the emperors new clothes

[baldrick]

Hello , 

I have just finished painting my Harris.

Well I would have if I hadn't forgotten to do the mudguard..

Decided to go retro, with some groovy 70's metalflake baby- .......ooh yeah.
if you think its gaudy, extreme and way over the top, then I will consider it to be - mission accomplished.

 

Now I just neet to finish the rest of it.

The photos don't really do it justice its mental and I love it

Let me know what you think.

[clivegto]

I like it.

[Fazz711]

Top notch 

[Captain Chaos]

it's mental.

[Blubber]

its different 

[Simbec1863]

Like that alot

[nlovien]

well retro 

[Dezza]

Pictures of paintwork often look completely different to the actual item so I reserve judgement. Is it the same sort of paint used on 1970s speedway bikes?

[SiBag]

It will be good to see it on the frame..

[Flyjakey]

Will you be growing a moustache to match the paint ? Lol 

[Swirl]

Love it

[Rene EFE]

Cool AF. More bikes should be painted like they were in the 70's/80's

[busa ash]

top job loving it 

[stockcar]

be intrigued to see it all together, very smart

[baldrick]

thanks for the kind comments.

I painted the front mudguard yesterday and it gone and reacted badly to the binder coat,oh great !

bloody cheap fibreglass shite. it looked ok with primer and the base black, but went all wrinkled on me with the flake, (after I had spent 2 hours masking it up, obviously) so I'm now on the lookout for a slingshot mudguard, preferably cheap, cos I'm skint..

the tank and seat have had 3 coats of clear, needed to fill out the small craters caused by the flake, and the harris decals arrived, so a quick wet and dry of 1500, apply decals, and aply a flowcoat or two of clear to seal it all in and make it slick., before cutting it back and polishing it.

the bike has a kle 500 nose fairing thingy on it, but I think I will change it out to a single light, and replace the renthals for standard bars, but don't worry it wont have a brown seat cos it wont be some gay hipster caf racer haha.

 

 

So, anyone got a standard slingy mudguard to sell?

[baldrick]

ok having another go at another mudguard today, and decided to keep the nose fairing for now, so stripped it and its also prepped for painting.

Would have been much easier doing the lot at once,

Was pretty shocked to see the state of the rest of the bike to be honest, its manky, with surface rust on the new frame tubes, and years of grime on yokes etc etc,

Decals arrived and are on the tank which is now clear coated, waiting for a couple of weeks to cure, then cut back and polish.

 

 

it needs to get finished, and I'm aiming for next years TT, (or the year after, or maybe the year after that lol)

Edited August 1, 2017 by baldrick

[clivegto]

Looks good & I always liked those nose cones. Are the Harris stickers from harris them selves.

[baldrick]

No mate, I got them made up by a bloke on Eblag, outlaw graphix they are called, very helpful guy and next day delivery, to the North of Scotland!!

They were cheap too, only a few quid,  which is always a bonus

 

Scrub that recommendation, I went back for some gsxr decals and he f*cked me about for over a week, ikept emailing him, and when I asked if he would mind answering my emails he went off on one- twat! I'm going elsewhere

Edited August 9, 2017 by baldrick

[Dezza]

What do you use to cut back clear coat?

 

As for Harris stickers, it is always worth a phone call to ask Harris for them. I got a load of the frame stickers sent for free. The same ones  have been sold on Eblag for 5 quid a pop.

[baldrick]

Ahh f*ck, now ye tell me lol.

I cut it back with 1500 grit wet and dry, then 2000 grit wet and dry, both done wet. 

I use 3m  sandpaper, because it lasts about 3 times as long as the cheap shite., done by hand, no orbital sander  used for this stage

Its just to flatten out the minor imperfections in the clear, before polishing it. It also removes and small bits of dust or crap that may have landed in the clear during drying

[Dezza]

I'll try the 2000 grade wet and dry then. What polish do you use after sanding?

[baldrick]

I use the 1500 first because I use  a very high solids clearcoat, which is pretty thick, and has great ,UV resistance.  and depth/shine

if its clearcoat from a can, use the 2000 wet.

As for polish, I'm using the farecla stuff, because it was a freebie from my nephew, who worked in a proper body shop for years.

the 3m stuff is also great, but none of it is cheap !. sit down when you price it up. this I use with a yellow pad on a polisher. there is some stuff you can use by hand (farecla G3), but machine is much better and quicker. then after its all been machine polished, a decent resin polish by hand to finish

I used to wonder why paint jobs were so expensive, but once you start buying stuff, you soon find out why lol.

Edited August 1, 2017 by baldrick

[Dezza]

The reason I ask is I just painted one of my magnesium wheels (mainly so corrosion is prevented after a repair exposed bare magnesium) and it looks a bit orange-peely. It was a can job, although I do use U-pol cans. It had an intial coat of etch primer and then multiple coats of white. It has a single clear coat now. Painting wheels does my head in as the shape is so awkward - it's either orange-peel or I get a run  Maybe I can now try the 2000 grit paper (I have some in the shed) and then polish, which will have to be done by hand as the wheel shape makes it hard to get to all of the surface easily (a five spoke job). I do know not to use T-cut though.

[baldrick]

if you cut it back it should get rid of the peel,

but you might need to coat it again with clear, If your wet and dry picks up any of the base colour, you will have to re-lacquer.

Good luck, the upol stuff is not bad, for cans, some of them even have an adjustable fan on them

[baldrick]

did the last couple of bits today, muddy and fairing. 

 

cant see how sparklyitlooks, but hey ho.

Just gotta clear coat them now. With hindsight ishouldnt have done the black rectangle, should have just flaked it too, because you cant really seethe harris decal.

oh well nevermind its getting cleared anyway.

Katana is next,butits just standard colours