starting to look promising..

[kb9lae]

After a week long vacation and a couple of days back at work I decided to work on the 450 this weekend. Saturday morning I painted the tank and side covers. I used 10 coats of Randolph Insignia White. It's an enamel aircraft paint that is pretty durable. I used Harbor Freights Electric HVLP spray gun, it turned out pretty decent. Later that day I cleaned about 50 pounds of road grime of the bike.:shock: Afterwards the cement under and around her was covered with years of wet road crud and grime. It looked so much better after a good thorough scrubbing, it's amazing!!:-D

Today, I wet sanded the pieces to prep them more clear coating. I think I will either use a Urethane clear or look for a decent enamel coating. I am not sure what I will do yet, maybe some advice from you will help.\\/

I should have it done in another week or so. In the meantime Iwill try to post some before and during pics.

 

[kb9lae]

Ok, so I am new to post pics and I admit Iam confused. Here is my first try at a before pic.

 

[kb9lae]

Alright, here is a during pic. It's not as good as the first one. I took this one with my cell phone. This is after wet sanding.

 

[drhach]

I like that color with the black. Just a quick question, were you planning on removing that dent in the tank? It would seem a shame to do all that work and have it look like it was by a truck.

 

[kb9lae]

OMG, it does look like a dent is in the tank.:shock: I promise it is the lighting, I am sure its some kind of shadow effect. I did fill the dent on the throttle side of the tank. I was able to pop out 90% of it before having to use the bondo.8-[

The story is when the PO was transporting it home in the back of his truck a strap broke and it hit his truck bedrail, leaving a lovely dent with a crease.

 

[kb9lae]

Before wet sanding the tank, this side had the dent. It was at lease 8-10 inches across and 3-4 inches up and down.

 

[kb9lae]

close up pic of the other side.

 

[Fare]

Heh, I was planning on painting my GS during the winter months (live up in the northeast =( ) since the paint has seen better days. Anyway, I was also thinking of white (more off-white or "cream" though...). You planning on adding any sort of decal-type of stuff? like an oval here or a stripe there?

anyways, good job, I hope my project comes out as nice

 

[kb9lae]

I have been planning on doing something but I am unsure of what I want to do yet. I guess I need to do it quickly because I'm tired of watching it sit there when I should be riding it.

Maybe stripes or ovals anyone have some suggestions. I would love to have that photo shop. Maybe I can use paint to get a general idea.

 

[Fare]

Its hard to look on google for paint schemes or anything because it dominated by Harley-esc flame/skull junk. something classy (a little vague?) is what you want (or maybe it's just me...).

remember, sometimes, less is more

(btw, I'm having the same difficulty =p)

 

[drhach]

My bad, sorry to suggest that you were doing it half a$$ed. But it really does look like a dent. Anyway, nice job, I like it.

 

[kb9lae]

Believe me I didn't get that impression from you at all. It really does look like a dent in the photo. You would be correct in asking or thinking that, especially if I was doing all this body and prep work for paint.

I imagine someone would be thinking something like this:

"why the heck is he painting over that dent?" or " How much extra would it have cost him to buy a little bondo before he painted?"

I promise, I will post better pictures after I paint this weekend!\\/

 

[skip]

Believe me I didn't get that impression from you at all. It really does look like a dent in the photo. You would be correct in asking or thinking that, especially if I was doing all this body and prep work for paint.

I imagine someone would be thinking something like this:

"why the heck is he painting over that dent?" or " How much extra would it have cost him to buy a little bondo before he painted?"

I promise, I will post better pictures after I paint this weekend!\\/

I cant wait to see the finished product, so far so good!

 

[jaberwok]

looks good mate

 

[kb9lae]

Well, after letting my tank and covers set for a couple of days it was time for me to wet sand. I was all done and ready to add the spot putty to a few pin holes in the bondo. The plan was, after that, to paint the last base coat.

Let me just say, after I put the stupid crap on my tank it ate into the paint and the primer! I was so ****ed off. I specifically bought it because it was supposed to be safe for paint, primer, metal etc...

I was so upset I was about to throw the tank into the road and watch a Mack Truck run over it. I am so glad I didn't. I spent the next day stripping, new bondo work, priming, and painting and in the middle of my work I ran out of white paint!

So I had some "Pontiac Red" left over from a previous project and decided to use it to finish it up and get it done. It's not what I wanted originally but it looks pretty good and I am satisfied with the results. Since I used enamel I will have to wait awhile before I clear coat. A few pics will be attached below. I will try to get some better ones later.


This is a pic with my daughter.

 

[kb9lae]

Another after shot.

 

[tcraft128]

What is that in your garage...It is not an Rv something, maybe a thorp mustang?

 

[kb9lae]

It is an 1971 AA1C Grumman T-Cat, and it is my dads. It is kind of a family project. My sons, myself and my father all work on it just about every weekend. We are currently rebuilding/reskinning the wings. After those are finished most of the fuselage work will be done other than prime and paint. But there is still alot of work left. It was crashed (porpoised) late 70's early 80's. We think there was a strike prop. We just dismantled the engine to get it ready to send off for rebuild. One of the main mods we have done to the plane is convert it from a tri gear to a tail dragger. I am looking forward to finishing it up with my father.

 

[tcraft128]

Hell yeah, those are great planes, I have a few hour in a cheetah but I always thought they would look great as a taildragger...almost like vans copied that design for the rv 6-7 series...fast wing on a modest engine. All it needs is a constant speed prop

The bike looks awsome, I am just always drawn to airplanes.

Keep the pics of both coming.

-Jay

 

[kb9lae]

I did some polishing...

I did some polishing...

The last two days I did some polishing with my drill and buffing pad along with the gray rouge (not sure if thats spelled right). I spent about three hours total on it so far. Here are the results: