Dome build: White primer.

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Tuesday: I should rout the edges of the shutters to match the ribs but ought to glue them firmly to the ribs first. Presently the slight overhang is making them wider than necessary.

Decided to paint the dome with white primer to see how well the joint sealer was covered. Not too bad from a distance. Four vertical rows of three tiers high used up half a 0.75 liter pot of primer. That's about a quarter of the dome panels. I was being generous with the paint to ensure coverage from one coat.

I found an easy way to handle the paint up the ladder. A 1L measuring jug has an excellent handle and fitted the brush to perfection. Unfortunately the action of painting, with a three inch brush, finds the same pain in my elbow as doing the woodwork. So I am having a rest over lunch before continuing. I need to fetch more primer to finish and get a darker test pot mixed. The sage green test pot was obviously far too light even against the white. So we didn't bother with a larger test piece. [See image above right.]

After lunch I finished painting half of the dome and all of the primer. I still need to reach the top tier through the slit. Which will be difficult with the shutter covers still in place. Since they will conceal the top tier. It is lucky I didn't glue the shutter covers to the ribs.

I also need enough primer for the shutters. Which means I need more than one 0.75 liter pot. The next size up is a huge 2.5L! Had a new and darker "Smokey Sage" test pot mixed while I was buying two more pots of 0.75 liters.

Wednesday: I have the rest of the dome to paint before a risk of light rain overnight tonight. The trouble is that my right elbow is complaining badly about months of overdoing it. I can hardly lift my forearm let alone a paint brush! An elastic bandage wasn't much help yesterday.

I managed to almost complete the priming of the rest of the dome before lunch except for the top tier of panels. They still need some sanding to flatten the sealer before I paint.

Then there are the shutter door covers. If I take them down to paint them they won't have the correct curve. They may even crack the paint when bent to shape again. I suppose I could tension them with strings like a bow to paint them.  I decided to risk all and prime them in place. Not easy to reach the middle of the doors from either ladder. I ended up standing on the base ring and reaching across the open shutters.

Three timber merchants, miles of driving, time and petrol wasted and still the paint test pot mixer is completely up the creek. Three identical wrong mixes! I persevered with the third dealer and was able to get a different mix which was close to what I wanted. Then she didn't label the pot so I may never find the correct mix ever again.

Thursday. Overnight rain has left everything wet. I needed to work on sanding the top of the dome before I could primer it. The inside of the dome looked quite dry. It isn't very warm today at 54F but it is sunny and windy which should help to dry the outside if I keep rotating the dome.The irony is that the white paint will probably reduce internal warming.

Once I climbed back up to the top the panels were dry and I was able to sand them. I removed the top shutter covers to allow access to the rest of the top tier. Then I primed the panels and everything else which needed it. A bit of a stretch at times to reach the outer shutter ribs with the paint brush. Always with my safety belt clipped onto the ladder. Finally I was able to replace the top covers for the night.

Click on any image for an enlargement. 

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