Found some pretty paint at Lowes!

[EsrTek]

Love it...How much to do spray mine???

[Penguin250]

Haha, well, I really wanna start my own auto paint shop, but I need to get my own compressor and gun first. Then I need to get good at it and open my own place . Would be so nice, cause cans suck so bad.

Anyway, if anyone looks at this and gets ideas, please don't use Krylon primer. I just did and the primer coat may need more sanding than I painted. It came out like water.. Hopefully I can salvage the primer coat and get it back smooth for color probably Sunday.

[mrlmd]

That paint will probably hold up OK on the non-moving metal parts, but how do you think it will hold up by bonding to the plastic, and with multiple layers, are you worried about it cracking as the plastic flexes?
Looks nice though, I hope it lasts.

[Penguin250]

I think it'll hold up to an extent, when I did my helmet and started taking the tape off of it the paint actually has some elasticity to it when fully dried. Granted the clear coat could hinder that, I'm hoping it doesn't. We shall see. If it doesn't hold up at all, I guess I go back to single layer paint and clear. I never thought to much about the plastic bending around much.

While I'm thinking about it, if I were to only be spraying motorcycle fairings and small (read: smaller than our plastics) objects, would it still be recommended that I need the same 5HP, more than 20 gallon air compressor that gets recommended for cars/trucks/etc.? Or would I be able to swing a smaller compressor for the smaller work load? I'm really wanting to get into it, but right now I'm such a noob..

[k-os]

Make sure you clear your tank with something that is resistant to gasoline.

[Penguin250]

Alright! Its all done, I am just fairly bummed because the tank and fairings turned out like utter poop I don't know why. Maybe the watery primer started my misery. Ended up sanding the primer down flat, then spray on the color. Had more runs on one fairing than I did the rest of the plastics and peg brackets combined. I won't even mention runs on the other fairing or tank. I must've lost my touch, or was rushing to get it done, or the sudden drop in temp had something to do with it. I don't know either way. All I know is, next time, it'll be done with a gun, air, and real paint, somewhere not so vulnerable to weather. I'll have pics up tomorrow once the paint finishes mocking me and dries so I can put it back together. I'll have more pics up when I get the custom decal work done and I go find some buffing compound and wet sand the clear and buff it out.

[DarC]

My guess would be that you were rushing it...ask me how I know

Like you mentioned prep work is where it is at. The crappy primer may have just done nothing more than contaminated the surface. Grab a nice primer, like the Krylon stick to anything especially platic primer.

I like to spray a little further back with much lighter coats when the weather gets cooler. You may lose more paint in the process but it atomizes a little better. I also attempt to keep the parts warm by moving them inside to dry. If you have a vented room you could spare that's one way.

I would even wait until it's warmer or you have a place to do it when you go to clear it. I have never had good luck with slear coats in the cold. They run like no other.

Just what I have experienced in my stuborn attempt to paint exclusively with canned paints

[Penguin250]

Yea, I'm gonna let it go for now. My more intelligent half told me it didn't look that bad when as far away as a few feet. Only a spot on the right fairing where it doesn't seem to have grabbed as much color as the rest of the fairing. But all in all I suppose I'm pleased enough with it being a rattlecan job. Please tell me airbrushing is easier than cans because I still would really like to eventually do another colorshift but with more of a professional touch. I'll have pics tomorrow. Hopefully the sun will come out and I can get a few good shots.

Oh and the funny thing was, the primer I had botch up on me was the Krylon stick to anything primer. Rustoleum did WAAY better.

By the way, I figured out how to tie in my green cables. I've decided on doing Pearl Lime Green hand painted decals. Gonna check around for anodizing or powdercoating my fairing/windscreen bolts lime/neon green.

[DarC]

Must have been a crap can? The rustoleum stuff is good too but I think it needs really good prep work. Working with a gun is very similar to a can...the main difference is control and consistency with the gun versus you never know when the nozzle is going to f**k you with a can. You also get better atomization with a gun..blah blah blah. Despite the minor setbacks I think it's cool as heck.

I have always want to try a rainbow. Using different color shifting paints I would paint from front to rear starting with a yellow gold red maybe into the green blue purple and then with the dark purple magenta, etc. I just think it would be cool. Color shifting is so 1990's but when done here and there it's cool!

[Penguin250]

Ok, so I went out and bought an airbrush and gonna find and try out the compressor we have. Hopefully I can get these stupid decals done cause they are out-smarting me so far. Would be too much work to put the bike back together just to take it back apart to brand it, that's why I haven't gotten any pictures up for you guys.

[Penguin250]

Finally got the decals done, just need a few coats of clear to seal it and then after a good buff/wax I can put the bike back together, it's been apart for far too long. I decided to put Ninja on the tank further forward from where the old kawasaki decal was. Then I put Kawasaki going down the back from the gas cap, where most people would put their tank pad. I'll put completed pictures up in a few days... I hope.

[Seattle_Chris]

Wow, that looks REALLY nice! I can't wait to see it all together!

Do any of you know if this color shift stuff is sand-able? Or would you be sanding/scratching the flakes or whatever is in it to make it color shift?

I don't know if it's relevant any more, but I LONG time ago when I was looking at doing this to something, forget what, I read that you should always paint the stuff in the same direction, as if it were mounted, or you could have the separate pieces shifting to different colors.

But man, hurry up and assemble! I wanna see! So far it's SEXY!!

[Penguin250]

Um, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but unless I'm lucky and I ended up painting it all in the same direction, I don't think direction has anything to do with it cause all my pieces were painted separate and all of them change the same. And I don't know about sanding the colorshifting paint cause i skipped that step and only sanded the primer and clear coats.

The bike will be back together tomorrow, I got the tank back on today, fairings tomorrow.

[azimmer11]

i really dont like those yellow decals.

[Penguin250]

Done:






In summary:
Yea, the tank and fairings left a lot to be desired. For some reason the "Crystal Clear Gloss" clear coat I used on the tank... wasn't so crystal clear. Next time I'll definitely invest in a spray gun, auto paint, and rent a booth, or make my own dust-free, weather-immune room. I am proud that I did it myself and saved quite a bit of money even though it's not professional quality. It does look pretty decent unless you get right up close and know where you're looking. I'll be able to take the heat, because I know I rushed the last parts. My bike was in pieces for a couple weeks and I was having withdrawls . The white bike just doesn't feel the same, so riding that one wasn't working for me. Thanks to everyone who told me it was looking good, it kept me going because a lot of times I don't like to finish what I start.

A question to anyone who can answer:
Is there any way to unbolt some parts and the part still be hooked to the bike? i.e. Take the four bolts off the right rearset to paint the bolts and the rearset not have to be taken off, like it'll just sit there?

[DarC]

The rear set will dangle from the brake light sensor on the right and will still be attached by the shift rod on the left.

Looks good, I kind of dig the matte looking finish..just not the lime green parts

The colorshift, matte black, and silver goes really well together!

[Lil_Green_Demon]

Looks nice! Very unique color.