Thanks Jeff I really appreciate that.

A little taste of tomorrow [pic]...well, today, but much later on.

The white paint looks fantastic!

Mitch these are looking great. I like the finish as is warts and all. Real nice job there.

Ditto here !!

:):)

Mitch,

I agree these are looking really cool. I kind of like the imperfections as it gives it lots of character. I would gloss over them, add your inlays and play the heck out of them! Nice job! Randy

Dudes! Thanks! It's nice to know the warts-and-all aesthetic is appreciated; I used to go "antique-ing" with my parents during summer holidays up at Wasaga Beach - brother and sister hated it. But I loved the smell and all the old wood. These shells take me back to that.

However, pic #1 shows some warts I do not like, light areas where the mahogany ply got sanded through. Must have been the other guy who did that :o...anyway it's on the bottom but still.

Pic #2 shows raw umber and burnt sienna with cloth to rub into these light areas, I'm confident this colour combo will disappear these patches. Will post results...

Pic #3 shows the BD hoops painted black and three choices of inlay wrap. Leaning toward the ginger ale sparkle shown in place, but I generally just tack inlays down at the ends so they are always interchangeable.

Pic #4 shows the paint to use on BD hoops, if available. I freaked out a bit last night when they seemed tacky an hour after application but the fine print says 24 hours until 100% dry and it took less than that. They are perfect. So perfect I might relic them a bit heh.

As shown in OP this ghost kit came with another 8X12 and a Pioneer snare. The tom will be a backup/replacement in case of rock and roll disaster, probably get a mahogany veneer as I really botched the wrap removal. The Pioneer will get stripped and assembled once I finish with these three shells. Really looking forward to that!

More to come...

Here's the BD with light patches rubbed out with raw umber and burnt sienna. Not 100% disappeared but much much better. To get this darker, the paint must dry first - additional rubbing after the initial application just removes paint, as is the case in most any painting scenario. I think this first layer is dark enough though. Once it dries I'll hit it with some Minwax and be done.

[edit] Either of these colours would be ideal for darkening/tinting these mahogany shells. I'll report on how the Minwax goes on over the touch-ups, because that will be water over oil, technically a no-no.

Some more pics because we all love pics!

Last night I relic'd the BD hoops a bit with 220 grit and steel wool, and cut the inlay for them. Very happy with the results. Decided to pass on my MIJ workaround for the BD rods/claws, because it would mean single tension on the bottom four lugs and dual tension on the top four...and that seems problematic. So, sitting tight waiting to see if any BD rods & claws will come along...[hint hint]

I've got the Ludwig logo oriented vertically on the side because the bottom is gouged from BD pedal...and also it looks cool. I'll porting the gouged area - don't like porting my BD reso heads but in the end, it's gotta be done.

I was having a hard time removing the black paint from shell interior metal parts, but Easy-Off did the trick. Should be able to assemble the floor tom tonight...

The last pic is a bit of a joke. Well I had some brass sheeting so what the heck...:)

Mitch

I like the home made badge!

...maybe I'll sell em on ebay for 50 bucks a pop eh?

Yeah I'll probably finesse it up a bit and tack it on there, with a bit of contact cement. Just your average fancy grommet washer lol.

So these [pic] were all covered in black paint. Soaked them in Easy-Off for about an hour, a few twists into some steel wool under warm running water and done. A lot of these washers, which don't come off, are dished. There was a thread on here about remedying that, I'll have to search it out...