Painting Tins. No really...

What color should these tins be?

  • Candy green and white a la XS1

    Votes: 15 30.0%
  • Candy gold and white a la XS1

    Votes: 19 38.0%
  • Candy red and white a la XS2

    Votes: 16 32.0%

  • Total voters
    50

Jim

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Take Two. :rolleyes:
OK, so... here we go. Painting for dummies. I'm gonna detail the steps involved in painting. Here's the tank we're using. It has a single vacuum petcock on the left side, so 80 something Special? Inside is clean as a whistle. Maybe one or two very light spots of rust but no pitting. A few minor dings here and there but overall good and straight.

tank1.jpg


tank2.jpg


Here's the bad. The existing paint.

tank3.jpg


It goes on forever. At least 4 coats that I could see.... with prolly a quart of primer 'tween each coat. What a mess. :poo:
I've learned from experience that when it's this bad, stripper just turns it into a messy goo. So I drug out the 3" disks (#60) for the die grinder and went to town. This little bitty tank took about a dozen disks. With that aggressive a grit, as soon as I started to see metal, I stopped. Once it was down to the last layer, I switch to red rolok disks and took it all the way to metal.

tank5.jpg


Too late tonight, so tomorrow I'll use some stripper to finish off the little nooks and crannies. At least now it'll be a manageable amount of goo.

tank6.jpg


EDIT: All suggestions on different/better ways to do things are most welcome.

Bonus video: How to open a tank cap without a key.

 
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So with the lead up (building a paint "room") This is jinormous!
Cap; yeah good video!
Did a standard the other day, ended up pushing back on the spring loaded "hook" latch with an L bent windshield wiper stainless strip, the standard caps sit a bit lower And that flat under the key wouldn't move back enough to lease the catch.
 
And now, time for something completely different...

Marked out the centerline and marked the edges I want....

centerline.jpg


Found some cord aprox. 3/16" in dia. and taped to the edge mark and other line I marked.

cord on edges.jpg


And commenced to puttying.

first bondo..jpg



Added another coat of Bondo and repeated the process on the other side. Once dry I got busy block sanding.


sanding.jpg



Periodically I'd measure and adjust the sanding to keep everything symmetrical. Kept the lines within a mm.


measure.jpg



Once I had 'em to the shape I wanted, applied the Bondo to the edges.


second bondo.jpg



Pulled the tape, let it cure and went back to sanding.


more sanding.jpg



I'm almost there... phew... The reason I've got the sharp edges is because it's easier to measure from an edge than a curve. Once I'm happy with the shape and symmetry, I'll break the edges into nice smooth rounded curves.

In case you haven't caught on :rolleyes:, I'm trying to replicate the look of an XS1 tank.
 
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You, Signal, Mailman and many other members totally enrich this site and keep me coming back with your posts.

Art is an understanding that there is something more behind what is physically represented. ( compassion, skill, knowledge, experience, on and on....love it)
 
I voted for the gold, always my favorite of the candy colors. I had to search for his thread, but forum member IPA62,
Shot this himself, with Spraymax custom blended paint. But my point is, this not a clear candy over a silver base, it is House of Kolor “Solar Gold” Two coats color and four coats clear. I was amazed he could achieve this look without the traditional candy over silver.

http://www.xs650.com/threads/side-cover-trim-xs1-xs1b-xs2.51250/page-2#post-540204

E2F1217D-31AC-464C-ADEC-18ADD689BCDE.jpeg
 
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