The great general painting thread

[DoomBuggy]

OK home stretch here.

Once again we take our 400 grit wet paper and just lightly scuff the surface, you want to just remove any bad orange peel you might have created and scuff the entire surface to be painted.



When I did the original design I made sure the overall width was one inch for the boarders. This now allows me to do this a little different then the original paint job. In the original I layed a silver base coat, masked out my design and then sprayed black over that. This time I am doing it a bit different, the black is the base. Anyhow here I have decided what will be the highlighted sections.




Using the tape above as a guideline, I know layout what will be the boarder between the black and the color sections. I also decided to just mask off where the oil lines will be. Last time I painted around these, I should have done the same this time, but got lazy, once assembled I will see if I screwed up or not.



Next step is to decide where the templates will go. I played with this a lot, there were four basic choices, align with top edge, align with bottom edge, split the difference between them, or try to make it level to the ground when the tank is mounted. I eventually opted to split the difference leaning toward aligning to the top edge.



Attachments keep coming and going

[DoomBuggy]

I did the same for the other side, then masked off every area that was not be be painted silver or root beer. BTW, the orange tape is 3M pin striping tape. It comes in various widths and can be had on eBay for a decent price. I have rolls of everything from 3/4" down to 1/8". Don't scrimp here. I once made the mistake of buying some cheap Chinese crap and it lifted in the middle of the paint job. NEVER again!

TO get the stripes where I wanted them I pulled back a little tape on the back and matched them up.





Now comes the fun, as I did on the sample piece I first misted the stencil area, I needed a little silver in there to make the darker areas pop against the black. Then, still using the airbrush, I filled in the top and bottom areas. I probably should have used the touch-up gun or even the DeVilbis but I knew I needed the airbrush for the highlighting. Anyhow, once I had a couple of coats on those areas, I started highlighting the stencil to give the "weathered" effect I wanted.





I let that set for about an hour and then added the pin striping to the top and bottom, these will be the two silver stripes.



Next I loaded up the DeVilbis with some Intercoat that had a bit of Root Beer mixed into it. In this case I used roughly 1 tablespoon of concentrate to about 1 cup of mixed Intercoat. I sprayed a couple of light coats until I felt the top and bottom strip matched what was on the fenders. I let that sit for 30 minutes, then pulled all the tape from the sides.

I let this sit for an hour, took a little 400 wet paper and LIGHTLY touched a couple of spots where the tape pulled the paint. Wiped the whole thing down with the post sanding cleaner and then mixed up the final clear. This stuff is catalyzed like the primer so clean up afterwards is really important, pull the guns all the way down and take your time.

[DoomBuggy]

Well that is about it, here is the finished product. I will let them cure for a week or two and then I will do a few pages on buffing them out.

[Hoghead]

Looks like you nailed it this time!

[Hatchet54]

DING DING DING, first guy gets it, an old 45 adapter.

Sweet, do I win a new bike?

[DoomBuggy]

Looks like you nailed it this time!

Thanks man, I like the way it turned out and at this point can't wait to start putting her back together.

Hatchet, you won my unending admiration, how's that, lol.

[Hoghead]

Thanks man, I like the way it turned out and at this point can't wait to start putting her back together.

I remember how back 40 plus years ago, you did everything you could to turn out a sanitary ride on little money. Sneaking parts thru the local car plant's chrome baths (we polished them at home) , and getting a nose full of colored boogers spraying paint with home made rigs (paint gun borrowed from the same auto plant) . No fake patina, no leaving it in primer, you finished it as best you could. Rat look impressed no-one back then, remember acrylustation, cobwebs, lace and fishscale paint jobs? I do.

[DoomBuggy]

Yes that was the way I was brought up. And being here in the Windy City you tore it down every winter and came up with a new paint job to try and blow your buds away. I tried to do as many of the old techniques as I could remember on this bike and a few new ones based on new tech.

One big difference is that lacquer was CHEAP, the outlay for these new paints can get insane really quick, that is why there are really only two colors, black and silver, and then the concentrate for the Root Beer. The bottle I bought of that will last a life time, lol.

[Cimino289]

Definitely killer doom I hate that I havent been tuned in as much but work is killing me.

[DoomBuggy]

No problem brother, hope you got some ideas out of it, thanks for getting me going!

[Hoghead]

Yes that was the way I was brought up. And being here in the Windy City you tore it down every winter and came up with a new paint job to try and blow your buds away. I tried to do as many of the old techniques as I could remember on this bike and a few new ones based on new tech.

One big difference is that lacquer was CHEAP, the outlay for these new paints can get insane really quick, that is why there are really only two colors, black and silver, and then the concentrate for the Root Beer. The bottle I bought of that will last a life time, lol.

Oh yes- lacquer was cheap-and so easy to rub down to a mirror shine. Learnt fast that prep was 80% of the paint game too.
40 years ago I bought an unpainted basket case with several unopened cans of metalflake product, to produce a candy apple red finish. Didn't use it, but it soon found a home! Thanks for the thread, I am considering having another go when this Covid shit is over!

[DoomBuggy]

I shared the pics with a few buds around here and they are already asking if I am interested in doing work on their bikes. Hell once I retire I might even think about doing some work, AFTER I spend some time enjoying the freedom, lol.

( Plus I have to get this house ready to sell and find a new place. All of a sudden the missus is thinking southern Wisconsin could be the answer )

[Hoghead]

I shared the pics with a few buds around here and they are already asking if I am interested in doing work on their bikes. Hell once I retire I might even think about doing some work, AFTER I spend some time enjoying the freedom, lol.

( Plus I have to get this house ready to sell and find a new place. All of a sudden the missus is thinking southern Wisconsin could be the answer )

Southern Wisconsin? I thought you were looking to escape the cold? I know there are beautiful parts of W.I. tho' . Look out man, she'll change her mind and look to the upper peninsula of Michigan next-you'll become a Yooper!

Cool if your buds want paint tho'- a skill to barter..

[DoomBuggy]

Southern Wisconsin? I thought you were looking to escape the cold? I know there are beautiful parts of W.I. tho' . Look out man, she'll change her mind and look to the upper peninsula of Michigan next-you'll become a Yooper!

Cool if your buds want paint tho'- a skill to barter..

My grandson is 10 yo and she wants to stay around here for a few more years at least. I stopped trying to make sense out of it years ago.

[Hoghead]

My grandson is 10 yo and she wants to stay around here for a few more years at least. I stopped trying to make sense out of it years ago.

Ha ha, I hear you. My wife wanted to move to all sorts of places, in the end she moved , I stayed put...and we haven't spoken for 15 years! I understand the pull of grandchildren, tho, my great nephews are on MX bikes at 6 and 8 y.o. respectively, and on their way to being fully fledged biker scum. My GF loves them too.

Looks like you may have acquired a new skill to keep you occupied!