Painting my 450

So after a once over with wax and grease remover it was time to coat again.

This time, I did things differently (thanks again Dale!).

Wound the air valve in the gun all the way open, removed the regulator from the gun, moved the regulator/filter combo from the compressor to the gun, and made sure I had suitable air pressure with the gun trigger open rather than closed. The Berobase spec's say 44 PSI, gun max is 43 PSI, so I set it at a bit over 40 PSI with the trigger open.

Spray pattern and spray test on the steel:



The pattern on the left is the one I stuck with, and the coverage on that steel is actually quite good (for me anyway). The mottling there is because it's unprepared galvanised steel as I didn't prime it...

So, first coat on, and I tell you the difference in the gun performance made it stupidly easy to get a better flow going for me, and I was also able to concentrate better on technique which I think made all the difference:

Pete, do you know how many times my tank went back to bare metal?
About 6.
I'd paint, it'd look ok, I'd sand, it'd look ok, then it would stop looking ok.

I've never painted with a gun before.
So I read/listened/pestered/googled to see what was what.
It still ended up relatively crap but that may be the paint itself.

The final version that was in the outside in the sun photo is 2 rattle cans of the same colour.

You'll get there.
Patience, Grasshopper, patience.

Glad to see you got to use the rest of that blue! I liked that blue...

I've told Thommo that I want it as close to that as possible.

Rightio, well, for better or worse the colour coats are done, just the clear coat to go.

I gotta say first though... Dale, Larry, Johnny, you guys rock! If it wasn't for all those tips along the way I would'nt have a chance... oh and also Paul (laverda1200), MisterCinders, and Brad (lulu7404) as well of course

While what I've ended up with isn't perfect, I'm happy enough with it as my first ever effort with this, although of course not having the clear coat done yet could mean anything... anyways, on with today...

So I dry sanded it all back with 400 grit to start with:





I gave a bit more attention to the front guard as well and made about a 300% improvement to the deep sanding marks, but there are still some there that will come through. I went back to wet/dry 240 then 400 on this one.

In the interests of maintaining my sanity and enjoyment of this process, I decided to sacrifice the perfectly smooth finish of the guard in order to get the painting completed.

I have enough flexi primer, base, and clear to redo this guard at some other time when I get sick of the sanding marks. I know it's a short cut but I can live with this one...



Seeing as I took so much base colour off I gave the guard another couple of coats of flexi primer as well to make sure the next coats still stuck well.

Phhaa, you to hard on yourself Pete, for a first time, you did just fine, a damn sight better than I would have done, that is for sure.
So it is not perfect, big deal, so what, it's called learning, and it takes a brave man to dive into the deep end with his first paint job and lay down metalic.
Anyway, its not like it is a disaster or anything, just means a little more sanding is all, and it ain't done yet, its just a work in progress, so your shiny new paint job will have six coats of base instead of three, big deal.

Thanks for the encouragement Stan, really appreciate it.

I find if I'm not hard on myself then I don't succeed as well, so I usually drive myself pretty hard... sometimes it even works

More than anything I was annoyed at losing the morning to redo the base colour again as I was really hoping to get it all finished by this avo' so I could let it cure and start sanding/polishing on Monday.

As it turns out that's still possible... I will update once a heap of pic's finish uploading...

Thrust me, it is going to turn out great when you are done, I know it.

Ummm... I might pass on thrusting you if that's ok

But I think it will turn out passably ok, maybe not great but definitely ok...

Without actually seeing it person it is hard to say too much about your spray job Pete.
But i would have just 2 comments/questions:
What grade sandpaper are you finishing with before each coat?
Did you use any spray putty on the parts before the primer?
It looks good, but from the pics it seems like there are still a few sanding marks?
Love the deep colour!

Hey mate, thanks for the feedback!

The primer was sanded with 400 grit, but the plastic bits I had I think 120 and 240 on it as I thought the flexi primer was going to be a more substantial primer instead of simply an adhesion promoter, which is why the sanding marks are still on the front guard.

I didn't use spray putty as the tail piece... well that was a different adventure but the tank is perfectly straight so no need for any putty. I simply put POR 15 Metal Ready down first to prepare the metal for the primer.

Here is my tank after 2 coats, i think?
I cant tell you how many hours i spent sanding.

Mate that looks like a good effort there! Fortunately there were no sanding marks on the tank, only the plastics...

It's red, Pete, that's a good start.

