[The CyberPoet]

Maybe you should have gotten a white or yellow and gone zebra or tiger stripes, or some other two-tone high-contrast scheme? Just a thought. I agree about the visibility issue though and don't think I'll ever have a flat-black or road-gray bike, even though I consider the colors very sexy.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[rf900c]

I agree about the being seen!

Good AFternoon,

Yep I agree about the being seen, but I was hoping duplicolor would've had something close to the Ducati Yellow. Chrome Yellow was too bright and school bus yellow had an orange tint too it. Any suggestions on another brand of Rattle Can Acrylic Enamel?

Looked at the cherry red this morning and there's a little black showing through. I ended up using 4 X cans yesterday, and my rattle canning talents have a lot to be desired. Have some smooth finishes on the small pieces but ruff & smooth on the larger front fairings. I need to work on my spraying motions with the rattle cans. Up to this point I'm not satisfied with my efforts

Does anyone have suggestions on the distance and rate to move the rattle can over the plastic?
I've followed the distance instructions 8" < > 12" and the coverage was not great (kind of like a splatter effect) did a few slow passes still not that great. Decreased the distance to 6", coverage was much better but I couldn't gauge my rate of speed (of the rattle can) correctly.

Should I sand off the red and take all the plastic and the tank to a Real Paint Shop and go ahead and pay the premium for the enamel paint job. The reason why I'm wanting rattle can is when the paint chips, I can go to the auto parts store get the rattle can and "retouch it up" and I'm good to go.

I dont mean to waste everyone's time with this indecision but any suggestions would help?

Thanks again,

[01blewkat]

If you take all the paintable parts off, do all the prep yourself(THE most time consuming part of painting) and shop around for a shop that may be slow at the moment, you should be able to get a very professional paint job for $2-400 or less depending on what you want.

But, you have to shop around.

I personally like the flat black idea. Just put a reflective white stripe on it, or get a factory TL sticker kit to put over the flat black. It would look cool and still be visible.

[rf900c]

Do I need to sand all the way back down to the plastic?

Good Evening,

Do I need to sand all the way back down to the plastic? or

Could I just ruff the surface with 600 grit and respray it with enamel via autobody shop?
Do yall forsee any problems with this?

Thanks,

[The CyberPoet]

IMHO:

consider getting an airbrush set-up. That way you can use liquid paints from any of the vendors, and not invest heavily in the equipment (HarborFreight has the compressor for something like $50 this week; figure another $25 for the hose & bottle & nozzle you need).

As for the results:
I would sand everything back down and use a white primer if you are going for a red, yellow or lighter blue, as well as for any candy-colors. Remember that the quality of the final result will never exceed the quality of the primer layer -- if the sanding is done well and you get a good primer layer on it, you can get good results; crap sanding or crappy application of primer, and everything above it is going to show the surface imperfections below.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[StevieB]

I don't think you are wasting anyone's time, at all- by the replies this is obviously a topic of wide interest, and many more are no doubt watching the thread, hoping to garner the information to decide if they, too, can paint their own bike.

I hope you can develop some good "rattle can" tecnique. From my related experience, painting things other than a m/c fairing, I don't think you will get good results with an air brush unless it is a bigger-capacity- the small bottles won't hold enough to paint an entire panel on one fill-up, and you will have to rush to refill the bottle before the paint you have already sprayed sets. Painters- all types- talk of working to a "wet edge"- ensuring the newest paint they lay down can flow into the slightly older sprayed, brushed or rolled paint. This ensures a smooth "knit" of the paint, making fan marks or brush marks dissapear. I am NOT suggesting you use a roller, just pointing out that a wet edge is of utmost importance. I once repainted the hull of my Pierson Ensign sailboat- I used a 2-part roll-on paint that did an amazing job of smoothing it's self out- you could almost watch it go go from roller-rough to near-glass smooth. I HAD to work to a wet edge to get those results. Also, I was told by a professional, air brushes introduce alot of air into the paint as it travels from the tip to the surface, air that starts the paint drying before it hits the surface. Spray cans and guns push the paint out, they don't pull it, so they dry the paint less when atomizing it.

I had very good results painting a guitar with microcelluose lacquer, using Prevail sprayers, essentially a spray can with a removable glass resevour. Lacquer dries much faster than enamel, too. I am not suggesting you paint your bike with lacquer- it is easier to work to a beautiful, deep shine (the "6-foot deep" paint spoken of, on custom cars, is usually lacquer, sprayed then clear coated, each coat wet sanded before the next. VERY labor-intensive) but the paint is much more fragile and prone to chipping- I just mention that because I was pleasently suprised with my sucess with the Prevail. They are readily available, Lowes and Home Depot, and most hardward stores, carry them.

Anyway, thanks for starting a good thread.

[rf900c]

Well here we go again!!

I picked up two cans of the Duplicolor Cherry Red Acrylic Enamel.

