So who wants to see my Zolatone?

Well..... You can't , not really.....I mean... it photographs like a Yeti in a blizzard   Okay you had to be in Boston for the Blizzard of 2015 to get that reference, but really it does not photograph well.   That being said here you are!

 Here's a closeup ... not that it shows up any better lol.

I like it!   Way more than I thought I would.   It's color number FLX-0032.  Its a creamy yellow with caramel colored specks (they call it cracker crust!)  The sample I got from Zolatone  had a lot of darker brown in it, but mine didn't come out exactly like the sample. There's far less brown which is what I was hoping for. It's also way lighter than these photos suggest.

My experience with Zolatone Flex was very positive.  They recommended that bare metal be primed with a good primer.  I used Benjamin Moore Fresh Start which I've talked about in my last post.  Based on the fact that I was able to prime Moonraker with two coats in just a little under a gallon of primer,  I ordered two gallons of the Zolatone basecoat ($27 each) and three gallons of the topcoat $110 each).   Which by the way, is way less than the estimated coverage.  By Zolatone's coverage estimate,  I would have needed more like 5 gallons of the topcoat, for example.

The basecoat gives the surface its texture and the topcoat gives it the speckled appearance.   I was able to do two coats of primer using up  1 2/3rds of the two gallons of base coat.  The top coat was supposed to have less coverage and it did, I ended up using 2 3/4 gallons out of the three.  I cut it kind of close and I didn't let anything go to waste, taking a spatula to the paint can (really kinda wish I hadn't used my Williams Sonoma spatula,  as I had to chuck it, sigh ).  And when I say I didn't waste much I mean it .... See?

I also did not paint the window frames or refrigerator flue (which I still need to build).  So to keep my reserved paint for the refrigerator flue,  I only did one coat of the topcoat on the wheel wells.  So if you are ordering based on my experience, take that into account!    

They send you one specialty foam roller and one sample card.   When I ordered my sample cards originally they sent me a large (8x10) sample.  I highly recommend you get samples because the colors on my monitor were very different from the real colors looked like.   Also spend the money and order a second specialty foam roller.  By the time I got through my second top coat, the roller was matting down and I wasn't getting a consistent speckle pattern. 

Other tips?

TAPE OFF EVERYTHING.  This stuff SPLATTERS!!!   If you roll slowly you can mitigate some of it.  I am an extremely neat painter and figured I didn't need to tape off the electrical wires, that was a mistake.   And don't expect to go to a fancy dinner that night.  I needed a couple of days for this to wear off, my camera and fitbit are still covered in splatters.

Also, take out your window screens,  paint doesn't clean very well off of them.  Yep, the queen of doing it again strikes! Thankfully I only had to re-screen one, before I wised up and removed them.

Overall though, I am really happy with the paint.  Total cost was  about $402 plus $68 shipping ( not including the $50 for the Benjamin Moore Primer).  I think that's about half what the oil based spray-on Zolatone is, especially if you need to buy/rent a paint sprayer.  

Speaking of which, I recently had a fellow Airstream visitor John (65CV)  drop by.  He has a true Zolatone finish (that is sprayed on).  My impression was that the texture was very similar but my flecks were MUCH more subtle.  Here is his Overlander having a reunion with Moonraker!

Remember my patched section where the refrigerator flue would be?   It came out great! The texture really helped hide the patching job...

I also installed the lights...
Two sconces on either side in the front (if you bid against me on Ebay for these I'm really sorry.....just saying.....)  Love the tiny stars!

 These have the LED bulbs from m4products.com.  They still honor the discount code from the VAP, (Vap5) will save you five percent.  They aren't cheap at $19 a bulb but they won't drain your batteries and they are BRIGHT!

Overhead light is my favorite!   Its casts little starbursts all over the ceiling...

 I did got all my window frames cleaned up and spray painted.  I used a hammered  copper paint from rustoleum.  Copper will be a recurring theme in Moonraker.  I'm in love with the warmness of copper, Stay tuned for more on that front!

Now for the bad news... About a month ago I fell and injured not only my rotator cuff, but my deltoid in my right shoulder.  I'd like to say it was doing something daring...  like polishing and falling off my Airstream, or getting thrown from my horse,  but nope, it was one of those garden variety getting up half asleep in the middle of the night and simply tripping and.... well  I went over like a felled tree. 

Xrays, numerous Dr. visits and mucho Physical therapy later..... I'm finally getting some use of my arm back.  Thankfully, I'm improving enough that they are saying surgery isn't necessary.  I still have very little strength though, can't even hang onto a screwdriver.   

Which means that work on Moonraker is at a standstill.   Just when I get to the fun part! 

Meanwhile,  I've got a  Propride waiting to be installed.... NOT going to happen soon as it weighs a ton.  The TPMS system I think I can handle (the little sensors are only a couple of ounces lol)  

Anyway, as I couldn't work on her, we decided it was time to hit the road.  We've spent the last couple of weekends at Greenfield State Park (NH), then Salisbury State Park (MA)... This past weekend we headed north to the Loon Mountain Area (NH).

Sleeping on the floor on mattresses has moved up the beds to the PRIORITY ONE

list !!!  Just got a load of bending birch and Baltic birch.... itching to get started!!!

Oh, and I went to the Brimfield Antique show and picked up three of these aluminum riveted beauties.  They have wooden slides on the bottom and we've been using them to store stuff in the truck bed !  Love them! They even have metal flanges on top (in the corners) so I can stack them or put a piece of wood on top to use as extra seating.

And one of my favorite pictures from our trips.  Finn with the Airstream behind him!