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.