Sampled both on some cardboard, I ended up with two different shades of red arrrrrrgh!! Took'em back and showed the cardboard to the counter guys they couldn't believe it. So I asked them to try it out and guess what "Heres your sign". So they refunded my money. Went to another parts store and asked if they would sample a few cans of the paint and the same result 3 x cans / 3-shades of red.

I know red is a difficult color to get the same shade but do the spray cans have some sort of date code or lot number to match up by.

I worked for NAPA for 4 years in the early eighty's and am familiar with the Martin-Senior Paints. If the paint stock was not current (old) inventory and following paint mixing directions for specific color codes. The resulting paint would not match the color code. Due to the old inventory. So keeping your paint stock was critical back then, I'm not sure about todays paints.

So now I'm getting frustrated about the red, I know it is not a wise (not being seen) choice but the flat black is starting to sound like the ticket.
At least with the flat black and my not so goodrattle can technique the mistakes would not be noticable.

Here i go with sanding off the red to get to the black, YEEEE HAWWW

[Anonymous]

RF, I feel your pain.

I just did my bike a couple of weeks ago in Dupicolor Ceyanne Red. It was a learning experience, chock full of mistakes that I had to go back and correct. But, as this is the VERY first time I have ever painted ANYTHING thta was not 1/48th scale, I do have to say that it was worth the effort.

My bit of advice is this: Buy one of those 'guns' that are used to hold the spray can. It made a world of difference, and it was only $3.00. Also, if you have not done it already, consult the "Sweet Lou Guide to Painting". It is a sticky here in the body shop section.

It will get there, trust me! You can see my reults here: http://www.katriders.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19853

If I can make MY Katana go from yellow to this color, you know you can too!

Now, ironically enough, I am planning on stripping her down again, and doing the flat black thing like you! Flat black with gloss black decals that are reflective at night when light hits them... Yeah, that sounds cool!

Good luck man! When we get rid of this storm here in Florida, I am gonna get going on mine too... so the race is on!

[The CyberPoet]

Good luck man! When we get rid of this storm here in Florida, I am gonna get going on mine too... so the race is on!

Be really careful -- the humidity in Florida is a paint-killer for most automotive rattle-can paints and you normally have to spray in a lower-humidity environment to get a good coat (you can let it dry outside if there's no dust issues, but spraying, esp clear coats and candies need less water in the air). I had a horror story last year or the year before, where the rattle cans' paint temp were actually yanking water out of the air and into the paint as ice chunks...


RF if you are going rattle-can, have you considered Krylon Fusion? I got extremely good results out of it on my saddlebags after the fiasco I mentioned above... pretty much self-leveling, not prone to orange-peel nor running, and it has it's own integrated plastic primer mixed in. The sanding still needs to be smooth under it...

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[StevieB]

Fusion! THAT'S the name of the plastic-sticking paint I used! I like it, altho I base that on it's ability to stick to ABS.

Again, have you considered having paint mixed and using a Prevail sprayer?

[The CyberPoet]

Again, have you considered having paint mixed and using a Prevail sprayer?

That's how I ended up with the ice chunks -- the driver can was pushing cold propellant that was solidfying the humidity directly into the paint (OK, it was May or so, but I was spraying at 5:30 AM when the humidity rates were at their lowest here in Tampa).

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[rf900c]

Krylon Fusion??

Good Evening,

For you guy's in Florida stay safe with that Alberto Storm.

I've heard about the Krylon Fusion (by Duplicolor) with good reviews for plastic applications but haven't heard of any for metal such as the gas tank.
I'm also wanting to do the tank the same color.

Thanks again

[rf900c]

Removing the paint down to the plastic!

Good Afternoon,

I'm removing all the paint from the plastic and starting over.

Started out wet sanding the paint to remove it from the TL plastic with 320 grit, and it would take me a couple of weeks to get it removed. There must be an easier way. I googled "paint removal from ABS plastic"
and came up with a good hit, go to:

https://www.maxxtraxxusa.com/Paint_Removal_from_Hard_Bodies.cfm

The author was talking about using Easy-Off Oven Cleaner for softening up the enamel paint on styrene and ABS plastic used on model planes, boats and remote control cars & boats with ABS Plastic.

The following needs to be performed outdoors:
1st - Spray the plastic parts liberally with easy-off and let set for about an hour.

2nd - Use a screw driver or tooth brush to test the softness of the dissolved paint.

3rd - Once the paint is soft enough use water hose nozzle with a jet setting and proceed to rinse the old paint/chips from the plastic.

4th - Thee may be some paint left in the nooks and cranny's just spray some more easy-off and use an old tooth brush and remove the rest.

5th - If your satisfied with the paint removal, was the plastic with soap and water and let dry.

6th - Now the plastic is ready for priming and prepping for the paint job.


Well tried some easy-off yesterday and it appears to be working with no damage to the plastic so far. Tried using regular water pressure with the jet setting and it peeled some of the old paint off but not enough. Maybe needs more easy-off and let set. Will try again with a 1200 PSI pressure washer and see if that peels the paint any better.
Will keep you posted on the progress.

Thanks,