As I posted in jduffy01's thread, he inspired me to want to try this myself. Pat (Kustom Flames) coached me up & turned me loose, and I got to it with a vengeance yesterday.
Pulled one of the Ness side covers, cleaned & sanded it, then tried shooting the bed liner right on to it. After 2 coats, I could still see the cheesy gold pinstriping underneath, so I shot a coat of black primer, and then another finish coat. Perfect. The finish is textured almost like the black krinkle engine cases, but not quite as textured. Hard to explain, but it looks sweet.
Pulled the other side cover, cleaned, sanded, then primed first. Pat advised that he likes to prime everything, and I'm now convinced. Second one came out like buttah.
Got the front fender off, and did the body work necessary to get rid of the various dings & dents. Sprayed 3 coats on the inside of the fender, then primer & 3 coats on the outside. Looks better than I had even hoped.
Rear fender... well, even with the bike lifted, there seemed to be no way to get it off without pulling the rear tire (and drive belt), so I said "f**k it" and started taping. I masked everything off, sanded, primed, and painted the rear fender in place. It wasn't what I originally wanted to do, but I didn't want to put quite so much time as it would've taken to do all that - especially for a $50 paint job!
Now, all that's left is to drain my tank, remove it, and finish the job. My tank emblems are in the mail & should be here soon, and I'll be done & ready for riding season with a completely different-looking bike.
I'll keep up the updates, in case anyone is interested, and I can assure you that if someone as paint-challenged as me could do this, then absolutely anyone can.
Thanks, bud! Make no mistake, tho - this is a $50 paint job, and will never be mistaken for a professional custom (kustom!) job. If I had the dinero, I'd much rather have one of your paint jobs on my bike!
For anyone who hasn't checked out kustom_flames website, you're in for some serious eye candy. His work is craaaazy good! Check it out. Talk about getting what you pay for!!!!!
Thanks, Clay. It is Duplicolor Bed Liner, aerosol can (you can see it in the bottom right of the rear view pic of my bike.) I picked it up at a chain auto parts store here for about $15 a can. I've used 1 can and change so far, and still have the tank to do.
I used the Duplicolor sandable black primer, and also the Duplicolor prep spray, which removes oils & wax. I used the prep after sanding & before priming; spray on, wipe off, let dry, then once over with a tack cloth.
All the materials cost me ~$50 at Schucks, and you can probably buy the same stuff at Auto Zone, which I believe is pretty common in your area (I'm originally from Mississippi, myself.)
I'm not clearcoating mine, with the thought being that any touchups would just require a little masking & a quick spot spray. Like I said, tho, don't expect miracles for this amount of money, but I already like it better than the 20-year-old cheesy custom job that is/was on it. It'll do, though, until I can save the money for a "real" paint job... with flames, of course!
Got the rear fender done, and the side covers back on.
Now, just have to put the front fender on (today) and find something to drain my gas tank into so I can remove it & get to work. I have a 1 gallon can, and I might just fill it up, pour it in my car, fill it up, pour it in my car, etc. until I only have about 1 gallon. Something tells me this paint job will be done before this weekend.
Of course, I'm shoehorning this in between periods of working full-time, much more than 8 hours a day, so time is my most limiting factor. I'm pretty stoked, tho!
The close up shots of the pieces you painted look really good would enjoy seeing the bike with such close ups to see how it all looks together......
Regards,
"Classic"
Classic,
Thanks for the compliment.
I'll be taking a whole slew of photos when I'm done; outdoors, indoors, close-up and wide view. I have access to very good photo equipment, so the only limiting factor will be that I'm not a very good photographer!!!
Thanks, Stang, but I can't take credit for the idea. Jduffy01 did it on his FXR - see the thread labled "Back in Black" here in the FXR section. I thought it looked cool as hell, and kustom_flames from the forum gave me a ton of great (and FREE) advice on things to do & not do.
So thank you, but those guys are the ones that got me going this direction. Still not done, so I still have time to f**k it up if I try really hard...
The secret is in the sauce...
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