Art:
Your work looks beautiful. I know how tedious this is and the older I get the less patience I have. Actually, my wife did the interior of the TR250 back in 1985. She is so detail oriented and has the patience of Job. Maybe I can persuade her to do the 3A.
I have a few questions. I have been told that in order to cover the dash and door tops, which are leather, some people actually boil the leather to make it more pliable. Did you do this? I’m a little hesitant about doing this because I waited for several months for the trim kit to be made and shipped from England. I don't want to damage the leather!
What kind of glue or adhesive did you use? Same for leather and for the vinyl trim (dog legs)?
Concerning photography, your pics aren’t that bad. Unless you have color matched the camera, computer monitor and printer, don’t expect to get a faithful reproduction. Also lighting conditions are critical and flash can cause more problems than you would imagine. You might want to get a photo editing software to adjust your shots to look correct on your monitor. Resolution can also be critical when trying to photograph details in these cars. Let me give you an example. This first photo was shot in 1999 with a Sony Mavica , which at that time was state of the art with just under 1 million pixels, or 1 MP. I have adjusted the photo so that it is exactly 2 inches across and 72 pixels per inch. If you try to blow this up, it will just pixelate and all detail will be lost.
The second shot was taken today with a Sony CyberShot, 12.1MP camera. This is the same, but restored gauge and again I re-sized the photo to be 2 inches wide and 72 pixels per inch. However, now the entire frame consists of the word OIL and symbols for pounds per square inch. Also, because of the enhanced resolution you could blow this up further if necessary.
I'm not suggesting that you need a 12.1mp camera because you can get more than adequate results with 7 or 8mp. The 12.1 can be purchased for about $300 and the 7 mp unit is $100 less.
In 1999 the Mavica cost $999.00 for 1MP. The CyberShot was $300. and 12 times the resolution! Isn't technology wonderful.
Good luck, Frank