Once I was satisfied with the primer, I went on to painting black and sanding to a 2500. I did this because I planned on airbrushing over the black.

Once the black base was ready, I made a final check that my design would work. I wasn't quite sure that the S would fit the way I wanted it to into the lower curve under the light, so I made a copy on paper and drew it out. I do not have a picture of the masking, but this is after airbrushing.

Once the airbrush was done, I clear coated (also duplicolor enamel), sanded, and buffed with polishing compound.

The next part was the wheel fender.

After the black base was on and ready, I masked off to do a perfect (it was even to scale) superman S, airbrushed it, and then decided I wanted something different. I sanded the perfect S off and then went to town with the airbrush and decided to go with the smoke.

This piece is not clear coated yet. It is sitting on the table waiting to get additional airbrushing. Will post with updates once the new stuff is added.

I like the way you improvised your paint booth-well you work with what you got, i like the first part of the pics not sure about the fender pic or where its going but I like the idea you have. does this mean you'll have a cape to go with helmet & gloves..lol

Cool write up so far, nice work!

This is the final paint prior to clear coat. I intend to do some finish work sanding on this fender tonight in prep for a clear coat. The clear coat should be on on by tomorrow and it should be back on the bike come Sunday.

OK, so here is the deal. If i were to take a few hours and write up a beginners guide to painting a bike, I would put detail like this in right from the start....but I didn't. This is just a piecemeal work so you have to bear with me.

I put the wheel fender back on my baby and removed the lower fairings. The right (accelerator side) has been sanded and primed. In process of working this panel down, I came to realize some important things that I should have mentioned from the start. Removing existing clear coat is a PAIN. I ruined 2 palm sized pieces of 220 trying to get the clear coat off of this panel and then got frustrated (more like pissed off) and shaved the old clear with a box cutter blade. TIP: DON'T DO THAT. I added WAY more work for myself by doing that.

With that being said, know that I have spent a lot more time working my primer layers. Which is what reminded me of the TIP for priming. Remember your primer on a fairing is meant to smooth, unlike primer on metals meant to seal as well. You use your primer to level out any nicks and scratches in the plastic. Suppose there is a chip in the plastic from... whatever, you use the primer as a filler and smooth down the primer so you get a nice even surface for painting. In a general sense, a 400 grit works well to smooth abrupt surfaces and blend with the adjacent surface. Remember that the more pressure you use, the quicker it wears the primer, but also remember that your primer is fairly soft (you can almost use your finger to smooth primer). For smoothing the nicks likely found in plastics, I suggest using an 800 grit paper. The 800 grit paper is a good choice because it wont wear down the neighboring smooth sections that don't need much attention. If you aren't careful, you can wear the primer back to the plastic and not even smooth out the nick. Be PATIENT!!! If you keep wearing back down to the plastic, BE PATIENT and add a few extra layers of primer to make it nice and thick until you get a feel for smoothing the primer over scarred plastics.

Speaking of patient, I also remembered I wanted to add a piece about clear coats. The clear coat will test your patience. The clear is not like the primer and base paint. The clear takes longer to dry, but YOU STILL NEED A GOOD 3 LAYERS OF CLEAR. Which means you have to wait at least 3 days before its ready to put back and show off your work. Here in central OHIO, 80 degree weather, my primer coats will dry to sand within 20 - 30 minutes. Then can be sanded for 20 and another coat added. My panels (except the large main fairings) can go from plastic to primer to base to design within a full days work. With the clear coat, IT STILL TAKES ALMOST A DAY TO CURE ONE COAT!!! take your time. (NOTE: one coat is considered; light mist, wait 5 min, medium mist, wait 5 minutes, thorough mist)

Note: there are two types of impatient when it comes to clear coats; excessive and lacking. You will get your fairing/panel/fender looking perfect and you'll get excited and and and and !!!! "I JUST WANT TO LAYER ON THE CLEAR TO PROTECT IT AND THROW IT ON THE BIKE!!!!" Then you rush and throw a layer on and you actually hurt yourself. A thick coat turns a 3 day clear into a 10+ day wait for finished work. A thin layer will not be protected once you install your fairing/panel and its just a matter of time before any debris takes a chip right out of it or flaking starts.

