Junk mail has its uses

Orange
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.

With the Slingshot in bits for fixing I decided it would be a good idea to paint the hull. On the far side of the pond it’s not easy to see such a low profile model boat. Being able to see the boat might help improve my racing. Mind you, even if I can see the craft, at present everyone else’s is the same colour !

I thought long and hard about the colour scheme. Early plans revolved around another fade paint job, similar to my Tomkat. Then perhaps a bold two colour job with sharp (read: easy to mask) edges. In the end though, I decided to keep things simple The black top covers much of the hull so a complex paint job would be a bit of a waste of time.

The final choice, bright orange, was the result of a number of factors:

• Orange will stand out well from a distance


• The frequency I race on is colour coded orange


• I have an orange car so I like the colour


• I have an orange car so I have spare cans of orange spray paint

So I masked the bits not to be orange off and started work. Newspaper is great for masking but can tear easily. Office paper is a better and as luck would have it a credit card company had decided to send me a whole envelope of the stuff that morning in the post !

Now here is a handy hint. Aerosol cans that are after 8 years old and have spent two years stored in a greenhouse aren’t always in the best condition. This was like painting with a hosepipe. Even after a lot of shaking the pressure was terrible but coverage was good so I persevered. The end result was more than a bit bumpy but before I can do anything about this I’ll have to leave it to dry and harden properly.

It’s very orange though. Success !