Post by goandy on Feb 18, 2016 10:08:22 GMT -5
A couple of years ago a friend of mine gave me some old tins of Suzuki paint he had acquired with a bunch of RE parts.
They were the original tins of paint for the Firemist/ Flake / Midnight Blue colour, being black base coat, large metal flake in lacquer and candy blue translucent.
I didn't for one second think that the paint would be viable but it was so I tested it on a coke can and it turned out really well. (Bored already? Scroll down to see the end results!)
Ever since then (Dec 2013) another RE buddy has been hassling me mercilessly to paint our bikes as they both needed a bit of cosmetic love. Mine was starting to show rust bubbles under the paint on the tank (only superficial surface rust as it turned out) and my sidecovers were a bit tatty in places.
The blue candy had also faded a fair bit as I saw when I compared the painted coke can next to the side cover...
We finally decided to take the plunge a couple of months ago and get stuck into the job.
I stripped my tank to the metal and although very sound was surprised to see how many tiny bits of surface rust there were underneath the paint. Probably would have lasted another 40 years! I gave the tank a coat of liner on the inside just in case and everything was coated in 2 pack primer. The Suzuki paint was all old style cellulose paint so needs a really good barrier coat to go onto.
Two of the side covers (I ended up painting 6 as there were 2 spares) had a crack in them so I plastic welded them and gave them a small hit of bog (bondo). You wouldn't even know they were there.
Next up was the fun part- blocking everything back. We used 800 grade wet sand paper until any blemishes were gone and the panels were totally flat. Guide coat is the only way to do this!
A couple of panels needed a bit more priming/filling so that was done and rubbed back again (if you rub through the primer to the base it's best to re prime and try not to rub through again as it will show up in the final coats- especially when using metallic).
Then the big day came... nervous stuff as there was only just enough blue candy for the job...
First up, black base coat. Then the silver flake. This is a really coarse flake and doesn't fit through normal 190 micron paint filters... I found that out pretty quick!
The silver flake goes one pretty quick and I tried to mimic the factory finish which isn't a 100% coverage of the black base coat. Looking at it, I think it's pretty close. Another hint here: You need to keep the spray gun moving at all times, swirling the paint in the cup otherwise the silver flake settles really quickly...
If you're going to try this, ensure that you paint all panels at the same time and give them identical coats- same air pressure, same flow, fan etc otherwise you’ll have different looking panels.
Next up was the blue candy. I thinned it down 50:50 with acrylic thinners just like the other bases and used a fine spray with large fan to apply it. All panels received three medium-light coats with a flash off time of around 5-10 minutes between coats. Again this was done by eye and looked pretty nice. To be honest, I couldn’t have done any more coats as it turned out as I used all of the blue candy- around 400ml for the two tanks, two headlamp buckets and 6 side covers. As per the factory paint, I didn’t do all of the underneath of the tanks, just the edges.
I left that for around half an hour then gave it all two decent coats of 2 pack clear. Some people told me that the 2 pack wouldn’t go over the nitrocellulose paint but the results speak for themselves! The coke can looks as good now as it did several years ago and it’s been kicking around the shed floor!
The clear was left for a week to harden properly so I made up some new tank decals on a friend’s decal cutting machine- like a big printer/plotter that cuts almost any shape you put into the computer. Really cool. I made the decals by scanning the set my friend bought for his bike and then converted it into a printable shape. Turned out to be pretty close. Not exact as some of the edges are a little more rounded but I quite like the look anyway. I made up some black ones for my red/orange bike for the future…
Once the week was up, I rubbed both tanks back with 1500 wet sandpaper and applied the decals using water with a tiny dash of detergent in itand a plastic squeegee. Gave them a few days to dry out and then gave the tanks and side panels two more coats of 2 pack clear. I decided to give the side panels more clear as they were a bit too orange-peely for my liking. It’s been a while since I painted and is something best done regularly to keep your eye in!
The last thing to do was carefully mask the side panels up and paint the round bits and bottom of the rhs panel in satin black. I used acrylic satin and will see how it holds up- if needs be I can shoot some 2 pack satin black on them later if needs be.
I reckon they turned out really nicely- again a constant problem I have with my bike is that every time I restore a bit of it, the rest looks a bit shabby! Wheels, forks and chrome next I guess!