Here is what happens, you layer on that clear thinking you just want to give your sweeeeet paint job a good protective shell, then you can handle the extra day wait to dry, thinking that if you went too thick on your paint, its dry by morning 10 hours later. The paint is NON-POROUS, this means that it does not dry by soaking into things. Now, this makes sense because paint typically can't soak into plastic or metal. Porous paints are generally used in crafting or wood working and if you are using a porous paint, you are having one terrible time getting any of it to dry and smooth. (NOTE: your are using a porous paint if the paint is still WET after a half hour and it looks like it is trying to clump together, get new paint) The outer layer of this thick shell you just sprayed on dries first and after a day, it is dry to touch, but I wouldn't touch it if I were you. You did, didn't you..(hand -> forehead).. for shame. The clear underneath is still wet. If you've done some intermediate work on bodies/motors or the sort, you've learned that catalyst hardeners stay wet until exposed to air, or oxidized. This is why it is still wet underneath. The catalyst in the clear coat can't oxidize since the outer layer sealed it from the air. Even after a week, you can press on it and it will take your fingerprint, you just ruined hours of painting and sanding right? Maybe, depends on how close that wet undercoat is to drying. Try taking a smooth cotton cloth, t-shirt would work, fold it over, and with your thumb apply pressure while smoothing over it. This helps to redistribute the clear over the area. However, if that clear underneath is too tacky, you won't get that impression out. You will have to be careful to sand and remove the clear without damaging the paint underneath. That will take finesse.

BE PATIENT!!! Clear coats are the most difficult part of the paint job because you will get anxious and make a mistake that can cost you hours of additional work.


Now as I said, I got impatient and it cost me extra time with primer. The primer is smooth and ready for base paint. Here is what I have been using. I don't have much light outside at night (when I can do most of my work) and the mosquitos (spelling??) eat me up. My wife complains when I make messes and as you know HAPPY WIFE, HAPPY LIFE. So I lay some plastic down, put some water in a bucket and wet sand over the bucket. This panel is currently in the paint booth with the first black base layer drying.

Well... I don't have a cape and gear to go with it, but I do have the superman socks with a cape I might as well wear when riding. It would be nice to get a nice superman embroidered leather jacket ... or maybe a custom made armored jacket... Ill deal with that in the future.

It has been a while since I have updated you on this paint job. We went on vacation and then busy with work after vacation and then I flooded the basement and probably risked burning the apartment up and haven't had as much time to dedicate to my paint job.

So here is what's new.. . .
I tore down the old paint booth and rebuilt it. I kind of just attached the plastic to the rafters and I thought it was a little Janky, so I went to the Depot and picked up some 1x2 boards, some 1x6 boards and some silicone caulking. I built a 4.6' x 4.5' x 6.5' box, stapled new plastic to it and then sealed the plastics from the inside seams. I then made a 2' tall felt air filter on the bottom of one of the sides and installed a more powerful fan.

Then I decided the light blue S on the front center cowling was too light, so I sanded that off and I am in process of repainting the S with superman blue. I had some problems because I tried a different brand of paint for the black and I really didn't like it. The "Rust." brand paint acted as if were a porous paint, even though it said it was designed for use on plastics. So I sanded that crap off and went back to good old Dupliccolor paint.

I then brought my air compressor over and bought a paint gun from harbor freight ($30). Since I have already started with the duplicolor rattle can black base, I am not going to switch. I am going to continue using that so my base color will be consistent. However, I will be using the air gun to shoot the clear since I have found that the clear is easier to work with if you have a more consistent spray than what the rattle can has to offer.

Aside from that, I'll keep you posted as I get back to working with my paint.

