Time to pull finger...

[ching_ching]

Well after the few nice days of weather and riding decided to once again hoist my baby up on the bench, strip her and endeavour to knuckle down to paint at least some of the plastics. Saved up a bit so spent it on some grit and cans since I'm a tight barstad and will try and post some running progress pics. Having been quoted a minimum of $600 (the best quote I might add) from pro paint shops for painting the whole bike I've decided to give the ole cans a go.

With an initial outlay of $40 have purchased 1 X Duplicolor Can of Pimento Red, 1 X Can of Sandable Primer, 1 X Can of Primer Sealer and 6 X sheets of W/D grit (400 & 1000... 3 sheets of each).

The pic of the bike semi-front-on shows my assistant Stinkarse making sure that I haven't lost any of the fasteners. The other pic is of the Rear Top Box piece painted Red Pearl when I was trying it as an experimental colour (too "wine looking" which is why I'm trying Pimento Red) and a 3/4 rear pic of the top box on the bike to see if it actually looked pleasing to the eyemometer.

Cross fingers that I don't F$*k things up and like I said before will post pics as time goes by for those who might find this thread of interest.

:Punk: ching

[StoneChucker]

Can you also post your method? I'm keen to learn the basics of spraypainting, ie: when do you sand, prime, spray and polish? or is it sand last lol, see?

Nice pics, but that cat freaks me out... the name anyway

[Ms Piggy]

Nice colour Ching. I'm sure it's pretty close to one the bitchin' mobile has or maybe it's a nail polish I own :msn-wink: Look forward to oooooing and ahhing over the finished product at Tokaanu.

[Antallica]

Yeah I need some good advice too, must get around to getting my plastics fixed and resprayed.

Someone write up a guide.

[Yamahamaman]

I think I'll take the easy option and not crash... :whistle:

[aff-man]

hmmmm yes it would be good to see how it turns out. I ended up spending about $400 but that included buying myself a compressor and spray kit, so it'll be interesting to see how a can job turns out :niceone:

[Redstar]

Nice colour Ching. I'm sure it's pretty close to one the bitchin' mobile has or maybe it's a nail polish I own :msn-wink: Look forward to oooooing and ahhing over the finished product at Tokaanu.
I think thats a good intro to repainting but I must confess I have used the Mrs's nail varnish to spot do the odd spot but have had to buy the nearest match nail varnish a a gift, She thought I wanted something else, when I sugessted burgandy matched her eyes. now I can say her nails are a fairing match.

[toads]

Pete repainted his bike using spray cans and did a great job of it, however he put his bars on his bike wrong and dinged the tank both sides on his first ride ( absolutely no comment about that). :disapint: The cans worked out similar price to just buying the paint in the end, but he had fun doing it , one can of paint exploded and he had to collect up what was left of it and spray it using the compressor anyway.
He used heaps and heaps of clears and was constantly resanding and respraying, in all the job took 3x as long as if he had used a gun, but a lot of paint get wasted using a spray gun so he wanted to economise and went with cans. Good job Ching, looking forward to seeing the final result at tokaanu

[ching_ching]

Hey folks,

Please note that I've never done automotive spray painting before so you can view my successes (however few and far between) which means you will be witnessing my fu&#ups instead. Most of the info has been garnered from fellow officers who are also professional panel beaters / spray painters.

I've started with a small piece, the top box or seat cowl. Best start with a clean canvas so I've used an old can of Bodytech Spray Wax & Grease Remover (Repco Autos approx. $11-$13 I think) or something similar should do. Get all the grease and grimy shit off especially the adhesive shit left when you take decals off. You can rinse with some warm water and a little bit of detergent after using the grease remover. Wipe down and leave to dry.

