Getting ready for paint

[Paul]

Hey everyone as the weather starts to get cold I am in the process of getting ready to paint the bike. I just can't stand the factory paintjobs and being that I do custom airbrush and paint work I just feel like doing something wild. I was thinking of doing a tigerstripe paintjob with the base color being corvette yellow fading down into red down to a purple fade at the bottom. The center of the tank would be the center of the tiger stripes running down each side of the bike from there. The front fairing and trunk and bags would also be painted to match. It is either that or a tigerstripe with the yellow fading to white at the bottom. It is sort of hard to explain but and I am not sure how to post pics in this forum, so if you go to my website www.bigheadguitars.com and go into the custom shop on page 4 you will see examples of both paint jobs (just click on the picture for a bigger view). I was also thinking of adding some LED lights afterward to show off the paint. Let me know what you think.

Paul

[Yammer Dan]

PAINT??? What is that stuff for??

[sarges46]

PAINT??? What is that stuff for??

 

 

It helps hold stuff together!

[sarges46]

Paul

 

Those are some nice paint jobs! Be careful how many events ya come too with this group or be prepared to spend all your time do "odd" jobs for the guys and gals!!

 

Nice work.

[Squidley]

You do some exceptional work Paul, very, very nice. I think that with your talent the bike will look very trick...looking forward to seeing it

 

PS Great pic of George Lynch, I always loved Dokken and he is one of the best there is.

[Yammer Dan]

That blue with the fade out to the lighter blue is really good.

Now I saw something Blue once before?

[gibvel]

You do some exceptional work Paul, very, very nice. I think that with your talent the bike will look very trick...looking forward to seeing it

 

PS Great pic of George Lynch, I always loved Dokken and he is one of the best there is.

 

Squidley loved Dokken? Hmmm had you pegged as a country boy. :rotf:

[Skid]

Squidley loved Dokken? Hmmm had you pegged as a country boy. :rotf:

 

No more gay cowboy movies....please.

[Squidley]

Squidley loved Dokken? Hmmm had you pegged as a country boy. :rotf:

 

Sure looks like you twisted that one Mark A bit of a country boy now, but a hell raiser when I was young

 

Sorry about the Hijack there Paul...keep us posted with the paint, I know it will be awsome.

[Paul]

Hey thanks guys I think it will be sharp when it is finished. and I want something different so I think that will be the paintjob to do. I am still up in the air on the faid yellow, red, purple or the yellow to white. I am leaning more toward the purple bottom it will hide the dirt a little better than the white. I will keep you posted with pics as I get started on it but I am hoping to get just a little more riding in before then, but I dont know we saw our first snow last night. Not much of anything but still saw some flakes.

And by the way George still shreds up the fretboard 20 years later.

Paul

[Yammer Dan]

Hey Paul while we are talking paint(something the "Blue Beast" didn't have much of) is there a book that would start me in the direction to do this myself? I have a spray gun and compessor and did some spraying for uncle Sam and learned to spray pretty good. Just don't know how and what to mix and would like to do Metalflake. The "Parts Bike" if you have seen my posts on that needs paint worse than the "Blue Beast" did. A dark blue with gold metalflake. Don't think I can get that in a spray can!!!!

[Yammer Dan]

Have saw several of these books advertised. Need one that covers every thing.

[Redneck]

Dan there are hundreds of books on painting. the prep work is the key to good paint jobs. the paint has instructions on mixing on the can and your local paint dealer can help you with paint selection. You can read and learn alot of tips and techniques but your real education will come from trial and error.

[Squidley]

Redneck hit it right on the head...just takes practice and good prep. 1 trick with metal flake that I learned is to put a ball bearing or a marble in the gun cup (if your using a standard bottom cup gun) and keep shaking it around inbetween spray lines. This will keep the flake evenly distributed and uniform as your spraying.

 

Paul...I would love to get to your place and see some of your work, that would be a great day to see all those tricked out fiddles

[Yammer Dan]

When I was with Uncle Sam I learned to spray pretty well, but we had a guy that always did the mixing and only sprayed O D Green Enamel. My best job was a General's jeep. I just added a little black to it and he thought it was something special. Is the metalflake sprayed in a regular gun? Do you just add it to paint during mix?

[Redneck]

Dan the metal flake will be mixed in the paint when you buy it. you can buy metal flake and add it yourself but I would recommend getting quite a few paint jobs under your belt before you start custom blending. If you screw up on piece with factory mixed paint you just repaint that piece. If you screw up one piece with custom blended paint its very hard to duplicate and match. The only problems with metal flake paints is getting even coats if you get it heaver on one stroke than the next you will have tiger stripes. If you use base coat clear coat paint its alot easier the base coat is like shooting primer you can spray a couple of good wet coats then fog over it to get it even then spray the clear for the gloss. with single stage paint you have to get even coats and get good flow without running it to get gloss. metallic charcoal is a real paint to get right but a medium to dark blue is alot easier to get right.

[Yammer Dan]

At least Ipicked a easy one then right? Thanks Redneck I was only slightly confused before. I think I'll buy some water colors. Good thing I don't need paint to get on the road and that may be a while anyway got time to study. Does the pre-mixed metalflake come in a clear coat base?

[Squidley]

Dan,

 

You can buy a base coat/clear coat system in any color with or without metal flake. You might want to go to your paint supply house (auto color or auto parts store) and talk with them a bit to get some ideas of whats available.

[Redneck]

Dan you can get almost any color you have ever seen on a factory built vehicle in ether a single stage or base coat clear coat. run a search on auto paint and look at the paint chips go to a local paint store and look at there paint chip books.

[Yammer Dan]

Best thing seems to be get some cheap paint and see how well my gun works??? Practice... Lets see I know of a Lawn mower that needs painted.

[Paul]

Hey guys I was out of town for a few days (we have a camp up in the mountains and it is nice to get away every once in a while). I strongly suggest a gravity fed gun (the cup is on the top) Also if you are spraying big hot rod flake like the old muscle cars you will need a bigger tip to spray it. Look through house of color paints thery have everything. Go to you local auto parts store that mixes paint as they can be a lot of help as well and will have everything you need. I also suggest base coat clear coat as you need a lot less color and everything can be buffed out of the clear and you can also add candy colors to the clear to give it that nice look. If you have any questions just let me know.

Paul

[RandyCH]

What kind of prep work are we talking about here?Now that it's almost winter "up Nort" I have kicked around the idea of giving the old bike a paint job.Would I have to sand off all the old paint down to the plastic?What kind of plastic is this anyway?I've got most of the fairing apart now to replace throttle cables,seems like it would be a good time to take the plunge.Oh yeah,what's the fastest color???!!!

[Yammer Dan]

I have new gravity gun.Prep is mostly getting things good and clean and scuffed up so paint can stick right? There is a solution you can wipe them down with before spraying isn't there? Get it good and smooth, be sure all waxes and oils are completely sanded away and it is dust free. Am I on the right track?

Really like the idea of metalflake but it scares me a little. Not too worried about spraying as I did quite a bit of this with Enamel Paints about a century ago. Should just need to (brush) up a little.

[Condor]

If i remember correctly the stuff is called Prep-Sol.??

[Yammer Dan]

Looking at the pieces of "Black Beauty" today. They don't need paint!!!! Sure am getting the ITCH. Charlie done went and beat me in getting back up!!!