For the love of god... DO NOT SAND THE PRIMER TO A SHINE. DO NOT SAND THE BASE BEFORE CLEAR... BAD things will happen. Sanded the front center panel because I did not like the light blue/silver. While repainting, I dropped the panel and the paint chipped off.... When I was figuring out what to do, I noticed I could peel it. The entire paint job peeled off of the primer.

Mistakes were made.

I was told by the folks at the store where I buy my paint products to use between 600 and 1000 grit to sand the primer coat for base. The base coat will not fill in scratches deeper than 600 and anything finer than 1000 does not give the base enough depth to bite into.

I've painted a few things, mostly cars but you want to sand to a 400-600 before primer, after primer hit it again will a 600 before base coat. Don't sand base coat ever! Then apply clear costs, after you can sand with a 1500-2000 to get rid of "orange peel" surface and then buff for mirror finish. You got to remember that anytime u sand ur taking away paint, weather it be primer or clear the paint is that much thinner now. You need a 600grit surface to make it rough enough for the paint to stick but not rough enough for the sanding to show through the paint.

Idk about you guys but these bikes are 90% plastic which means any of u guys painting without adhesion promoters are doing it wrong anyway from the start. Any plastic, wether it be ABS, polyurethane etc will require a adhesion promoter before primer for the paint to adhear properly, then a flex additive added to the paint (some will argue that it's not neccessary, and I dont personally use them) as it will allow the paint to flex vs chip off the playable plastic/rubber.

But an adhesion promoter has worked well for me on polyurethane bumpers that I had to repaint myself bc the body shop didn't use one or flex additive and someone backed into my front bumper causing the paint to chip off in sheets.

1000 grit on primer is too fine for basecoat.

I haven't posted in a little while, but I wanted to update what I have been up to with my paint job.


First is the paint booth. I made a paint booth from about $10 in materials. I got 4 pieces of 1x2 and some cheap clearanced 1x6 boards from home depot. I picked up plastic from my work (delivering furniture). The sofas at american freight come in large plastic covers and wrapped in thin felt. I also got a tube of silicone caulking. I built a 4x4 frame 6 feet tall. I took the plastic from the sofas and covered the frame. On one side, I added a runner about half way up the frame. I stapled the plastic to the frame and stapled the felt to the bottom section of the one side, which created an air intake vent. I then used the silicone caulk to seal every crack and seam of plastic entirely around the frame. I mounted a fan on the top inside and sealed it to a hole in the side of the plastic. I use a piece of felt over the fan so I dont blow paint into the basement. The door is seamed with sticky back velcro so the room can stay sealed. I also added a few eye hooks on the inside and I use twine to hang panels inside to paint.

I use thick layers of primer to get the surfaces smoothed out, sanded with 400 grit. Then I lay color and smooth with 600 if needed. One more coat of color and then I don't touch it. Once that final coat is dry, I start laying clear. The clear must be done more delicately and you need to pay attention to what is going on, for the high gloss that I am doing. One coat of clear is considered to be; light coat, wait 10 min, light coat, wait ten min, medium wet coat. I have been doing 5 coats of clear. While laying the medium wet layer, watch for what looks to be a white haze. That white haze is actually air. If you layed it light enough, this will lighten over some extra dry time but it may not completely disappear. You need to sand this coat, in between each coat of clear. The reason you should do this is because when you buff and polish, these tiny imperfections show in the end as dots.

to buff and polish, I sand my final clear coat as smooth as humanly possible with a 1500 and then a 2000. Then I use an attachment for my powerdrill with a foam pad (NEVER WOOL) along with a cutting agent (buffing compound, scratch remover, etc. many brands and can be found at any store you would go to, I personally like the results of Mcguire's or 3M). Once I have done this, I use a polishing pad, 3M makes a scratch removing kit that has a BLACK pad and another foam pad for $20 i believe. The Black polishing pad along with Mcguire's polishing compound produced the results in the picture. I then waxed twice with a black wax.

You can make any paint job look good with enough coats and wet sanding. I buy plastic drop cloth to make temporary spray booths.