possible find suitable paint/spray paint to cover it.

Would this be the method you would use?
Any advise or pictures would be great help, as this would be a new project for me.

Thank you

 

[funhouse]

I'm relatively new to this but I do know that the two part wood fillers are great. They can fill big holes, set quick and can be sanded completely smooth. The US people always quote 'Bondo' as their favourite but in the UK I have used this http://www.screwfix.com/p/ronseal-high-performance-wood-filler-natural-550g/51811and it works very well. Do wear a mask when sanding though - it gets very dusty.

Have you got a photo of the problem area?funhouse2016-05-21 09:01:14

 

[iamjimmi]

The UK equivalent of bondo is called P38. Sets very hard and can be sanded very smooth.iamjimmi2016-05-21 09:08:17

 

[Mr20to5]

As above, either the Ronseal or P38 will sort this easily for you. Depending on your 'gap' you may have to do this in stages.

A couple of tips are to hammer in a few nails into the edge to be filled, leaving them protruding where the wood would once have been, to give the filler something to grab onto and surround.

Also if you can use some offcuts of mdf, clamped to existing board to act as guides, against which you can push the filler into, this will drastically reduce the amount of sanding you need to do later on. Off course remove then before it completely sets.

Good luck.

 

[Dex-Jay]

Also depends where the damage is. You maybe able to let a piece of timber into the repair before filling it. A pic would help.

Automotive filler though yeah, not wood filler. Bondo is the brand synonymous with plastic filler - like Perspex is with Acrylic, y'know?

 

[CraigG]

 

[CraigG]

Photo attached. Thank you for the great responce all.

 

[CraigG]

To paint the cab aswell, which method would you approach this, and any products you can recommend for good results.

1st Cab, more to come!!!

 

[funhouse]

I have tried the Ronseal 2 part wood filler on wood as well as the car body filler P38. Both are excellent and very similar. The Ronseal stuff is designed for wood adhesion and is wood coloured so personally I think it is slightly better, but there's not much in it. I guess price per gram would be the decider.

I have almost finished touching-up the cabinet artwork (it came out well) on my Williams cabinet and I asked similar questions at the start. I think it is difficult for people to recommend anything as each situation is different. Assuming you want to feather-in to the existing, I would look at the existing finish and try and match the colour and sheen it has with any new paint. Do a very small area first or even do it on a separate piece of wood with the same finish so you can vary everything until you are happy with it. If you are spraying paint then mask everything around and remember that the high grit 10,000+ abrasive papers can be excellent at getting the same finish as the surrounding.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[funhouse]

Looking at your photo of the back, personally I would sand the paint off the damaged wood until it is bare, secure some beading so as to maintain the vertical face. Neil1637 above had good advice "If you can use some offcuts of mdf, clamped to existing board to act as guides, against which you can push the filler into, this will drastically reduce the amount of sanding you need to do later on. Off course remove then before it completely sets."

Then fill the area but not proud of the back face, remove. Assess, sand and clean when it is dry and then add in areas if required. Do the same until it is completely flush. The natural instinct is to rush the job and end up with imperfections. Enjoy-it and do it slowly, but right!

Edit: I guess you could temporarily remove the red moulding if it helps get the vertical face right?

Also personally I would want to keep most of the original paint and only touch-up sympathetically when needed. A completely repainted cabinet can look very odd indeed and it is then very difficult to go back to the original. A sympathetically re-touched cabinet with the odd imperfection looks much better.funhouse2016-05-22 11:14:56

 

[Alpha1]

I've got a spare Naomi cart for this if you want to hoard some spares.

 

[Judder]

Not to jump on the thread, but while the cabinet wood experts are all in one place - what's the best way to fix the bottom of cabs where the wood is splitting / has been dented from moving etc.?

Something like this, but nowhere near as bad...

I have two part body filler kicking around as well as spray filler (all car stuff) but wondering if a 'putty' would be better?

 

[funhouse]

You'd get a better result with the 2 part filler than putty. Personally I would sand all loose material off then use a pva or wood glue and seal the existing bare wood. If it was swelled from water damage I would also clamp it tight while the pva dried. If it is just a small area then just filler next would be fine. If it was larger then maybe put screws in to act as skeleton for 2 part filler. If it was really large then a new piece of wood glued/ screwed then filled around. Sand afterwards to flush.

 

[CraigG]

Hi Funhouse, Thank you for the advice. I have started with the wood filler, applied 2 layers so far, it wasnt to deep, so hopefully tomorrow morning will work on sanding it down. got a 120grit sandpaper to get it fine, best they had it diy store. Will sand to smooth finish as possible. I have then bought some paint, black satin finish, which was recommend in another group on arcade cab refurb. Paint for furniture/wood. Will use foam roller to cover in layers and build it up. I will just be touching it up, totally agree, better then whole re paint.

 

[big10p]

Yeppers. PVA mix + clamps + P38 + sandpaper = sorted.

 

[CraigG]

Hi Alpha1, Do you have good Gun covers? Also, i am needing the top artwork that goes with this standard cab. I will show you a photo. I have the top plexi that has Ninja Assault, but i dont have the other part above it with the characters. Do you have it?

 

[aeroflott]

Is PVA better to use than that wood hardener stuff?

 

[funhouse]

I reckon so. The hardener is really made to stop rot on external wood. Pva is a great stabiliser. Big10p is right that a pva mixed with water is a great penetrative bond for flaky absorbent wood.funhouse2016-05-22 23:38:58

 

[Bods]

I don't mess with those other products

Look at the reviews on this plastic padding

Get down Halfords and buy the stuff, you can't get it cheaper anywhere either and you can buy more of the setting stuff if you need to, will last you ages and best stuff I've used, goes of in minutes so you can get it done in no time and sand down in 5 mins

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/fillers-preparation/plastic-padding-ultima

I've sprayed a whole Double Dragon 2 cab with the Plasticote paint they also sell, it came out amazing

PVA mixed with some water on the bad area wouldn't hurt

 

[CraigG]

Thank you all for the help guys. Finished it. Looks far better than before, few inpurfections on cab, which i have touched up, but it looks really good now.

Photo attached.