Keep experimenting, you'll get it.
The inside of the little hutch I made for the firewood is a familiar shade of blue..
If you get what I mean

It is indeed Leigh! I'd be really annoyed if it came out green...

Glad to see you got to use the rest of that blue! I liked that blue...

10 years in...you've got my vote for Mr. Patience.

It's wearing thin though! I must admit to running out of it at one point today...

I'm being patient Josh!

10 years in...you've got my vote for Mr. Patience.

Hmmm... maybe not

It's red, Pete, that's a good start.

Keep experimenting, you'll get it.
The inside of the little hutch I made for the firewood is a familiar shade of blue..
If you get what I mean

Here is my tank after 2 coats, i think?
I cant tell you how many hours i spent sanding.

Without actually seeing it person it is hard to say too much about your spray job Pete.
But i would have just 2 comments/questions:
What grade sandpaper are you finishing with before each coat?
Did you use any spray putty on the parts before the primer?
It looks good, but from the pics it seems like there are still a few sanding marks?
Love the deep colour!

Phhaa, you to hard on yourself Pete, for a first time, you did just fine, a damn sight better than I would have done, that is for sure.
So it is not perfect, big deal, so what, it's called learning, and it takes a brave man to dive into the deep end with his first paint job and lay down metalic.
Anyway, its not like it is a disaster or anything, just means a little more sanding is all, and it ain't done yet, its just a work in progress, so your shiny new paint job will have six coats of base instead of three, big deal.
Thrust me, it is going to turn out great when you are done, I know it.

Mount the reg/water filter combo at the compressor without any other reg's in line. run the air hose to the gun and regulate the guns pressure at the tank. connect the small filter you bought right at the gun to capture any water that condenses in the air hose.

I would except I don't have that any more... that's the one that's faulty that they won't honour warranty on that I sent back, so the only filter I have now is the one with the regulator on it.

Looking at it, I see no reason it has to be mounted securely as such, it's essentially the same as the small one just a bit bulkier...

[rustybronco]

Man I'm such a dolt sometimes... Pete... remove the regulator from the gun, move the regulator/filter from the compressor to the gun... whammo, only two regulators in line...

Mount the reg/water filter combo at the compressor without any other reg's in line. run the air hose to the gun and regulate the guns pressure at the tank. connect the small filter you bought right at the gun to capture any water that condenses in the air hose.

Oh, and I'm logging off but will check back after sanding before spraying in case anything else has been added...

Oh yea of so little faith. of course it will!

Pete, loose two of those regulators. that many inline restrictions might add to your troubles. make sure the gun is full open and regulate it at the water filter.

Err, just re-read this...

The water filter is actually at the compressor...

Man I'm such a dolt sometimes... Pete... remove the regulator from the gun, move the regulator/filter from the compressor to the gun... whammo, only two regulators in line...

Sorry for my lack of sensible straight forward thinking... I went by the little piece of paper that said to mount the filter securely but I actually don't need to do that at all, I just need to be careful not to bang it around really...

Oh yea of so little faith. of course it will!

Haha I hope so! I was really referring to the current state...

Pete, loose two of those regulators. that many inline restrictions might add to your troubles. make sure the gun is full open and regulate it at the water filter.

I wish I could! the problem is that they're built in to the compressor and filter... if I remove them then they'll just become big air vents which is *really* annoying...

However I will definitely increase the pressure with the trigger *open* and will wind the air valve fully open also.

This is where cheap equipment starts biting I guess and i'll just do what I can to work around it...

Your comments there are all so sensible right now and after looking again this morning and reading that article you linked to I know for a fact my gun is not set right and my technique was poor.

So here are how the pieces look this morning:





So this morning I will dry sand it all back with 400 grit and I'll take the opportunity to smooth out that front guard too as those sanding lines are too obvious. I noticed a few on the seat trim pieces as well that I wouldn't have worried about but will deal with now.

Then I'm going to go by the paint spec's and mask after a couple of hours to do the stripes.

I know it's better to leave it overnight but tomorrow is a no spray day due to a few things planned and I promised my wife I wouldn't do any bike stuff on the weekend.

The weather has made it dry nice and quick so I'm happy to risk it and the blame if it goes bad can be all pointed straight back at me (again)

[rustybronco]

Hmmm... maybe not

Oh yea of so little faith. of course it will!

Pete, loose two of those regulators. that many inline restrictions might add to your troubles. make sure the gun is full open and regulate it at the water filter.