The paint:
The test can
Old Vs New
Stripped tank
Primed and guide coated
Painting
Decals
Final clear over decals and satin black
The bikes!
They were the original tins of paint for the Firemist/ Flake / Midnight Blue colour, being black base coat, large metal flake in lacquer and candy blue translucent.
I didn't for one second think that the paint would be viable but it was so I tested it on a coke can and it turned out really well. (Bored already? Scroll down to see the end results!)
Ever since then (Dec 2013) another RE buddy has been hassling me mercilessly to paint our bikes as they both needed a bit of cosmetic love. Mine was starting to show rust bubbles under the paint on the tank (only superficial surface rust as it turned out) and my sidecovers were a bit tatty in places.
The blue candy had also faded a fair bit as I saw when I compared the painted coke can next to the side cover...
We finally decided to take the plunge a couple of months ago and get stuck into the job.
I stripped my tank to the metal and although very sound was surprised to see how many tiny bits of surface rust there were underneath the paint. Probably would have lasted another 40 years! I gave the tank a coat of liner on the inside just in case and everything was coated in 2 pack primer. The Suzuki paint was all old style cellulose paint so needs a really good barrier coat to go onto.
Two of the side covers (I ended up painting 6 as there were 2 spares) had a crack in them so I plastic welded them and gave them a small hit of bog (bondo). You wouldn't even know they were there.
Next up was the fun part- blocking everything back. We used 800 grade wet sand paper until any blemishes were gone and the panels were totally flat. Guide coat is the only way to do this!
A couple of panels needed a bit more priming/filling so that was done and rubbed back again (if you rub through the primer to the base it's best to re prime and try not to rub through again as it will show up in the final coats- especially when using metallic).
Then the big day came... nervous stuff as there was only just enough blue candy for the job...
First up, black base coat. Then the silver flake. This is a really coarse flake and doesn't fit through normal 190 micron paint filters... I found that out pretty quick!
The silver flake goes one pretty quick and I tried to mimic the factory finish which isn't a 100% coverage of the black base coat. Looking at it, I think it's pretty close. Another hint here: You need to keep the spray gun moving at all times, swirling the paint in the cup otherwise the silver flake settles really quickly...
If you're going to try this, ensure that you paint all panels at the same time and give them identical coats- same air pressure, same flow, fan etc otherwise you’ll have different looking panels.
Next up was the blue candy. I thinned it down 50:50 with acrylic thinners just like the other bases and used a fine spray with large fan to apply it. All panels received three medium-light coats with a flash off time of around 5-10 minutes between coats. Again this was done by eye and looked pretty nice. To be honest, I couldn’t have done any more coats as it turned out as I used all of the blue candy- around 400ml for the two tanks, two headlamp buckets and 6 side covers. As per the factory paint, I didn’t do all of the underneath of the tanks, just the edges.
I left that for around half an hour then gave it all two decent coats of 2 pack clear. Some people told me that the 2 pack wouldn’t go over the nitrocellulose paint but the results speak for themselves! The coke can looks as good now as it did several years ago and it’s been kicking around the shed floor!
The clear was left for a week to harden properly so I made up some new tank decals on a friend’s decal cutting machine- like a big printer/plotter that cuts almost any shape you put into the computer. Really cool. I made the decals by scanning the set my friend bought for his bike and then converted it into a printable shape. Turned out to be pretty close. Not exact as some of the edges are a little more rounded but I quite like the look anyway. I made up some black ones for my red/orange bike for the future…
Once the week was up, I rubbed both tanks back with 1500 wet sandpaper and applied the decals using water with a tiny dash of detergent in itand a plastic squeegee. Gave them a few days to dry out and then gave the tanks and side panels two more coats of 2 pack clear. I decided to give the side panels more clear as they were a bit too orange-peely for my liking. It’s been a while since I painted and is something best done regularly to keep your eye in!
The last thing to do was carefully mask the side panels up and paint the round bits and bottom of the rhs panel in satin black. I used acrylic satin and will see how it holds up- if needs be I can shoot some 2 pack satin black on them later if needs be.
I reckon they turned out really nicely- again a constant problem I have with my bike is that every time I restore a bit of it, the rest looks a bit shabby! Wheels, forks and chrome next I guess!
The paint:
The test can
Old Vs New
Stripped tank
Primed and guide coated
Painting
Decals
Final clear over decals and satin black
The bikes!
