66 project not dead

Bet you didn't expect to see this again. Like anybody reads this anyway. It's got two coats of clear on it right now. I'm trying to decide if I want to risk polishing it or adding more coats or just leave it alone. The clearcoat is spray can automotive paint but it doesn't seem to be very durable. It already has scratches from a couple of light dustings while it sat waiting for my attention. It was in a protected location so there's no reason for the finish to have damage. Also, there are cracks in the paint where the vertical part joins the bed. I don't know if it's in the black or just the clear. I know they weren't there when I painted it last.

Anyway, here are the pictures I promised 20 months ago:

You can easily see the edges of the decals in the clearcoat. I would think the clear needs to be pretty thick to blend them in or stand up to actual use.

And here's a close up of those paint cracks:

I'm ready to plate the metal parts in the next day or so. One of the reasons this project got so bogged down is all the math to calculate the surface areas of all the parts and mix the bath. I have no idea whether I've prepared the metal well enough to make the new plate stick. I've done the best I can and we'll see what happens. On the plus side, it looks like I'll have a lot of solution left over, so I'll be able to do more parts than I thought.