In order to get the final colour to better adhere to the surface the part needs to be sanded. I've been advised to use a 400 grade Wet / Dry paper first off but using a 600 grade won't hurt either. If there are no cracks or major defects with your piece then I've been told that just taking the sheen off the top coat should do. If the part has 2 tone painting on it then you try and eliminate any ridges as a result of this 2 tone painting scheme. Painting usually consists of a primer coat, sometimes a base colour and the final coat. So if the part being painted is in pretty good nick then lightly sanding the final coat (not going through to the base colour) should do fine. But if there are any defects that prevent you from doing this and you have to go through to the base colour, primer coat or even back to bare metal / plastic then that's what has to be done in which case primer will have to be reapplied.
And what dya know I fu$&ed up first time, having gone through to the primer (sanding like a man possessed). So I decided to prime the whole thing anyway and my fellow officers say that's fine. (Refer to pics of the cowl, you can probably see the black base / primer colour on the ridge in contrast to the purple / pearl red top coat). Apparently what we're trying to achieve is a somewhat rough surface but which is also "smooth". Weird I know but the surface should be smooth and you can graduate from 400 to 800 to 1000 if you so wanted.

So I've decided according to my eyemometer that the sanding is complete, (only used the 400 grit) and it is smooth enough. Clean it again with the can of grease / shit remover and get ready to prime. I was told to use those plastic disposable gloves, the ones the airport security use to shove up asses to perform cavity searches but in this case they are used when handling to prevent putting any grease on the plastic. When applying the primer I applied it in about 3-4 light coats waiting about 10mins in between coats (pics are of the first and second coats). As a side note I was told that a nice warm day are ideal conditions for spray painting.

Next step will be the sanding of the primer to make smooth and if needs be the application of another 2 or so coats of primer. Priming and sanding until the desired result is achieved.

Next pics will be the application of primer sealer then the final coat. Tune in next time.

Later folks.

ching_ching

[scumdog]

Keep it up CC, I have done a lot of touch-ups etc using a can, it is all in the preparation, heaps of sanding/priming/sanding, of course with touch-ups the colour has to match spot on too.

Those pics look good and it's interesting to follow the stages via you pics.

[Artifice]

good work keep it up. I always had a problem with high ridges when using the Wet'nDry kept going too deep around the edges/corners.

i have noticed however that the mad cat hasnt insinuated itself into this set of pics? did it hear about the racing stripes in the thread the other day?

[Blakamin]

Just a quick hint... put your piece up on something (can etc) so you can get at the edges. edges are where paint starts to go wrong..

and tape your paper down along its edges (overlapping pieces) so as not to have dust blow out from under during your final coat...


demonstrated by green lines


looking good BTW :niceone:

[Motoracer]

1 important thing is choosing the right paint. Conventional enamel paint that can be purchased in cans from most Automotive stores are pretty weak (chips of fairly easy). It also takes months to fully dry (if you don't bake it in the oven).

It's better to use lacquer which dries properly quickly, holds together better and it can also resist petrol to a certain degree (where as enamel will start running down as soon as you pour some petrol over the painted areas)

IMO try to go to a specialist and get some lacquer cans made for the colour you want, it'll be a safer bet. I got custom made cans for me for $26 each in my local paint specialist store.

[Ms Piggy]

Hey Ching - not sure if this will help but a whole lot of those loverly KB lads (possibly ladesses too) gave me advice on a paint job for the bitchin' mobile. My summer project cos I don't have a garage.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=2960&highlight=paint+job

[Motoracer]

P.S. I just saw the paint you are using. Make sure you experiment on an unwanted surface if you want to put a clear coat over your painted surface cause it might react badly.

With that duplicolour paint in the picture, I tried using lacquer clear coat and had a real bad reaction so it was square 1 for me. Then I tried enamel based clear coat, then it was fine. That's just for that duplicolour paint though. Some times enamel and lacquer don't mix well together. That's why these days, I just use Lacquer paint and clear coat.

Important: Always experiment before working on your actual bits and pieces to be painted.

[ching_ching]

To all so far, thanks for the tips. See you tomorrow. Gotta go to work.

ching

[ching_ching]

Not much of an update. Just applying primer coats and sanding in between till I've got a good finish. Catch yas tomorrow.

ching