Veni, vidi, et circumlinisti stibio

For those that don't understand Latin... "Vini, Vidi, Vici" means "I cam, I saw, I conquered". This is a derivation of that: "I came, I saw, I painted". 

Today was painting day. I got the two panels out that I'd drilled and part-primed. I'd used the ends of two spray cans of primer. Thus I pulled out my tin of primer and slipped some paint thinner in since it was beginning to look a bit thick. Then I got to work. The first sheet had been primed around the edges with the spray can before the spray can expired.

The second sheet had no primer at all and had to be primed on both sides. That took a little while. I didn't start painting the topcoat on either sheet until both had been primed, purely because I use throwaway paint brushes and by the time the paint is dry I'd have to start a new brush. Might as well do both panels at the same time with one brush per side.

So I primed both sides of one panel and the unprimed part of the other panel. In order that the paint cured rather than just drying I had to move the panels, to the shade to let them cure properly. 93F was pretty hot and the sun just bakes the oils out of the paint before it sets properly otherwise.

While I was in a gap between painting sessions I was visited by a dragonfly. This one looks awfully like one that was in the house the other day. I caught it using a tupperware style box and lid then released it outside. It seems to like to hang around me now.

Finally I got both sides of the panels done with topcoat. As with the primer I'd added paint thinner. The final color will be grey but to protect it while I'm working with it, black will do just fine. I have a limited quantity of grey paint and several pots of black that I might as well use. It really doesn't matter what the color of the paint on the inside is since it'll be covered by a wooden baffle anyway.

And so the big install day will likely be tomorrow. I prepped one window ready for installation. The other I didn't as I want to see what kind of problems I encounter on the first window. Aside from that, prepping is fairly quick and easy. If I get to this early enough then I can likely get both sheets installed and the silicone caulk will be dry before Monday's rain.

While I'm working tomorrow I need to paint the remains of the caulk on the lower window replacement on the door. That caulk takes 3 days to dry. Today it was slightly sticky. I'm hoping by tomorrow evening it'll be dry enough to paint. The paint needs about half an hour to dry in these temperatures. I can trim the silicone caulk at some later stage and put the 3 day caulk on if need be. I'm hoping I can get the silicone caulk on so there are no gaps on the edges.